How To Sell On Walmart.com Marketplace

In 2009 Wal-Mart entered the online marketplace game creating the Walmart Online Marketplace to give companies like Amazon a run for their money, literally. Since it's inception, Walmart now boasts 300 retailers and counting, including giants like Wayfair, eBags, and ProTeam. Third-party seller items are sold alongside Wal-Mart's online inventory with a "Walmart Marketplace" moniker to differentiate them from regular items. These items sold from third-parties are not sold in-stores or taken possession of by Wal-Mart. In August 2016 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. acquired eCommerce giant Jet.com, Inc. in a $3 billion deal. So what's in it for the seller? Their items are available to be sold in Walmart.com promotions, and not to mention a bigger consumer audience. Below we have highlight everything a potential Walmart Marketplace seller needs to know to get started.

Achieve Walmart Online Marketplace seller status in a few easy steps. All information can be found on their website, but I'll list them below for your convenience. 1.Apply and qualify as a marketplace seller: sellers are chosen based on reputation, sales projections, and alignment with Walmart values. Sellers request an invitation to qualify, providing information like their legal company name, online annual sales, product categories, etc. The current number of sellers is estimated to be in the hundreds, with plans to accelerate by the holiday season. Wal-Mart is looking for sellers who fill the gap of products they can’t fit inside stores. 2.Add Inventory:Add your goods for the world to feast upon and give regular online Walmart items a competitive companion. 3.Shipping to Customers:Ship directly to customers, handle inquires, and return of goods to fulfill orders. 4.Payment:Your business receives payment for your sales, while the marketplace takes a referral fee for contract categories, such as grocery and beauty. Just as easy as that,You have become a marketplace seller.

A Well known Retailer and Platform: Walmart.com sees 80 million visitors/month. You can take advantage of a huge exposure and present your product to a large audience. Simple and Easy Transactions:The marketplace is proud of their newly remodeled website promising a smooth browsing and ordering process with minimal clicks. Shoppers today want immediate satisfaction, and ease of processing an order, plays a big role into conversion of visits, to sales A Secured Platform:Walmart provides operational safety measures to ensure sellers and consumers their items will be secured through every step. Helpful Sellers Data: Sellers will receive support and metrics to provide insight into their sales and growth. Seller Training and Resource base: Access to a super helpful knowledge base to answer all the seller questions, like reducing out-of-stock items, helping sellers with conversion and making the highest profits on the platform

Online customers are looking for more products than they can find in-store. Plain and simple. And the best way for Walmart to keep and attract more consumers is to bring them online, with an abundance of stocked products. They want what they're looking for, at that moment, in full supply, in every variety possible, at a low price. However, the value Walmart consumers seek in-store doesn't necessarily mirror the value online shoppers seek. Research suggests Walmart.com consumers show higher in millennials and those in higher income brackets versus those that shop in-store. Nevertheless, value is what the people want, and Wal-Mart strives to provide that. They also want a seamless checkout process. Although a marketplace seller's item is clearly marked, some consumers hardly noticed they bought items from third party offers, and appreciate the smooth process. Integrating third-party sellers expand product selection, and with the help of an additional integrated optimization service I will later explain, eases the complexity of a sometimes stressful online buying process.

Wal-Mart's marketplace is stepping on the heels of Amazon and eBay, but it still has a long way to go. Currently, Walmart.com is the second most-visited e-commerce site in the U.S. with 88 million visitors per month and 11 million items for sale. That' still behind Amazon with 260 million items. However, plans to expand their products are in place. The online marketplace intends to add one million items per month. This is due in part from the help of their website revamp which allows more variety, more item information and continued support of third-party sellers. U.S. e-commerce sales are predicted to reach $684.24 billion by 2020. It's essential Wal-Mart's marketplace continues to grow and keep up with its competitors. If the company ever plans to roll out features like in-store pickup of online purchases from the marketplace, they would have a hefty advantage over Amazon. So, if sellers are finding continuous success via Wal-Mart, keep on riding that train because it could lead to a potential lead over the strongest online marketplace to-date.

Tips on How to Start Selling on Walmart.com

Check list before applying
Qualities Walmart look for in a Seller
Seller verification:how does it work
Integration Methods:The API

Here are Walmart Marketplace KPIs and metrics that you should be thinking about during your Walmart Marketplace seller application process: • What’s your seller order defect rate on Amazon (Make sure your Amazon order defect rate is less than 1% – this is a leading indicator) • What’s your seller feedback ratings across marketplaces (Make sure you have high Amazon and Ebay feedback ratings and have an explanation prepared for any low Amazon or Ebay seller feedback ratings. • What’s does your SKU distribution and catalog look like – are you the brand or a reseller? Walmart’s looking for a category leaders and brand owners and experts. • Are your company item’s fresh, new and hot on the e-commerce market or are they sunsetted and end of life? • Are you able to meet consumer demands and constantly have your product available and in-stock? Do you have over-selling prevention mechanisms in place to provide a superior customer experience to the Walmart consumer? • How often are you winning the Amazon Buy Box? Do you have 20% buybox share, 60% share or do you not compete with anyone in the Buy Box and control price across all the places you sell • How competitive are you on price if you do share the buybox with other Amazon sellers? Consumers are shopping on Walmart and need to know that their price is the lowest and they don’t need to look elsewhere. • What’s your customer support like? Who handles the customer support and what’s your Amazon seller feedback rating for the last 30-days? • Lastly, what is the return policy? Do you offer the same or better service than Amazon? How will you translate your return policy to selling on Walmart?

Walmart islooking for relationships with reputable retailers and brands that provide: First-class customer service Unique product assortment Competitive pricing Fast and reliable fulfillment

Walmart’s verification process is proprietary and confidential. They make every effort to move the seller through the process as quickly as possible.

The Walmart Marketplace API can be broken into two groups: Item API: To ingest, update and retire items Transaction API: To update prices and inventory, and to manage orders The API is designed with REST standards in mind. It is designed to have resource-oriented URLs that are predictable and to use HTTP response codes to indicate API errors. Choose your integration method The first step before proceeding with item setup is to choose your integration method. The API integration method: This is a standard method of integration with web-based applications; it requires some programming. This method is very stable and scalable. It is recommended that you choose this method if you are publishing a large catalog of items on Walmart and have a technical team to support your operations. Bulk Upload method - This method involves inserting your catalog details into Excel spreadsheets. This method is easy and does not require any technical capabilities. This method is recommended for sellers with a limited catalog. Integration Partner - You can integrate through an Integration Partner rather than integrating directly with Walmart.com

A Very Important Note to all dear Sellers

Selling on Walmart.com is very simple, once you get your API service set up to load your inventory to the marketplace and manage it for you. It's very important to get in touch with a provider and educate yourself about all aspects of API system and basics of how it works. We are here to help you understand this process and make sure that you take the correct steps to start your journey. We highly recommend that you seek help from a professional, if you are not familiar with API and it's process. You DON'T want to make a mistake in your setup and miss your orders and get your seller account suspended, before you can start.