Walmart's struggling Japan unit finally delivers with online grocery growth

An employee selecting products to fulfil online orders at a Seiyu store in Tokyo, Japan Feb 11. — Reuters

TOKYO: Walmart Inc might finally have found the sweet spot in Japan's food market with a fast-growing venture ranked third in a nascent online grocery sector, as the brick-and-mortar stores it bought into two decades ago continue their search for profit.

The barely year-old tie-up between the US supermarket chain's Seiyu and local e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc clocked 30% sales growth for late October through December versus the same period a year earlier when Seiyu was going it alone, said Rakuten Seiyu NetSuper Chief Executive Tamae Takeda.