BENTONVILLE, ARK. — Introduced a little more than a year ago, Walmart Inc.’s Bettergoods brand is nearing a half billion dollars in sales, said John Rainey, Walmart’s chief financial officer. He spoke June 9 at the Oppenheimer Consumer Growth and Ecommerce Conference that was held virtually.

“Bettergoods has been a big success story for us,” Rainey said. “We've launched roughly 400 different items (and) I think something like 70% are priced below the $5 mark. These are chef-inspired, healthy choices and ever since launch, which has been about a year ago, we’ve had almost a half billion in sales.”

Adding to Walmart’s enthusiasm about the brand, Rainey said 40% of customers that buy Bettergoods products are coming back as repeat customers.

“I think it really speaks to the quality of the overall assortment,” he said.

Introduced in April 2024, the Bettergoods line consisted of approximately 300 private label products in such formats as frozen food, dairy, snacks, beverages, pasta, soups, coffee, chocolate and more.

The line of products was developed focusing on three trends — culinary experiences, plant based and “made without,” according to Walmart.

The success of Bettergoods also is linked to the current state of the consumer, which Rainey called “consistent.”

“I know everyone is looking for any detection of change in (consumer) behavior, but by and large, if I were to generalize just looking at the first few months of the year, it’s been very consistent with what we’ve seen in prior quarters,” he said.

Rainey added that overall Walmart continues to see consumers shift some of their spending dollars to food from general merchandise.

A bright spot for the retailer has been the growth of ecommerce, and, specifically, the consumer’s willingness to pay for expedited or express delivery.

“In the last year, we’ve almost doubled from the first quarter of last year, the number of deliveries in under three hours,” Rainey said. “It’s up, I believe 90% is the exact number.