Walmart's secret to retail domination? Becoming America's grocery store

"But Walmart isn't defying shaky consumer confidence because of the breadth of its offerings, which impressively stretches to 120,000 products at most stores. Customers aren't flocking into stores to buy made-in-America T-shirts, as I wrote about in May, thanks to a novel partnership with American Giant. Or because it is adding more high-end products (at lower prices than you'd find anywhere else), as I covered in October in this profile of its chief merchant Latriece Watkins."

"If you want to understand why Walmart is beating the odds, this where you should look: the grocery aisles. Walmart has gone from a general merchandise store that also sells groceries to America's grocery store that also happens to sell everything else you could imagine. The Arkansas-based retailer, which generated $648.1 billion in revenue last year ( 60% of which came from food), accounts for more than a fifth of all grocery dollars in the country."

Walmart stocks up to 120,000 products at most stores and maintains partnerships and product expansions such as with American Giant, Latriece Watkins' high-end selections, and Glen Powell's Smash Kitchen line. Smash Kitchen reached $10 million in revenue within six months. Walmart generated $648.1 billion in revenue last year, with food making up 60 percent of total sales. The company now captures more than one-fifth of all grocery dollars in the United States. The grocery business has effectively transformed Walmart from a general merchandise retailer that sells groceries into a grocery-first retailer that also offers other goods.

Read at Fast Company