What CEOs Are Saying: The Retail Giants

It’s the season of retail - so let’s check in on three massive outlets that held earnings calls on Thursday.

How are sellers like Walmart, Gap, and Ross dealing with a very price-sensitive consumer and the ongoing effects of tariffs?

Each is doing surprisingly well, as you’ll see below.

It would not be wise to generalize these three across the whole sector. (For example, Target slashed its profit outlook last week, whole Home Depot lowered its earnings forecast.)

But let’s see what we can learn about the strong quarters of these three companies.

Walmart: Q3 2026 Earnings Call

November 20, 2025

Three-hour delivery to 95% of households

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer with $179.5 billion in quarterly revenue, now delivers to 95% of U.S. households within three hours. Customers are expediting about a third of online orders to arrive in one- or three-hour timeframes. Revenue from these faster deliveries increased 70% year over year.

The key is store-fulfilled delivery, where online orders are picked and packed at Walmart’s 4,600 U.S. stores rather than from distant warehouses. This turns Walmart’s massive physical footprint into a logistics advantage. Global eCommerce sales surged 27%, with all segments posting growth above 20%.

High-income shoppers trading down