A Dinosaur Takes Flight

I didn't learn about Walmart until my marketing degree. The Walton family, big box retail, destination shopping, top employer in America… I remember being stunned by the scale and success of it, from the other side of the world, in Sydney.

Since then, Walmart has been written off so many times. Every new advent of technology apparently spells their doom. From dot-com to DTC to social commerce to everything in between. Each one was pronounced as the beginning of the end for Walmart, who were too big, too slow and too based on bricks to survive. Let alone thrive. They were to be Amazon roadkill.

Now, next week, on December 9th, Walmart will ring the opening bell at Nasdaq. After 53 years on the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest retailer is switching exchanges.

This is a statement. And a victory lap.

Today, Walmart trades at all-time highs. Market capitalisation: $870 billion. Stock up 28.5% in one year. Revenue of $179.5 billion last quarter, growing 5.8%. E-commerce up 27%, the seventh consecutive quarter above 20%. Global advertising business up 53%.

The company that was supposed to be crushed by digital transformation is now listing on the tech-heavy exchange alongside Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. And this is why they are a case we cover in my book: Brandflow

Consider what Doug McMillon inherited when he became CEO in 2014: 10,750 stores across 19 countries. 2.1 million employees. The world's most complex supply chain, moving billions of products through thousands of distribution centres to hundreds of millions of customers weekly. Physical real estate, perishable inventory, union negotiations, and legacy technology systems built before smartphones existed.

McMillon had to transform all of it. Simultaneously. While keeping the lights on in stores that served 270 million customers every week.

Here's what he did: Invested $1 billion in e-commerce in 2015 when shareholders screamed for dividends. Acquired jet.com for $3 billion in 2016. Unified two completely separate supply chains in 2020. Built out curbside pickup from zero to 4,000+ locations. Launched a same-day delivery capability that now serves 95% of American households within three hours.

And critically, he bet on media. Becoming media.

Because the real transformation story isn't e-commerce.

It's what happened when Walmart realised their physical stores weren't liabilities, they were unassailable competitive advantages.

I wrote about Walmart Connect in August when their advertising revenue hit $4.4 billion, growing 27%. Three months later, the global advertising business grew 53% (including their VIZIO acquisition). Walmart Connect US alone grew 33%.

The economics are staggering: retail advertising operates at 70-80% gross margins compared to 4% retail margins. Each advertising dollar generates profit equivalent to $18-20 in traditional retail revenue. This business now contributes nearly one-third of their total operating income.

What looked like legacy infrastructure in those 4,700 stores analysts dismissed, became the foundation of a platform business. 255 million weekly store visits generate closed-loop attribution that connects digital advertising to in-store purchases. That's capability Amazon, with all its digital sophistication, cannot replicate.

Those "expensive liabilities" turned into data-generating assets worth billions in high-margin advertising revenue.

The Walmart transformation wasn't magic. It was discipline.

McMillon didn't chase every trend or rebrand the company every 18 months. He set a clear strategic direction in 2014: omnichannel integration, e-commerce investment, technology modernisation and then executed for a decade. The strategy evolved tactically, but the destination never changed.

Compare for a moment to the transformation that the middle-ground advertising holding companies like WPP have to undertake, that is breathlessly debated on LinkedIn. The level of complexity is incomparable, and laughably so.

What does WPP need to transform? No global supply chains. No physical inventory. No perishable goods logistics. No 10,750 stores to modernise. No union negotiations across 19 countries. No legacy distribution infrastructure.

WPP has one core asset: people. Creative talent. Media expertise. Client relationships. The transformation required is conceptually straightforward: integrate the agencies, build unified technology platforms, develop AI capabilities, modernise the commercial model. And they whine about how hard and unfair it all is, and bring in McKinsey for some applied common sense.

Walmart managed simultaneous transformation across physical infrastructure, digital capabilities, supply chain, workforce, real estate, and technology all while serving 270 million customers weekly without disruption.

The difference isn't capability. It's focus.

1. Physical assets can become digital advantages

The consensus that dismissed Walmart's stores as liabilities was wrong. Those stores generate the foot traffic that powers the advertising business. They enable same-day delivery that e-commerce pure-plays can't match. They create the closed-loop attribution that justifies premium advertising rates.

2. High-margin services transform business models

Walmart Connect didn't just add revenue. It fundamentally changed the business model. When one-third of operating income comes from a 70-80% margin business versus a 4% margin core, you're not a retailer with advertising. You're becoming an advertising platform with retail.

3. Transformation requires decade-level commitment

McMillon took the CEO role in 2014. The turnaround wasn't visible until 2019-2020. The Nasdaq listing celebrating transformation comes in 2025. That's 11 years of sustained execution against a consistent strategy.

Markets eventually reflect reality.

Walmart's stock hitting all-time highs while moving to Nasdaq is the market pricing in a transformation that actually happened. The company didn't just survive the e-commerce revolution. It emerged stronger, with higher margins, faster growth, and competitive advantages that even Amazon can't replicate.

The Nasdaq bell rings on December 9th. For Walmart, it marks completion. For the rest of us navigating transformation, it's a reminder of what discipline actually looks like.

Brandflow is written by Justin Billingsley, who has spent his career on all three sides of the industry's table: senior client, global agency leader, technology founder. First published 2 December 2025 in the Brandflow newsletter on LinkedIn.