In 1945, Sam Walton left J.C. Penny to start his own retail career, who knew what it would become all these years later. For his first fifteen years as an independent operator, he tried a variety of methods, from his own five-and-dime store to running a Butler Brothers store. However, in 1962, he started the gold mine that would become Walmart, a superstore discount concept, inspired by Sol Price’s Fedmart (Sol Price went on to found Costco) and Ann & Hope, a northeast retail chain. Within its first five years, Walmart was so popular that it had 18 stores and $5M in annual sales. Fast forward to current times, Walmart is at 10,822 locations scattered across the globe and just did $713 BILLION in 2025 revenue.

Given all that success, it makes sense that on February 3, 2026, Walmart was the first retailer to cross the $1 Trillion market cap, joining the likes of Meta, NVIDIA, Amazon, and a couple of others to cross that threshold. This Thursday, Walmart had its Q4 earnings call, breaking down Q4, recapping 2025, and sharing guidance for 2026. Overall, Q4 was a strong quarter. Revenue was up 5.6%, operating income was up 10.8%, US advertising income grew 41%, and global eCommerce was up 24%. Not too shabby!

As part of the earnings, the Walmart leadership team, mostly the CEO, hopped on a public call with investors and analysts to break down the results. So you didn’t have to; I went ahead and listened to the recording! Here are assorted bullet points of notes that stood out to me:

Overall, a lot of interesting aspects to learn from. What stands out to me is how much they are using AI to improve the back end. Even though, as illustrated with the Sparky gains, there are many opportunities on the front end to improve, they can’t happen without the strong back end.

What stood out to you? Are you interested in more breakdowns of earnings calls? Let me know!

Many consumers are cutting back on spending, and retailers are adjusting based on that dynamic. The first areas to get cut are discretionary spending, like gifting. Overall, 23% of consumers reported in one survey that they are cutting back on holiday/gifting spending. It seems that Valentine’s Day was disproportionately impacted compared to other holidays, as many retailers saw softness. According to NRF, only 55% of people participated in the holiday, which has been on a downward trend from a high of 63% over the past 20 years. Maybe that trend, which has existed for a while, is a reason retailers thought they could sit this one out. According to one analysis, marketing for Valentine’s Day was cut by about 50%. From my perspective, I am very confused why retailers would not market Valentine’s Day, even given the macroeconomic conditions, better to try something than nothing, in my opinion. Those that neglected to market, however, missed out as total spending reached a high of $29.1B. Even though participation is declining, those who do participate are spending more. A good lesson for retailers and brands, you may not need to go crazy, but it does not make sense to hold back fully; at least make your presence known. I wonder how many retailers and brands are regretting their participation levels. Regardless, a win for retail, as most of this pending was done in retail

For a while now, I have on my list to do a deep dive into the Consumer 1.0 startups that raised a ton of VC money in the mid-late 2010s. The Allbirds, Caspers, and Warby Parkers of the world (let me know if this would be of interest!). Unfortunately, most of these companies are not doing too well. Last week, Allbirds announced that it would be closing all remaining US full-price retail stores. This leaves two outlet stores and two London stores remaining open. When Allbirds IPO’d at $4B valuation in 2021, retail was supposed to be a core part of the business, but that never manifested. Now, the company is trying to figure itself out after another disappointing year. In 2024, it did $181M in revenue, a fall of 25% from 2023. In 2025, it seems like that number was not surpassed, although we are still awaiting final results. Ultimately, I think it is the right call to focus on eCommerce. However, Allbirds retail failure in retail are NOT a reflection on the broader retail industry. Allbirds never truly got the value proposition down. It was a nice to have not a need to have, that never really fully resonated with customers. I say this as someone who wore Allbirds for many years. To close, an announcement from the press release.

AMI Paris is a French luxury fashion company founded by Alexandre Mattiussi in 2011. Most of the clothes have a new wave, streetwear kind of vibe. In a seemingly whimsical brand marketing play, AMI Paris has decided to partner with Balthazar, a French Bakery in SoHo to do a partnership take over until mid-March. Now in the bakery, there are co-branded paper place mats, flour-dusted loaves stamped with the Ami de Coeur logo, limited-edition cups, custom croissants, and baguette holders for a to-go order. Plus, they are launching a coffee cart that will be on the street together for a couple of weeks. In the 2026 prediction issue, I shared how restaurants are one of the few spaces in which advertising has permeated, and given the economic pressures they face, that might change. Here is an example of how that might shift.

Last week, during its Q4 2025 earnings call, Wendy’s reviewed its performance, where sales in the fourth quarter fell 5.5%, bringing down system-wide sales for the year 3.5%. Unfortunately, Wendy’s has been having issues for a while now. It introduced a permanent value meal/menu, “Biggie Deals”, with three price tiers: $4 Biggie Bites, $6 Biggie Bags, and a $8 Biggie Bundle. Still, more actions are needed, including closing 5-6% of locations, which will amount to around 250 locations, a similar number it closed in 2024. In terms of assortment, Wendy’s is working to improve breakfast, a key sales period for competitors, and adding a new chicken item. Plus, on the marketing side, it is working to improve the marketing calendar and revise the media messages. Wendy’s still has almost 5,000 locations, but the brand and many of its locations feel stale. It will be interesting to see how the concept progresses. A final thought from the CEO:

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