Walmart reported a 17% year-over-year increase in membership fee revenue for the third quarter, driven by strong performance in Walmart Plus and Sam’s Club subscriptions. Membership income now contributes roughly one-third of the company’s adjusted operating income, up from 28% a year ago. The boost reflects a 20% increase in Walmart Plus members and a 12% rise in Sam’s Club memberships, with the combined programs adding approximately 3.5 million net new subscribers during the quarter. High-margin fee income helped offset rising supply chain and labor costs, underpinning a 5% improvement in overall retail operating margin versus the prior year.

On December 30, Walmart’s e-commerce platforms experienced a significant outage, with more than 6,500 customer complaints logged on Downdetector. Approximately 75% of users reported issues accessing the mobile app, while the remaining 25% faced problems on the website. Shoppers cited checkout failures and timeouts, leading to potential lost sales during a peak holiday shopping period. The interruption highlights growing investor focus on digital platform resiliency, as businesses strive for five-nines (99.999%) uptime. Industry analysts estimate that each minute of downtime could cost Walmart up to $300,000 in online sales, underscoring the financial stakes of high-availability infrastructure.