Walmart is giving Canada a larger role in its international digital expansion as the retailer builds its membership, e-commerce and Marketplace businesses beyond the United States.
During Walmart Inc.’s second-quarter earnings call last week, CEO John Furner pointed to Canada several times while discussing the company’s international growth. Walmart International e-commerce sales increased 19 per cent during the quarter, with China, India and Canada identified as markets leading the growth. E-commerce now accounts for about 30 per cent of Walmart International’s sales mix.
Canada is also the first Walmart market outside the United States to receive Walmart+, the company’s paid membership program. Walmart+ launched in Canada on June 4, building on the retailer’s Delivery Pass service with additional benefits including free Walmart.ca shipping with no minimum purchase and an included Crave subscription.
Furner highlighted the Canadian Walmart+ launch alongside another development during the quarter: Walmart expanded capabilities from its U.S. Marketplace platform into Canada and Mexico. He grouped membership, Marketplace, fulfillment services and advertising among the businesses Walmart is increasingly deploying across international markets.
The comments put the Canadian Walmart+ launch into a broader context. Walmart has spent several years developing its membership and e-commerce businesses in the United States, and Canada is now the first international market where the company is extending the Walmart+ model.
Walmart+ Builds on Delivery Pass
Walmart+ costs $8.97 per month or $89 annually in Canada. Existing Delivery Pass members, who had been paying the same $89 annual price since that program launched in 2023, were automatically moved to Walmart+ when the new program launched in June.
The Canadian program includes unlimited free same-day delivery from stores on orders over $35, along with discounted Express Delivery. Members also receive free shipping with no minimum order on thousands of eligible products sold through Walmart.ca and the Walmart app.
Walmart included Crave Standard with Ads as part of the membership at no additional cost, adding an entertainment component to the Canadian program. At the time of the launch, Catherine Theberge-Conner, Head of Membership at Walmart Canada, said the company was bringing together grocery and general merchandise delivery with benefits outside retail.
Andrew Go, Vice President of E-Commerce and Marketing at Walmart Canada, also highlighted the removal of Walmart.ca’s shipping minimum as a significant change for the retailer’s Canadian online business. The additions give Walmart more opportunities to keep members within its ecosystem, from regular grocery orders to smaller online purchases that may previously have fallen below a free-shipping threshold.
Membership Becoming More Important to Walmart
Walmart’s latest results show the growing importance of membership to the company. Membership fee revenue increased nearly 17 per cent during the quarter, while Walmart+ continued to record double-digit membership growth in the United States. Management said the first half produced the strongest membership growth in the U.S. program’s history.
CFO John David Rainey told analysts that Walmart members spend approximately four times more than non-members. The figure refers to Walmart’s broader membership business and is not a measure of spending by Canadian Walmart+ members.
Membership generates fee revenue while giving Walmart another way to increase shopping frequency and customer spending. Canada now gives the company its first opportunity to extend Walmart+ beyond the U.S., where the program has had several years to develop.
Furner returned to the Canadian launch at the end of Thursday’s earnings call, mentioning Walmart+ alongside continued growth in e-commerce, Marketplace and advertising.
Canada Among Markets Leading E-Commerce Growth
Walmart did not disclose a separate Canadian e-commerce growth rate for the quarter, although management twice identified Canada as one of the markets contributing to Walmart International’s 19 per cent e-commerce increase.
Rainey said Walmart has been deploying digital capabilities developed in the United States into other markets, allowing the company to move faster operationally and grow at a lower marginal cost. He also linked continued e-commerce growth to the development of businesses including Marketplace, advertising, data services and membership.
Walmart already has a sizeable Canadian audience across its physical and digital channels. The company operates more than 400 stores nationally and says both its stores and Walmart.ca serve or attract more than 1.5 million customers or visits daily. Its current investment program is adding stores and supply-chain capacity to support further growth.
Marketplace Capabilities Expand in Canada
Walmart told investors that it expanded capabilities from its U.S. Marketplace platform into Canada and Mexico during the quarter. Marketplace allows third-party sellers to offer products through Walmart’s digital properties, increasing the assortment available beyond merchandise sold directly by Walmart.
The platform also feeds other parts of Walmart’s digital business, including fulfillment and advertising. Rainey told investors that sustained e-commerce momentum supports growth in Marketplace, advertising, data ventures and membership, businesses that are becoming increasingly important to Walmart’s financial model.
Management said Walmart is increasingly developing capabilities that can be scaled across multiple countries. The Canadian expansion of Walmart+ and Marketplace provides a current example, with platforms developed in the U.S. being extended into Walmart’s Canadian operation.
Stores and Supply Chain Support Digital Growth
Walmart’s Canadian digital expansion is occurring alongside one of the largest physical investment programs in the retailer’s history in this country. Walmart Canada announced in January 2025 that it would invest $6.5 billion over five years in its Canadian store and supply-chain network, including dozens of planned new stores and new distribution infrastructure. The company described it as its largest investment in Canada since entering the market 30 years earlier.
New Supercentres are being developed with online pickup and delivery incorporated into their operations. Walmart’s planned southwest Edmonton location, expected to open in 2027, will offer online pickup and delivery for grocery and general merchandise. Other recently announced locations are being designed with similar capabilities.
The relationship between stores and e-commerce was a major theme of Thursday’s earnings call. Walmart executives described stores as an increasingly important part of the company’s fulfillment network as customers move between in-store shopping, pickup and home delivery. The hard fulfillment figures discussed on the call were specific to the U.S. business, but Walmart Canada’s current store program is also incorporating pickup and delivery into new locations.
Supply-chain investment is happening at the same time. Walmart Canada opened a 750,000-square-foot fulfillment centre in Milton, Ontario, in June, adding capacity for more than 43,000 unique products and approximately 65,000 pallets. The facility supports Walmart’s core assortment, extended online assortment and Walmart Fulfillment Services, and the company says some local customers are already receiving same-day delivery through it.
The Milton facility follows the opening of Walmart Canada’s 550,000-square-foot Vaughan Ambient Distribution Centre in 2025. The Vaughan facility uses automation, robotics and AI-driven warehouse management and currently serves 131 stores and two fulfillment centres across Ontario.
Competing for More Canadian Shopping Trips
Walmart+ adds another paid membership offering to a Canadian market where membership programs already play an important role in retail. Amazon has used Prime to connect shipping, digital entertainment and other services with its e-commerce business, while Costco has built its retail model around paid membership. The programs differ substantially, but each creates an ongoing relationship with customers beyond an individual purchase.
Walmart enters that competition with a large Canadian store network and a substantial grocery business. Same-day store delivery allows Walmart+ to cover frequently purchased products such as groceries and household goods alongside conventional e-commerce orders, while the inclusion of Crave gives members a benefit they can use without making a retail purchase.
The opportunity for Walmart is to convert more of its existing Canadian store and online traffic into membership relationships and greater use of its digital services. The company is building Walmart+ alongside Marketplace, e-commerce, fulfillment capacity and a multi-billion-dollar investment in its Canadian store and supply-chain network.
Canada’s position as the first international Walmart+ market also gives Walmart an early indication of how its membership model performs outside the United States. Thursday’s earnings call shows that the Canadian business is already part of Walmart’s wider effort to take its membership and digital platforms into more international markets.
More from Retail Insider:
- Walmart+ membership launched in Canada (June 2026)
- Walmart Connect Launches New Self-Serve Platform (July 2026)
- Walmart Canada Expands Beauty After Hudson’s Bay Exit (February 2026)
