E-Commerce Morning Brief: Walmart's Q2 E-Commerce Net Sales Account for 55% of Total; TikTok Develops Peer-to-Peer Payment Feature

News 1: Walmart's Q2 E-Commerce Net Sales Reach 55% of Total, Tariff Refunds Boost Gross Margin Growth

Walmart recently released its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2027. The company posted total revenue of $186.4 billion, up 5.1% year-on-year; adjusted operating profit reached $9.2 billion, a 17.4% year-on-year increase; adjusted earnings per share stood at $0.81, rising 19.1% from the same period last year. Following the earnings release, Walmart's stock fell more than 6% in pre-market trading.

Its e-commerce business continued to deliver strong performance: net sales from the segment rose 26% year-on-year in the quarter, accounting for 55% of total sales, an increase of more than 239 basis points from a year earlier, making it the core engine of performance growth.

According to the earnings report, Walmart's gross margin was 25.4%, up 96 basis points year-on-year. This improvement was largely driven by favorable "tariff refunds". During the earnings call, Walmart management stated that the company is eligible to claim $2.9 billion in tariff refunds, with less than $100 million still pending receipt. The company plans to use these refunds to lower product prices.

News 2: TikTok Develops Peer-to-Peer Payment Feature, Allowing Users to Transfer Funds via Private Messages

Foreign media reports indicate that recent information shows TikTok is developing a peer-to-peer payment feature that allows users to transfer money to other users via direct messages. If officially launched, the feature will be implemented through TikTok's existing payment product, TikTok Pay. TikTok Pay is currently available in Southeast Asia, where it can be used for payment settlement for purchases on TikTok Shop.

It is reported that relevant content for the feature has already appeared in the hidden code of the current U.S. version of the TikTok app for iPhone. The code mentions that recipients can click to accept funds, while senders can attach a message when initiating a transfer, with a usage logic similar to that of existing payment product Venmo.

News 3: Alibaba's Latest Earnings Report: AliExpress Turns Profitable, Penetration of Brand Buyers Exceeds 30%

Alibaba recently released its financial results for the quarter ending June 2026. The report shows that in the international e-commerce business, AliExpress achieved operating profit in the quarter, thanks to logistics optimization and improved cost efficiency, while the proportion of local product sales continued to rise significantly year-on-year.

Previous earnings reports showed that AliExpress' Brand+ initiative for brand overseas expansion has driven the penetration rate of active brand buyers on the platform to exceed 30%, and the GMV penetration rate of brands approached 40% during this year's 618 shopping festival. Launched in September 2025, the AliExpress Brand+ program has become a new preferred overseas expansion hub for a growing number of brands.

News 4: Meituan Waimai Launches Labels Including "Mall Store" and "Commercial Street Store"

Meituan Waimai recently added operation labels such as "Mall Store", "Commercial Street Store" and "Platform Inspected" to some merchant pages. As of August this year, more than 200,000 merchants on Meituan display the "Mall Store" label, while 45,000 merchants show the "Commercial Street Store" label.

The new labels are mainly designed for operation scenarios that cannot be easily categorized into traditional "dine-in stores" or "non-dine-in stores", such as mall stalls, commercial street counters and outlets using public dining areas, helping consumers understand the store location, operating environment and dining conditions before placing an order.

News 5: Li Ning's H1 Revenue Edges Up 2.8% to RMB 15.24 Billion, Gross Margin Rises to 50.9%

Li Ning recently released its interim results for 2026. In the first half of the year, the group's revenue reached RMB 15.24 billion, up 2.8% year-on-year; gross profit was RMB 7.75 billion, up 4.5% from the same period last year; overall gross margin hit 50.9%, up 0.9 percentage points year-on-year; net profit was RMB 1.82 billion, compared with RMB 1.737 billion in the same period last year.

By product category: footwear revenue saw a slight increase, rising from RMB 8.23 billion in the first half of last year to RMB 8.28 billion in the first half of this year; apparel revenue recorded the largest growth of 11.8%, climbing from RMB 5.19 billion last year to RMB 5.80 billion this year; revenue from equipment and accessories fell 17.7%, dropping from RMB 1.39 billion last year to RMB 1.15 billion this year.

News 6: Aggressively Promoting Products Under RMB 10, Is WeChat Looking to Capture Users in Lower-Tier Markets?

Ebrun has learned that Weidian (WeChat Mini Store) recently launched a "limited-time flash sale" event, focusing on attracting merchants offering products priced under RMB 10. Eligible products will receive platform traffic support and flash sale subsidies, covering multiple high-frequency consumption categories such as food and beverages, daily necessities, cleaning products, and mobile phone accessories.

The platform not only provides event traffic and subsidies, but also conducts price comparison screening with reference to factors such as the recent inclusive actual price of the product and the price of identical products. The price competitiveness of products will be a key indicator for obtaining more resources.

It is understood that registration for this event has already opened, and the event will run from now until September 15. In terms of access requirements, registered stores must have a store experience score of no less than 4.4 or have no experience score yet; registered products must have a product experience score of no less than 4.2 and have recorded no fewer than 20 orders in the past 30 days.

News 7: H1 Revenue Reaches RMB 17.17 Billion, Wang Ning Says Pop Mart Delivered Its Best Performance in History

Pop Mart held its 2026 interim results conference recently. Wang Ning, the company's founder, said at the event that the group had delivered its best performance in history. "This half year is the result of a lot of our hard work, and there are also many unexpected surprises," Wang said. Wang specifically mentioned that Labubu has become a world-class IP. He also revealed that a mini version of Labubu will be released this week, which he believes will become a super hit. According to the financial report disclosed by Pop Mart, first-half revenue reached RMB 17.17 billion, up 23.8% year-on-year; adjusted net profit was RMB 5.16 billion, up 9.5% year-on-year; adjusted net margin stood at 30%, with a gross margin of 69.7%. Wang also noted that the company originally hoped to reach RMB 20 billion in revenue this year, but now feels that hitting RMB 30 billion this year should be easily achievable.

That's all for today's morning brief. For more e-commerce insights, please stay tuned to Ebrun's audio information.

This article was first published on the official website of Ebrun.