As one of the largest retailers in the United States, Walmart has been a household name for decades. While it may be heavily associated with its shopping experience and sales-related crowds, much like countless other retailers they have made the push toward e-commerce accommodations, with many of its products as readily available online as they are in store. Walmart not only offers many of the items they provide in-store online but has now created a venue for other e-commerce businesses to distribute their goods online. Walmart Marketplace is an online community of sellers that organize, manage, and ultimately ship their goods through Walmart’s fulfillment services.
As a natural response to the overwhelming success of Amazon’s marketplace model, Walmart may not be as new but has made substantial strides toward success in a short amount of time. In 2020 alone Walmart experienced a 124% sales boost from 2019’s numbers due to Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Even better, the saturation of Amazon’s marketplace has resulted in many e-commerce businesses turning to the less competitive Walmart marketplace. In this article, we’ll explore how to sell on Walmart Marketplace, as well as some of the benefits of selling on Walmart marketplace for e-commerce to consider before choosing their preferred online retailer.
- What Is Walmart Marketplace
- How to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
- Cost to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
- Selling on Walmart vs Amazon
What Is Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace is an online community of sellers that organize, manage, and ultimately ship their goods through Walmart’s fulfillment services. Third-party sellers can list their items through Walmart’s website and ultimately provide large-scale exposure to a business’s catalog of products. For business owners that have ever used eBay or Amazon, they may anticipate a comparable process, with a less saturated community of online sellers. Walmart’s Marketplace is still growing which provides even more opportunities for popping up within an online shopper’s search results when browsing Walmart’s website. When selling on Walmart Marketplace, online businesses can still have control over their inventory, pricing, fulfillment, and customer service while gaining access to the network of support and experience Walmart has to offer
How to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
When first learning how to sell on Walmart Marketplace it’s important to understand what will be needed before signing up with Walmart’s services that will determine a business’ eligibility. The process of selling on Walmart Marketplace is fairly straightforward once the approval process is complete, which includes:
- Register Partner Profile: – The application process is fairly streamlined, after collecting the necessary documents such as a business tax ID and W9, as well as providing information about the seller’s services like their integration methods, primary product categories, and history of e-commerce success. After approval, sellers can register their account with Walmart, which involves filling out additional documents such as payment information and tax documents.
- Post Products: – After the seller account has been properly approved and registered through Walmart Marketplace, the business owner can finally begin to post their catalog of products onto the site. This step will also include testing shipping services before going live on the site, it’s recommended to test products that sellers know will likely be ordered the most often. Sellers may test their order acknowledgment, order cancellations, order shipping, and cancellations all before ever going live.
- Launch Account: Once it’s been verified that everything is operating smoothly, it’s time to launch the account to begin selling on Walmart Marketplace. After going live, items are officially published on Walmart’s website and may be purchased within 24-48 hours of being posted.
Cost to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
Walmart has made such a huge name for itself partially due to its dedication to providing low prices to shoppers. Luckily this also applies to its online sellers, as Walmart Marketplace’s fees are minimal and fairly streamlined. The fees associated with selling through their online marketplace are based on product category, but a large majority of items have a 15% referral fee. Some items such as jewelry are priced with a 20% fee, but other items like baby supplies are priced with an 8% fee. To see the full scope of the Walmart Marketplace pricing structure explore their website to learn more about their referral fees.
Selling on Walmart vs Amazon
When choosing a platform for online retailing in today’s market, there’s no denying that there are multiple options. The online retailing titans like eBay and Amazon have had years to develop their online infrastructure to support their growth but Walmart has made tremendous strides in a much shorter amount of time. With over 100 million online visitors each month, the exposure that online sellers gain when selling on Walmart Marketplace has made it a very popular option in recent years. Some of the key differences between Amazon Professional and Walmart Marketplace include:
- Selling Fees: Amazon Professional accounts feature a monthly usage cost, as well as referral fees for many of their products. On the other hand, Walmart Marketplace only charges referral fees for each product sold, with different price levels based on product type. Both online retailers will feature separate fulfillment service fees, with Amazon sellers required to use Amazon’s FBA services and Walmart sellers having the choice to opt into this element of their program.
- Product Listing: Walmart Marketplace boasts a reputable community of online sellers, which can make its onboarding and listing process a tad more involved than Amazon’s. Each Walmart product requires a UPC (unique barcode), which if that isn’t already completed can halt the registration and listing process. Amazon also doesn’t require sellers to be approved before beginning to list their goods.
- Shipping and Fulfillment: Especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, shipping times and fulfillment services have never been more valued in the e-commerce space. Amazon pioneered free and fast shipping processes, with two-day shipping being the new standard for many Amazon orders with their creation of Amazon Prime. This is partially due to over 70% of Amazon sellers using Amazon’s fulfillment services to streamline their shipping logistics. Walmart has happily stepped up to the plate by developing their own loyalty program Walmart+ for online shoppers to reap the benefits of fast shipping outside of Amazon’s services. Walmart’s Fulfillment Services are available to approved sellers who express interest, which can help them in terms of warehousing their products and getting them shipped in a way that they know will be approved by Walmart’s shipping requirements.
- Performance Metrics: Both Amazon and Walmart have their own specific performance metrics that they analyze to determine that a seller is a reputable and successful part of their online selling community. These metrics are especially relevant to sellers who do not use Walmart or Amazon fulfillment services, which will lead the retailer to assume fault for unpromising metrics. In Walmart’s case, they look at order defect rates of less than 2%, timely shipment rates above 99%, and a valid tracking rate of over 99%. For Amazon, they look to maintain an order defect rate of lower than 1%, a cancellation rate under 2.5%, and late shipment rates under 4% for all orders placed through their website.
ShipCalm Can Help You With Walmart Marketplace
While the customer service and support gained through Walmart’s developing online infrastructure is highly beneficial for any growing online business, it’s always great to have additional helping hands. ShipCalm is a third-party logistics company with extensive experience working with online retailers such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart Marketplace to help products and services get shipping according to these online host’s requirements. ShipCalm’s e-commerce fulfillment services include warehousing, inventory management, shipping processes, and much more that will help online sellers gain the peace of mind that their products are being delivered in a timely and successful manner. Growing an online business is made simpler with ShipCalm’s extensive knowledge and experience in shipping logistics. For questions about Walmart Marketplace or ShipCalm’s services, contact us today to learn more!
