Walmart is actively recruiting more sellers – it onboarded 8,000 new sellers in the third quarter of 20022, and this week it kicked off a promotion to give US sellers an incentive to join its platform.
Merchants who sign up through the promotion will receive discounts on referral fees for 90 days. They’ll receive a 10% discount if they complete the new seller survey before going live, and they’ll receive another 5% discount on referral fees for using Walmart Fulfillment Services.
Walmart will also give another 5% referral-fee discount for sellers who use its ad program, and 5% for using its repricer. (No orders without associated Walmart Connect spend will be eligible for the additional 5% Walmart Connect referral fee discount – the same is true for orders without Repricer enrollment.)
Sellers will also receive a $500 search ads credit.
Manish Joneja announced the promotion in a post on the Walmart blog on Thursday. With a background that includes time at eBay and Amazon, he is currently Senior Vice President of Walmart U.S. Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, having joined the retailer in the fall.
In his post, Joneja called Walmart one of the fastest growing marketplaces in the US, with 118 million visitors a month. “In our FY23 Q3 earnings report released last November, we announced that our Marketplace SKU inventory had increased by 50% to 370 million SKUs, and we’re adding more each day,” he said.
He said Walmart wants to be the preferred easy-to-use, low cost and profitable platform for sellers of all sizes and said it is upgrading the seller experience with a faster onboarding process and updated tools and resources. “Sellers who choose our marketplace have access to our proprietary solutions and services that help them succeed and grow their businesses. That’s the competitive advantage of selling with the world’s leading retailer.”
To qualify for the promotion, merchants must be brand-new to the platform, and they must use a fulfillment service in order to join. (We have a question in to Walmart on whether Amazon’s fulfillment service qualifies.*) Be sure to read the promotion details and FAQs on the Walmart website.
Also of note: earlier this month, Walmart announced a white-label local delivery solution and Buy Online and Pick Up In-Store solution for local retailers.
*Update 1/30/2023: A Walmart spokesperson responded to our question about eligible fulfillment services: “This excludes Amazon fulfillment. Sellers can still use their own B2C warehouse (if they have one) or partner with a solution provider (such as Deliverr or ShipBob).”
The problem for Walmart is multi-layered – first the majority of their inventory is Chinese – hard for USA based business to compete. Not sure why W thinks we can. And the Chinese have no soul – they will knock of anything. Knock-offs on there right now as I type. Of course if the public is willing to buy into that so be it. 2nd fulfillment centers – who the heck made that up? You pay to get it there and you pay to get it back when at the tip of a hat they don’t want it. Stupid. And my product is too liquid – easily disappears from fulfillment centers. AND their selling sterling for $7.99 to unsuspecting buyers who think their actually getting real sterling silver – how do you compete with that if your making hand cast items yourself? You can’t. Being online for 25 years – selling hundreds of thousands of dollars of merchandise I don’t need anyone to tell me it’s time to ship – I need the money – I ship. I don’t sell junk – what’s the point of that? PT Barnum said you can fool yada yada. So why bother cheating someone?
No U.S. based seller can compete with Chinese sellers on Walmart. Once a problem at Amazon, now a problem at Walmart. Only chance is to focus on your own website and get buyers there.
Very slow seller website and Chinese sellers dominating this Marketplace now. No chance for U.S. base sellers.