How To Sell On Walmart Marketplace (2024 Guide)

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The Walmart Marketplace is expanding rapidly, with e-commerce sales increasing consistently in the United States and around the world. The platform has been a boon for both new and established sellers, with over 100,000 sellers active in the market as of 2021. Walmart’s online platform can provide a variety of unique benefits to your business, ranking second only to Amazon in terms of the largest e-commerce market share.

On its online marketplace, Walmart has strong brand recognition. When you sell on Walmart Marketplace, you gain access to a massive customer base that already purchases from this platform. If you aren’t already listed on this highly promising channel, I recommend you start paying attention.

Walmart: In A Nutshell

Walmart launched its online marketplace in 2009, and it is now one of the top three most profitable eCommerce marketplaces in the United States. In 2020, Walmart will have surpassed eBay to become the second-best retail eCommerce business in the United States. Walmart eCommerce grew by 79% in the fiscal year 2021, and it is expected to grow by triple digits by the end of 2021.

While it continued to grow at a slow pace, the company’s recent acquisitions of various e-commerce brands and other strategic investments have contributed to the rapid growth as well as popularity of Walmart among online businesses.

How To Sell On Wallmart - Overview

Walmart made a significant step toward entering the Asian eCommerce market by bidding on Flipkart, an established and popular Indian e-commerce firm. Walmart paid $16 billion for a majority stake in Flipkart in 2018 and led a $1.2 billion financing round, increasing its stake from 77% to more than 82%.

Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS)

Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), is Walmart’s move on competing against Amazon’s FBA model. At least 45% of sellers on Amazon believe Walmart will take a head-on clash against Amazon in 2024, and 31% plan to launch their selling businesses through WFS in 2024.

WFS is quite similar to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and enables sellers on Walmart to directly ship their items to Walmart fulfillment centers. There, everything from storage, to product pick up, packing, and shipping will be managed by Walmart as well as customer service.

Some sellers can use Walmart’s fulfillment network to grow their businesses by leveraging its expertise in logistics and cutting-edge supply chain abilities. Walmart is doing this to expand its own product offerings, as well as to provide a way for a brand to expand the business more effectively.

How to Sell on Walmart Using WFS? 

If you currently sell on Walmart’s marketplace, you must log in to your Seller Center account and check your eligibility. If you are not already a seller with Walmart, you can apply by completing the Walmart Fulfillment Services Interest Form. So, once you’ve figured out all of that, here’s what you need to do.

1. Get your business approved for selling on Walmart 

First, you need to apply for permission to start selling on Walmart alongside other reputed brands. To be approved, you must describe the purpose of your company, the products you will sell, details of any other particular marketplace you’re selling, basic operational information, and contact information.

How to Sell On Walmart - Company Registration

2. Set up Seller Account 

After you’ve signed the Walmart agreement, you can then proceed with setting up a Seller Account. Then you can submit payment account information, and continue uploading your products. You will also need to finish the onboarding process of a seller. You can then upload your listings here and test them to ensure they are functional. You can begin selling once Walmart has reviewed your listings.

How to Sell On Walmart - Detailed

3. Test Your Order Process

This is the last step in creating your listing. Here you need to test your orders. You can test the process of checkout, how the order cancellations are managed, how to allot refunds, etc. from the Seller Center, for managing your listings. Testing allows you to identify the problems during the checkout process before customers attempt to purchase.

How to Sell On Walmart - US Address

Benefits of Selling on Walmart

Here are a few benefits you will get from selling on Walmart.

1. Less Competition, More Chances of Standing Out!

Walmart’s barrier to entry is extremely high, which may make opening a Walmart store difficult for small sellers. Because of the high barrier to entry, there is less competition on the Walmart Marketplace, which means that sellers who get in have a good chance of standing out.

Walmart is estimated to have 50,000 third-party sellers (opens in new tab), with hundreds of new sellers added on a monthly basis. When compared to Amazon’s 2.4 million(opens in new tab) third-party sellers, this is a drop in the bucket. However, with fewer sellers, your chances of winning the Buy Box are better.

2. Access to Free Shipping Within 2-Days

The Walmart 2-Day Shipping tag allows Sellers to use the tag to guarantee fast shipping to customers, capture customers willing to buy, and increase the visibility of their products.

