Updated May 16 at 4:06 p.m. E.T.

Walmart Inc. — which overcame a tough first-quarter consumer market to beat earnings estimates and raise its outlook for the year — is looking to go even bigger in fashion.

More from WWD

• Gen Alpha's Influence on Millennial Spending Power Predicted to Be Swift and Impactful

• Episode 37: Retail's State of Play

• Gen Z and Millennial Women Are Checking the Price Tag on Major Milestones

“We punched below our weight on general merchandise, specifically in apparel and home for a really long time, maybe forever,” said Doug McMillon, president and chief executive officer, on a conference call with analysts.

“The progress that we’re seeing now is driven by the in-store remodels and in e-commerce,” McMillon said. “The marketplace is a great opportunity, but [first-party sales handed directly by Walmart] will be important, too. So we’ve now got tools that we can use to grow the general merchandise business that we didn’t have before.”

Walmart doesn’t break out the specifics, but the retailer is generally seen as the second-largest player in apparel, footwear and accessories in the U.S. behind Amazon. Coresight Research recently estimated that Walmart logged $29.5 billion in U.S. fashion sales last year (including third-party sales, but excluding Sam’s Club). By comparison, Amazon’s fashion take tallied $56.4 billion.

But Walmart has something Amazon doesn’t — 4,600 stores, 93 percent of which are used to deliver online orders.

The brick-and-mortar doors are getting a refresh that puts fashion front and center with prime space near the cash registers — 63 were remodeled in the first quarter with a total of 650 doors slated to get a new look this year.

Walmart has also been leaning more into fashion as it builds its web business, which facilitates sales from third-party players on its marketplace.

The company’s global e-commerce business — which topped $100 billion in sales for the first time last year — grew by 21 percent in the quarter.

All together, Walmart carries more than 420 million stock keeping units online with the number of marketplace sellers increasing by 36 percent since the prior year. Much of the action is happening in apparel, a category that made up about half of Walmart’s online skus as of a year ago.

“It’s exciting to see more customers shopping more often, particularly in the marketplace,” said John Furner, CEO and president of Walmart U.S. “The categories that are really strong that are standing out is apparel and fashion online. I’m really excited about what’s happening in men’s and women’s and kids’ apparel, we’ve seen growth there.”