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Walmart just proved it's immune to the retail apocalypse (WMT)

Walmart is crushing expectations while dozens of other retailers are closing stores and filing for bankruptcy at rates not seen since the recession.

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Walmart on Thursday reported that e-commerce sales soared by 63% in its most recent quarter, compared with 29% growth the prior quarter. The company said most of these sales were organic through Walmart.com.

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Walmart's $3 billion acquisition of the online retailer Jet.com also helped the company boost e-commerce sales.

But Walmart's growth isn't all online.

The company said sales at US stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, grew by 1.4%, beating analyst expectations of 1.3% and marking the 10th consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth.

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The growth was driven by a 1.5% increase in customer traffic, the company said.

"We delivered a solid first quarter and we're encouraged by the start to the year," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said. "We're moving faster to combine our digital and physical assets to make shopping simple and easy for customers. Our plan is gaining traction."

Walmart's upbeat results came after disappointing earnings reports from JCPenney, Macy's, and Nordstrom and against a backdrop of overall distress in the retail industry marked by sliding sales and traffic.

Retailers are closing more than 3,600 stores this year to stanch losses and filing for bankruptcy at a staggering rate.

Walmart is now eating up their lost market share, according to Moody's analyst Charlie O'Shea.

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"The positive impact of Jet.com on the online business is significant, with our view that the level of acceleration will continue to widen the gap between Walmart and its brick-and-mortar competitors," O'Shea said in a note Thursday. "In addition, given the current retail landscape, with many retailers experiencing challenges across multiple categories, we believe Walmart will continue to turn up the competitive heat by utilizing its scale and technological advantages to extract increased market share."

In February, the retailer launched free two-day shipping for all orders over $35 — a direct challenge to Amazon's $99 Prime membership, which offers free two-day shipping on all orders.

Walmart also recently rolled out a new discount to customers who ship purchases to one of Walmart's more than 4,700 US stores instead of to a home or elsewhere. The discount gives customers as much as $50 off purchases of large items like televisions.

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