You’ll notice a shipping options filter in the navigation bar on the left of all categories of products you search on Walmart. The 2-Day Shipping option is shown in green text and bold to distinguish it from other options.

3. Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS)

Walmart has developed its own Fulfillment Services called WFS as a direct competition to Amazon’s FBA. This program gives merchants more power so that they can easily fulfill orders. Sellers can share their inventory with one of their fulfillment centers to ensure safe storage as well as shipping of the products.

Fast delivery, simple returns, and excellent customer service along with 2-day shipping options on products are a few of the prime advantages that sellers get through WFS. The program has a straightforward pricing structure with no hidden charges. The pricing will include monthly storage charges that are fixed along with a fulfillment price that depends solely on the weight of the shipment.

With WFS, sellers will also be able to easily track inventory, orders, as well as shipments. Sellers will be able to get a complete picture of their product stock, orders placed, and orders delivered through neat and simple dashboards.

4. Outsourcing fulfillment to Walmart-approved Partners

Walmart allows sellers to manage fulfillment by using various shipping methods such as Delivery. They also give sellers access to several Sponsored Products, which allows them to market and promote their products. When using Deliverr, there is no minimum amount to spend for Sponsored Products; otherwise, the minimum amount you need to spend per campaign will be $1,000. The products can be promoted at a much lower cost while ensuring they increase their revenue in this manner.

5. Gain Access to Many full-Service and specialty Listing tools

Integrations are a powerful tool for automating repetitive tasks and lowering the risk of input errors. When you sell on Walmart, you have the freedom to integrate existing tools while also discovering new ones that are more efficient.

When selling on Walmart, you can use automation to manage pricing and promotions, as well as inventory quantities stored in multiple warehouses, rather than manually managing inventory at a single location.

Benefits Of Selling On Walmart

Here are the benefits of selling on Walmart.

  • No Recurring Fees: There is no setup or a monthly fee for selling on Walmart, unlike other marketplaces. You only have to pay a small referral fee for every product you sell. The referral fee differs from product to product.
  • Low Competiton: Walmart is the only exclusive marketplace that is hard for sellers to enter. That is why getting approved to sell on Walmart is a very hectic process. But once you do get in, you will not find much competition here, making it easier for you to sell your products.
  • Better Exposure: Walmart gets millions of unique visitors every month, which gets sellers better exposure. Once you list your product on Walmart, then you will be in front of plenty of new customers, which ensures that your products will get sold.
  • Plenty Of Tools: Walmart offers you a lot of tools that can help you grow as a merchant. Using these tools, you can understand your customers & their needs, track your sales, create profitable campaigns, and so on.

Selling on Walmart Vs Amazon FBA Vs eBay 

Each of these three eCommerce marketplaces has its own set of advantages, disadvantages, and business models that influence how sellers conduct business on either of the platforms. Even the most experienced eCommerce teams may find it difficult to learn the ins and outs of so many platforms, let alone how to best scale your brand on each of them.

We’ll now look at two of the most popular eCommerce marketplaces in the United States, namely Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, and tell you everything you need to know about establishing or maintaining your brand’s presence on these platforms.

We have also done a detailed Selling On Walmart Vs Amazon comparison here.

Sellers

eBay: In recent years, eBay has experienced a significant marketing push to position itself as a place to find unique items. It has also earned a reputation as the ideal site for beginners and hobby sellers due to its ease of use.

Amazon: Amazon expects a lot from its sellers as certain brands can only be sold by specific sellers. Some categories on Amazon also require prior approval before you start listing your products. Furthermore, the fees are higher and more complicated. While this may appear to be a setback, many brands believe the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. 

Walmart: Unlike eBay, Walmart Marketplace sellers first need to get their businesses approved before they set up a shop and start selling. This is to ensure that Walmart maintains its reputation as a trustworthy vendor that sells at reasonable prices. This retail behemoth is not to be trifled with, and in order to sell your products through them, you must meet their exacting standards. The application process (according to the instructions) takes about 10-15 minutes to complete, but you’ll need some official documents such as your tax ID, W-9, and product GTINs.

