Walmart Wants to Boost Its Chinese Sam’s Club Total

At a townhall meeting today, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) told attending staff it plans to greatly increase its Sam's Club footprint in China, raising the number of stores there from the current 26 to 100. The sources indicated the nearly 285% increase will happen over an eight-year timeframe, with strong performance in the Chinese market providing the company an incentive to expand its presence there.

The news comes shortly after a powerful showing in Walmart's fiscal first-quarter 2021 earnings report, released yesterday for the quarter ended May 1. The coronavirus drove sales making the retailer's comps soar 10%, while e-commerce popped 74% and the typical customer spent 16.5% more, among other highly favorable metrics.

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