Walmart offers new fulfillment, e-commerce features to sellers

Walmart is accelerating its efforts to grow its third-party marketplace by giving sellers more resources to market and deliver products to customers. 

The retail giant on Wednesday kicked off its first-ever Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit, a two-day event attended by a group of third-party sellers that do business on the site.

Also on Wednesday, the retailer unveiled several new online fulfillment and marketing capabilities it is providing to not only attract new sellers to Walmart Marketplace but to retain existing ones.  It also is expanding the marketplace for the first time outside of North America.

Fulfillment

• Local pickup and delivery: Walmart Marketplace is standing up local pickup and delivery for sellers who have physical stores. Customers can pick up their items directly or have same-day delivery fulfilled through the Walmart last mile delivery network.
• Big and bulky and multibox fulfillment from Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS): Walmart is also providing more fulfillment options for sellers who list big and bulky items, such as canoes or trampolines, by offering access to Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), a fee-based program providing services including storing, picking, packing and shipping, along with the handling of returns and customer service. Sellers can now use WFS to ship multi-box items like patio sets. These new services mean more items can carry the Fulfilled by Walmart tag. According to Walmart, third-party sellers on its online marketplace see on average 50% growth in gross merchandise value (GMV) when shifting items to WFS.   
• Expansion into Chile: Adding to the existing markets of Canada, Mexico and the U.S., early next year Walmart is opening up its marketplace in Chile to eligible cross-border sellers. 

Marketing

• Brand Shops and Brand Shelves: With the Brand Shops feature, sellers can create dedicated digital storefronts that allow brands to create their own curated pages. Brand Shelves enable sellers and brands to build shelves to feature curated assortments, or try a seasonal collection.
• Virtual Garage: The new Virtual Garage feature on the Walmart site and in the Walmart app allows customers to store details about multiple vehicles. This connects with scheduling service appointments at Walmart Auto Care Centers. As customers use these features, they can slso shop Walmart’s full range of auto items, including products from third-party sellers..

“All this progress means something special for our customers, too: even more choice,” Manish Joneja, senior VP, Walmart Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, Walmart U.S, said in a corporate blog post. “That means they’re all turning toward Walmart to find the items they love – items just like the ones Walmart sellers offer.

Walmart provides incentives to third-party sellers

Walmart has been steadily expanding and adding new perks to Walmart Marketplace. For example, in January 2023, the retailer launched a  limited-time program on Walmart Marketplace called New-Seller Savings, which granted new sellers based in the U.S. up to a 25% commission rate reduction for 90 days when trying Walmart Marketplace’s tools and services.

And in June 2023, the retailer added Austin, Tex.-based e-commerce funding specialist Onramp to Walmart Marketplace. As a result, independent sellers and small retailers on Walmart Marketplace now have access to flexible funding packages designed to help drive scale.

Walmart is giving third-party retailers more reasons to participate in Walmart Marketplace as chief rival Amazon actively assists third-party retailers (primarily small-to-medium-sized businesses) to sell on its Amazon Marketplace e-commerce platform with at least 150 tools and services. 

Based in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart Inc. operates more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 20 countries.