Walmart says customers starting to shop like normal again as the US economy continues to re-open

• Walmart sales hit $138.3 billion in the first quarter of 2021, up 2.7% over the same period of 2020.
• The gains were helped along by shoppers returning to normal, aided by government stimulus money.
• "Customers clearly want to get out and shop," the retailer said.

Buying behavior is slowly turning to normal as the US economy regains steam and people return to traveling, socializing, and working from offices, Walmart said Tuesday.

The retailer made $138.3 billion in sales for the first quarter, up $3.7 billion over the same period last year, boosted by the stimulus payments, it said. Earnings and revenue both topped Wall Street expectations.

Online sales grew by 37% year-over-year, powered by in-store pickup, delivery, and the company's marketplace service. Ecommerce has more than doubled over the last two years, the company said.

People's food shopping behaviors are normalizing, Walmart said, noting that comparable grocery sales declined in the low single digits in the first quarter year-over-year. It attributed this in part to the stockpiling in early 2020, when people bought in bulk in fear of shortages. Walmart said that people are now buying food more frequently.

Walmart said that people are buying different products now, too. Last year people were buying more dry goods, whereas now they're buying more meat, produce, and bakery products, which have higher margins, it said.

At Sam's Club, in comparison, people are buying more produce, prepared foods, fresh meat and seafood, drinks, snacks, and candy, the company said.

Walmart also said that there was a rebound in beauty sales as customers got ready to go out again. Home and apparel sales grew more than 50% at Sam's Club year-on-year.

General merchandise comparable sales at Walmart grew by just over 20%, with higher sales of apparel, home, outdoor living, and sporting goods.

Overall, people are shopping less often but spending more than they were at the same time last year, Walmart said. The average ticket was up 9.5% year-over-year, but the number of comparable transactions fell 3.2%, it said.

Going forward, the company expects sales to taper off slightly as no further government stimulus packages are in the works.

Shares of Walmart rose about 2% in trading Tuesday following the results.