How to Sell Your Products on Walmart Marketplace
Getting started with Walmart Marketplace is easier than you might think.
Inventory management software can play an essential role in streamlining eCommerce product listings, inventory tracking, and order processing as you tap into the power of Walmart Marketplace.
For over 60 years, Walmart has redefined the retail shopping experience by taking economies of scale and global expansion to unprecedented levels. With the addition of the Walmart Marketplace in 2009, these revolutionary concepts became part of the burgeoning eCommerce landscape. Benefiting from the name and reputation of thousands of brick-and-mortar stores, the Walmart.com website attracts over 130 million customers each month.
It is only logical to tap into this vast online presence to reach more customers for your own business, but how do you get started? Walmart Marketplace caters to sellers of all types, so you can be well on your way to leveraging one of the world’s largest online platforms in just a few easy steps. This comprehensive guide will show you how.
Are you ready to place your products on virtual Walmart shelves all over the world? Then read on.
What is Walmart Marketplace?
Walmart Marketplace is a community of established, professional sellers who offer unique, high-quality items to complement the first-party offerings shoppers find on Walmart.com. Sellers ranging from solo entrepreneurs to established businesses can provide their own fulfillment services or utilize Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) to let Walmart handle storage and shipment operations. From the customer standpoint, Walmart Marketplace is very similar to the third-party online shopping experience found on eBay or Amazon.
Benefits of selling on Walmart Marketplace
In addition to providing instant access to millions of online shoppers, selling on Walmart Marketplace offers many other advantages. Once you have determined the Marketplace is a good fit for your business and products, getting started on Walmart Marketplace can produce additional benefits, including:
- Access to innovation: Partnering with an industry-leading company gives you access to tools and technology that can help you boost conversions. Walmart provides tools like advanced advertising, quality listing tools, and analytics that help your campaigns perform better over time.
- Brand exposure: Studies have shown that repetition is one key to brand recognition and enhancement. Even in the absence of online sales, maintaining a presence on the Walmart Marketplace repeatedly exposes your brand to millions of consumers each day as they browse for their products of choice.
- Easy checkout: With so many options available, customers naturally avoid eCommerce websites with slow, inconvenient, or unsecure checkout processes. Walmart standardizes this quick and efficient process for Marketplace buyers and encrypts all transactions to build confidence in the checkout process.
- No monthly fees: Rather than charging a flat monthly fee, Walmart Marketplace only charges a referral fee that ranges from 6 to 15 percent, depending on the item. In other words, you only pay a fee when you sell a product. This makes Walmart Marketplace a budget-friendly option.
“A penny saved is a penny earned.” – Benjamin Franklin
Getting started on Walmart Marketplace
How do you decide whether Walmart Marketplace is right for your business? The application and setup processes are relatively easy, so setting up an account to test the waters of this platform can be a viable, pain-free option. Before you begin the process, make sure you meet the short list of minimum requirements for all Walmart Marketplace sellers:
- Business Tax ID(s) (SSN not accepted) or Business License Number
- Supporting documents that verify your Business Name and Address
- History of marketplace or eCommerce success
- Products that have GTIN/UPC GS1 Company Prefix Numbers
- Catalog that complies with Walmart Prohibited Products Policy
These non-negotiable requirements might rule out hobbyists and part-time sellers who are likely to find a better fit on platforms like eBay or Etsy, but most professional sellers can check these boxes with ease.
1. Complete your application
What is required to verify your business? The application process begins when you request a new seller profile from https://marketplace.walmart.com/. Make sure you have important information like your business tax ID readily available before you start the application. Once you create an account in the system, you will receive a link that asks you to provide or review additional information including:
- Walmart retailer agreement: This legal agreement includes the terms and conditions that all sellers must agree to and sign before moving forward.
- Tax forms: A W9 form must be completed for tax purposes. Walmart performs a verification process to ensure each prospective seller maintains an active tax ID.
- Payment info: Registration with a payment partner like Payoneer or Hyperwallet is required before Walmart Marketplace can issue payment to marketplace sellers.
- Shipping info: You will be provided with a list of selections to define your shipping strategy, including your preferences for free delivery or expedited shipping charges.
- Product info: Walmart will request details on your expected offerings to determine whether any fall within the prohibited products category. They will also request proof of successful online sales from your past.
Although the application process is relatively easy, decisions are not made instantly. In fact, it may take Walmart 2-4 weeks to approve or decline your seller application, and additional information might be requested.
2. Set up your items
Once you have been approved and select a selling plan (depending on your expected volume), it’s time to begin setting up your items on Walmart Marketplace. Sellers have many options available to integrate their catalog with Walmart.com. Within the Seller Center, you can add individual items to your portfolio by manually typing in product titles, descriptions, prices, and other relevant information, then uploading product photos. Walmart Marketplace also allows you to upload items in bulk using an Excel spreadsheet.
The best inventory management software can be integrated with Walmart Marketplace to make the item setup process more efficient by automatically synchronizing product details, pricing information, and inventory levels. This real-time synchronization also ensures your product listings are always current.
3. Test your profile
Now that you’ve been approved and have set up some items on your account, is it time to start selling? Not just yet. Walmart recommends testing at least 50 products before going live, although some sellers might be comfortable with less.
Test orders include complete transactions from the selection, order, and payment processes through shipment and delivery. You might also want to test less common scenarios like order cancellations and refunds. This safe approach allows you to verify things are running smoothly without risking dissatisfied customers or bad reviews.
4. Choose an integration method
If you decide to integrate inventory management software or order management software with your Walmart Marketplace account, you will need to determine whether your current software package is suitable, or search for a new option. The integration step can be completed up front or after you’ve had some time to get your feet wet on the Walmart platform. The best inventory management options will allow you to integrate order, pricing, and inventory functions and synchronize your eCommerce across multiple platforms while offering you dedicated phone, chat, and email support.
5. Reap the rewards
Walmart Marketplace has experienced exponential growth over the past decade, and the reasons are obvious. A brand and platform with worldwide exposure and recognition, a competitive pricing policy for sellers, and access to the latest marketing technology and analytics have made this option a win-win for buyers, sellers, and Walmart.
With minimal effort and little investment, thousands of new sellers are beginning to reap the rewards of Walmart Marketplace each month.
“There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.” – Sam Walton
Agiliron Introduces their New Walmart Marketplace Integration Channel
With the release of version 16.1 in August of 2023, Agiliron has added a new and exciting capabilities including BackOffice enhancements, responsive themes for B2C and B2B Webstores (complete with Demo Sites), and the ability to associate a specific POS Salesperson at the Line Item Level. Version 17.0 (early October 2023 release) continues this trend with the addition of a New Walmart Marketplace Integration Channel to help you integrate all your retail and eCommerce operations in one place.
Inventory management software benefits businesses of all types and sizes. As you continue your eCommerce journey, our solution experts are available to help you discover how the best inventory management practices take the stress and uncertainty out of business operations. Schedule your consultation today.
