--- description: Find out why Walmart was selected for the inaugural list title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2021: Walmart image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f68e611b8368d1/698a18e486f68e0e736efe7d/walmart-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 26, 2021 # Walmart Keeping America fed, clothed and vaccinated by [Eben Shapiro](/author/eben-shapiro/) ## Eben Shapiro Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Eben Shapiro is the former deputy editor of TIME  A customer uses self-checkout in a Walmart store in 2020. A customer uses self-checkout in a Walmart store in 2020.Courtesy Wesley Hitt—Walmart [Walmart](https://time.com/tag/walmart/ "undefined"), once reviled as a destroyer of small-town Main Streets, played a critical role in keeping the nation fed and clothed during the pandemic, all while generating nearly $560 billion in revenue last year. It did that, like many retailers, by greatly accelerating its [push into e-commerce](https://time.com/collection/great-reset/5900765/walmart-ceo-reinventing-capitalism/ "undefined"), with digital sales jumping 69% in the last three months of 2020\. Now its thousands of stores, many in rural, underserved areas, are vaccinating customers. It’s also taking steps to repair its image as an exploiter of low-wage workers: in February, it announced a broad wage hike. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953746/walmart-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953746/walmart-2/"},"headline":"Walmart","datePublished":"2021-04-26T14:32:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:48:44.352Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953746/walmart-2/","keywords":["Lists","franchise","TIME100 Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f68e611b8368d1/698a18e486f68e0e736efe7d/walmart-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eben Shapiro","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eben-shapiro/"}],"creator":"Eben Shapiro","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd6f68e611b8368d1/698a18e486f68e0e736efe7d/walmart-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953746/walmart-2/","name":"Walmart"}}]}] ```