Walmart has reported gains in e-commerce and delivery services as being central to strong Q3 performance.

The company saw a 41% increase in e-commerce sales this quarter. This, along with the fact that sales grew 3.2%, caused the company to raise its expectations for the 2020 fiscal year. 

Ending the quarter with total revenue of US$128bn, Walmart attributes its Q3 success to gains in online grocery and delivery services

In the realm of grocery products, food and fresh produce also made big advances.

It highlighted that there are now 3,000 grocery pickup locations.

Following a larger trend of grocery delivery services, Walmart announced a new “Delivery Unlimited” program for 1,400 stores in the U.S.

It also launched in-home delivery in three U.S. cities for more than a million customers. This intensified competition in the U.S. with Amazon.

This was rolled out in response to a similar service by Amazon. Both involve employees delivering groceries directly to customers' homes.

Walmart's reach with in-home delivery is limited to Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Vero Beach.

Commenting on developments in the quarter, president and CEO Doug MicMillon said that the U.S. saw "strong comp sales and expense leverage".

Further, he said that "operating income grew for the sixth consecutive quarter".

Internationally, net sales were US$29.2 billion, rising 1.3% from last quarter.

Apart from financial news, the new president and CEO John Furner joined Walmart U.S. this quarter.

Also, McMillon drew attention to strides in Flipkart and PhonePe in the Walmart family.