How to sell on Walmart marketplace
How does one begin to sell on Walmart’s Marketplace, considering the numerous reasons why brands would want to do so?
1. Apply for a Walmart marketplace seller account
To complete the application, brands should have the following information readily available: details about the type of products they sell, as well as some specific information about their business that Walmart needs to know.
- US Business Tax ID
- W9 or W8 and EIN Verification Letter from the Department of Treasury
- Product catalog integration plans (bulk upload, API, solution provider)
- Primary product categories, catalog size, and related information
- History of marketplace or e-commerce success
It is important to thoroughly review Walmart’s Prohibited Products Policy. If any of those items are included in a brand’s product list, the application will be immediately denied.
Walmart provides an application status tracker, and the approval times for the application may vary depending on the business size and qualifications. The brand’s provision of detailed information at this stage will expedite the approval process from Walmart.
2. Register your business and set up your account
Once a brand receives approval, it will be required to finish the process of account registration, which will involve:
- Creating an account
- Accepting the Walmart Retailer Agreement
- Registering the company
- Filling out tax forms
- Setting up a payment processor account
- Selecting a shipping pricing model
3. List your products
The following step is quite thrilling as it involves compiling a comprehensive list of all the items intended for sale on Walmart Marketplace. Brands have various options for uploading their product catalog, such as:
- CSV file bulk upload: Brands can create a CSV file using a spreadsheet that lists all of their products. The file needs to follow Walmart’s file upload guidelines. This simple option is good for sellers who are uploading a smaller catalog of products.
- API integration: This option works for brands that have a larger catalog and can connect via the Marketplace’s API to their e-commerce platform or an order management system.
- Integration partner: For brands using platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce, an integration partner can link their existing product catalog directly to Walmart’s Marketplace.
In order to differentiate their products from competitors on the Walmart Marketplace, brands need to grasp Walmart’s product attributes. These attributes cover various aspects such as the product’s specifications, pricing, description, and even the available shipping choices for specific items.
4. Conduct a test run before you officially go live
To ensure a positive customer experience, it is crucial to test the product catalog for any issues before making it available to the public. In the case of a brand with a limited catalog, the entire catalog can be sent for testing purposes. However, if the catalog is extensive, it is advisable to only send a selection of the best-selling items for testing.
Under the Stage status, all the products that have been added to the catalog will be listed. This indicates that they are not yet live in the Walmart Marketplace, but they can still be previewed in order to identify any potential issues.
Before going live, brands can set a few items to be made available and then proceed to place test orders in the Seller Center. This allows brands to test various scenarios such as order acknowledgment, order cancellation, and order refund. It is important to have a thorough understanding of the potential experiences that Walmart customers may encounter.
5. Launch your account and start selling!
After ensuring that the listings are displaying satisfactorily and the account is functioning well, the brand is prepared to become operational. Walmart carries out a final review before granting authorization for the account to go live. Once live, the items are made available on the marketplace for purchase within a few hours and become searchable within 24-48 hours.
Pros of selling on Walmart marketplace
1. Expand your reach.
According to ComScore, Walmart.com currently attracts over 120 million unique visitors each month, thanks to its global recognition and extensive range of products available.
One major benefit of selling on Walmart.com is the ability to utilize the existing traffic for your advantage. By doing so, you can expose your products to an established audience and tap into a completely new customer base available on both the site and the mobile app.
Please note that Walmart Marketplace is an exclusive platform consisting of selected sellers. In order to gain approval, it is necessary to offer competitively priced, high-quality products, along with exceptional customer service.
What does that mean for you in the end? You will have improved visibility for your listings due to reduced competition, and you’ll have the advantage of selling your products alongside other professional sellers and Walmart’s own products.
2. Pay only for what you sell.
When it comes to pricing, Walmart is renowned for offering low prices to both customers and sellers on its Marketplace platform. Walmart Marketplace adopts a straightforward and uncomplicated pricing system, where there are no setup or monthly fees involved. Instead, sellers are only required to pay a reasonable referral fee for each completed purchase.
The fee differs depending on the category (refer to the complete breakdown here), but it generally amounts to 15%. This applies to various categories, such as apparel, beauty products, and home & garden. However, specific categories like consumer electronics and cameras have a reduced referral fee of 8%.
3. Embrace innovation.
By partnering with Walmart, you are able to take advantage of various innovative ecommerce solutions such as advanced listing quality tools, advertising choices, and expedited shipping programs. These solutions have the potential to increase conversion rates by up to 50%, just to give a few examples.
You can access advantageous analytics immediately to support your business decisions now and in the future. We will delve further into these programs and tools at a later time.
Walmart marketplace seller best practices
1. Optimize your product listings
Walmart provides a distinct method for assessing the quality of a product listing and provides recommendations to enhance the listing. The Listing Quality of Walmart Marketplace employs an algorithm to produce a Listing Quality Score, which can range from 0 to 99. This score is applicable to both individual products and a brand’s entire catalog.
