Walmart built its reputation on one simple promise: low prices.
But becoming one of the largest companies in the world takes a lot more than selling groceries, TVs, and laundry detergent for a few cents less than the competition.
Today, Walmart makes money through thousands of stores, a rapidly growing e-commerce operation, memberships, advertising, and an enormous global supply chain.
In fiscal 2026, Walmart generated more than $713 billion in total revenue.
So how does a company known for keeping prices low make that much money?
The answer is scale.
Walmart Makes a Little Money on a Lot of Sales
Walmart’s basic retail strategy isn’t complicated.
Sell enormous quantities of products while keeping prices competitive.
The company generated more than $706 billion in net sales during fiscal 2026. Walmart U.S. alone accounted for nearly $483 billion.
The company doesn’t need to make an enormous profit on every box of cereal or television it sells.
When millions of customers shop at Walmart every week, small margins across a massive volume of transactions can add up to billions of dollars.
Size Gives Walmart Enormous Buying Power
Walmart’s scale provides another major advantage.
A retailer purchasing products for thousands of stores can negotiate with suppliers very differently than a small chain or independent store.
Walmart can purchase huge quantities of merchandise, spread distribution expenses across an enormous operation, and use its supply chain to keep products moving efficiently.
That helps the company maintain the low-price strategy that attracts customers in the first place.
More customers create more sales, which gives Walmart even greater scale.
It’s a cycle competitors have spent decades trying to match.
The Stores Are Becoming Distribution Centers
Walmart’s physical stores aren’t just places to shop anymore.
They have become an important part of the company’s e-commerce operation.
Customers can order products online and have purchases picked from nearby stores for pickup or delivery.
That gives Walmart something many online retailers would love to have: thousands of existing locations positioned close to customers.
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Walmart U.S. e-commerce sales grew 27%, while expedited store-fulfilled delivery sales grew more than 50%.
Instead of viewing physical stores as a disadvantage in the internet era, Walmart is increasingly using them as part of its delivery network.
Walmart Is Building an Advertising Business
Here’s a part of Walmart’s business many shoppers never think about.
Walmart sells advertising.
Brands want their products to appear prominently when millions of customers are deciding what to buy.
Walmart can sell advertising space across its websites, apps, and other properties while using shopping data to help advertisers reach potential customers.
The business is growing quickly.
Walmart reported that its global advertising business grew 37% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, including VIZIO, while Walmart Connect in the U.S. grew 41%.
Advertising can also carry very different economics than selling physical merchandise, making it an increasingly important piece of Walmart’s business.
Memberships Create Recurring Revenue
Walmart also earns money before some customers even start shopping.
Sam’s Club charges annual membership fees, while Walmart+ offers benefits such as delivery and other conveniences for subscribers.
Across Walmart’s businesses, membership and other income totaled approximately $6.75 billion in fiscal 2026.
Sam’s Club U.S. alone generated about $2.5 billion in membership and other income during the year.
Memberships are attractive because they create recurring revenue while encouraging customers to keep shopping within Walmart’s ecosystem.
Sam’s Club Adds Another Business Model
Sam’s Club gives Walmart another way to reach shoppers.
Rather than relying solely on traditional retail stores, Sam’s Club uses a warehouse membership model where customers pay for access.
Sam’s Club U.S. generated more than $93 billion in net sales in fiscal 2026.
The membership model may sound familiar.
Costco has built an enormous business around the same basic idea: customers pay for the privilege of shopping and then spend money once they’re inside.
For Walmart, Sam’s Club provides another revenue stream alongside its traditional stores.
Walmart Is Becoming More Than a Retailer
The most interesting part of Walmart’s modern business may be how many different businesses now sit underneath the familiar blue sign.
Walmart has traditional retail stores.
It has e-commerce.
It has a marketplace for third-party sellers.
It has advertising.
It has membership programs.
It has delivery services.
And its enormous physical footprint gives the company infrastructure that can support many of those businesses at the same time.
Walmart is still a retailer, but it’s increasingly becoming a retail, technology, advertising, membership, and logistics company all at once.
How Much Money Does Walmart Make?
For fiscal 2026, Walmart reported approximately $713.2 billion in total revenue and $22.3 billion in consolidated net income.
The company finished the year with 10,955 retail units worldwide.
Those numbers put Walmart on a scale that’s difficult to comprehend.
And the business is still evolving.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Walmart reported global e-commerce sales growth of 26%, with e-commerce representing 23% of total net sales.
What Businesses Can Learn
Walmart demonstrates how powerful scale can become.
The company built its empire around low prices, but it didn’t stop with traditional retail.
It found ways to use its stores, customers, technology, logistics network, and shopping data to create additional businesses.
A Walmart store can sell merchandise, fulfill an online order, support a delivery membership, and provide valuable advertising opportunities to brands.
The same customer relationship can generate revenue in several different ways.
Final Thoughts
Walmart didn’t become a $700 billion company by making huge profits on individual products.
It built a system designed to sell an extraordinary amount of merchandise efficiently.
Now it’s layering higher-growth businesses such as e-commerce, advertising, delivery, and memberships on top of that enormous retail operation.
Customers may walk into Walmart looking for low prices.
Behind those prices is one of the largest and most sophisticated money-making machines in the world.
That’s the real money behind Walmart.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Walmart make most of its money?
Walmart makes most of its revenue by selling merchandise through Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club. The company also earns money from memberships, advertising, marketplace services, and other businesses.
How much revenue does Walmart make?
Walmart reported approximately $713.2 billion in total revenue for fiscal 2026.
Does Walmart make money from advertising?
Yes. Walmart has built a rapidly growing advertising operation that allows brands to reach shoppers across Walmart’s digital and physical properties. Walmart reported 37% global advertising growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, including VIZIO.
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