Customers

eBay: There are millions of customers worldwide. eBay had 180 million active buyers in the first quarter of 2019. eBay boasts of a massive consumer base spanning over 40 countries and has 27 international eBay websites, allowing eBay sellers to reach a broader audience. Overall, eBay shoppers are looking for a good deal.

Amazon: Despite the fact that it is not completely customized, Amazon provides a professional and dependable customer experience that hundreds of millions of customers have come to rely on. They had more than 100 million Amazon Prime subscribers in January 2019.

Walmart: Since Walmart has built a reputation for selling affordable and quality products, customers will expect lower prices of products, whether online or by walking into their store. To give you an idea of what their customers expect, the Walmart Plus subscription is cheaper than Amazon Prime.

Policies

eBay: eBay really stands out against the competition when it comes to its fees and sellers getting complete control over their store and listings. PayPal, levies 2.9% + $0.30 of charges for each sale. In addition, eBay even charges a final value fee of 10%. While these fees may appear to be excessive, they are much simpler and straightforward than those charged by other marketplaces such as Amazon.

Amazon: They charge $0.99 for each item you list, plus a referral fee varying between 6-45% which depends on the listing category. Furthermore, there is a closing fee for BMDV (books, media, DVD, and video) items as well which is fixed at $1.35 per item. Other products are subject to a variable closing fee based on the item’s weight.

Walmart: There are no regular fees, but there are sale fees. The absence of regular fees is the most noticeable advantage of the Walmart Marketplace right away. Sellers only pay a referral fee if they make a sale. In comparison, Amazon requires sellers to pay monthly dues and variable closing fees in addition to referral fees.

Additional Tips for Selling on Walmart

With Amazon being the most obvious place to start or expand an eCommerce business, a new seller would be foolish to expect low competition. To stay ahead of other online retailers selling on Amazon, you’ll need to work hard at implementing various sales strategies.

On the other hand, Walmart expects to have sellers an impeccable reputation, which is a significant barrier for small and medium-sized businesses to overcome. However, if your application is accepted by Walmart and you are able to enter the marketplace, you will face less competition than Amazon, which means your brand will have a better chance of standing out and being noticed.

When it comes to registering with Walmart, you will need to fill out their application, so be clear on the value and quality your products provide. Consider the products that Walmart already sells and position your products in the same way, with competitive pricing for everyday shoppers.

If you use BigCommerce or WooCommerce to manage your product lists and sales transactions, they integrate with Walmart via an API connection to make bulk uploads and tracking sales simple.

Final Thoughts: How To Sell On Walmart In 2024

With the rate at which Walmart’s eCommerce is expanding, it is becoming increasingly important for brands to establish a presence on Walmart.com. Selling on Walmart’s marketplace is almost always a good idea. Walmart has stated that it has stringent requirements for potential third-party sellers.

Walmart’s investment in its eCommerce platform should make sellers around the world sit up and take notice of this well-established retail behemoth. To succeed in the ever-changing eCommerce landscape, sellers must diversify and adapt. And for those who are qualified, Walmart offers a golden opportunity.

FAQs

How much does it cost to sell on Walmart?

Walmart does not charge you any setup fee or monthly fee. The only fee sellers will have to pay when they sell any product where they have to pay a certain percentage of the sale to Walmart. This percentage range is 6% to 15%, depending on the product category and price.

Can I sell on Amazon and Walmart together?

Yes, you can sell on both Walmart and Amazon. Getting approval to sell on Walmart is quite difficult compared to Amazon. But once you do, you can sell on both platforms simultaneously.

Which are the best products to sell on Walmart?

Some of the best-selling categories on Walmart are personal care, beauty, cell phones, health & medicine, electronics, clothing, shoes & accessories, and so on. You won’t be successful if you are planning to sell high-end luxury items because Walmart users usually shop for products that are offering affordability and value for money.

Which products can’t you sell on Walmart?

You can’t sell unauthorized products, illegal items, any kind of Alcohol, Gold, Currencies, Artifacts, Used cosmetics items, and autographs on Walmart.

Is it worth selling on Walmart?

If you are an eCommerce seller, then you already know that it is best to sell on multiple eCommerce platforms. So if you get yourself approval to sell on Walmart, then it would be best to sell on Walmart.

Brian

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