The number is composed of four factors.
- Content and discoverability
- Offer
- Ratings and reviews
- Post-purchase quality
By following the recommendations to enhance product listings, you will experience an increase in product views and, ultimately, an increase in sales.
2. Choose the right fulfillment options
The demand for speedy shipping is increasing among customers, particularly when shopping on popular marketplaces such as Amazon Prime and Walmart. Selling on the Walmart Marketplace enables brands to benefit from the platform’s commitment to deliver within two to three days.
Brands have the option to choose various shipping options for their different products. Products that offer two-day shipping are labeled with a “free 2-day delivery” tag, which Walmart has discovered leads to a 50% increase in conversion rates. However, if two-day shipping is not always feasible, products that promise three-day shipping experience a 30% increase in conversion rates.
3. Consider an integration partner
The Walmart Marketplace offers the option to integrate with partners who specialize in one or two specific areas or provide comprehensive services. It is crucial for brands to establish and uphold high customer standards, and utilizing an integration partner can help streamline operations and guarantee an excellent customer experience consistently.
4. Provide stellar customer service
To differentiate themselves while selling on the Walmart Marketplace, brands must offer excellent customer service. Walmart already handles the task of soliciting customer reviews through email after each purchase. Therefore, brands must concentrate on delivering exceptional customer service at every stage, including accurate product listings and prompt resolution of any issues.
By maintaining a high level of customer service, sellers can ensure their account remains in good standing and enable them to accumulate positive reviews.
5. Use paid ads to feature your products
In addition to optimizing product listings and providing excellent shipping options, Walmart provides brands the opportunity to buy ads in order to enhance visibility of their products among customers and drive sales.
Walmart offers sellers the opportunity to buy display ads and search ads that are shown to customers during product searches. Sellers are charged only when a customer clicks on the ads, rather than paying for every display of the ads.
6. Win more customers with expedited shipping programs and services
The key to success in ecommerce lies in having reliable shipping options and competitive rates. Walmart Marketplace provides a range of expedited shipping choices that enable sellers to efficiently handle their operations. When setting up your shipping preferences, you have the opportunity to consider several options and select the ones that best align with your business goals.
Both you and your customers will find the TwoDay program to be beneficial. Your catalog items that can be delivered within 2 days will receive attention-grabbing ‘free 2-day delivery’ tags on Walmart.com.
According to Walmart data, participating in the two-day program may lead to a 50% average increase in conversion, attracting attention, increasing Buy Box wins, and driving more sales.
The ThreeDay program is another excellent choice. If you cannot afford to provide free 2-day shipping for all your items, 3-day shipping is a suitable alternative. According to Walmart data, sellers experience an average 30% increase in conversion for items that offer a three-day delivery guarantee.
7. Take the stress out of returns with enhanced returns
Walmart has a unique advantage of enabling customers to make returns either in physical stores or online. Referred to as the Enhanced Returns program for Walmart Marketplace sellers, this flexibility can enhance customer satisfaction and reduce sellers’ expenses.
By opting for Walmart’s Returns Shipping Service (RSS) for label printing, you have the opportunity to reduce your return-processing expenses. With this service, available in-store, you can benefit from discounted rates and cut down on customer service and return fees.
8. Advertise with sponsored products
Walmart Marketplace provides a CPC (cost-per-click) advertising platform for sellers to manage their campaigns and budgets. With the Sponsored Products tool, ads can increase visibility and reach customers on Walmart.com, from search to checkout. At any given time, sellers can make use of this service, whether it is to achieve holiday objectives or to give specific inventory a boost.
There are two categories of campaigns available: Automatic and Manual. With Automatic campaigns, ads are served by the Walmart algorithm based on relevant search queries. On the other hand, Manual campaigns enable the seller to choose specific keywords and bid on customer search queries to enhance product discovery on Walmart.com. Both methods are efficient in generating impressions and promoting purchases.
9. Stand out from competition with the pro seller badge
One more development in Walmart Marketplace that has occurred recently is the introduction of the Pro Seller Badge.
The Pro Seller Badge is awarded to top-quality products on Walmart.com, highlighting their excellence, even though all Walmart Marketplace sellers must pass a rigorous evaluation process and meet stringent standards.
The Pro Seller Badge indicates that products come with good customer service, reliable on-time delivery, and the option for free online and in-store returns. This symbol of distinction can be seen next to the label “Sold & shipped by [Seller Name]” on Walmart.com, and customers can hover their cursor over the badge to view a brief description outlining the specific requirements.
The criteria for eligibility are updated twice each month and the quality of listings is directly linked to these criteria. In order to qualify, sellers must achieve a score of at least 50% for 60% or more of their trending items. Walmart Marketplace automatically assigns and removes badges according to these criteria, which can be viewed at any time in the Listing Quality Dashboard.
