Table of Contents
- What Is Walmart Marketplace?
- Benefits of selling on Walmart
- Requirements to become a Walmart Seller
- 6 Steps to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
- Qualifications for Selling On the Walmart Marketplace
- Mistakes to avoid for selling smoothly at Walmart
- How to Optimize Your Walmart Product Listings
- How to Increase Sales on Walmart Marketplace
- Conclusion
What is Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace is a platform that allows third-party sellers to post their products on Walmart.com, such as Amazon or eBay. Selling products at Walmart’s online marketplace is an easy way to expose your products to a wider audience. Marketplace items appear in Walmart.com search results along with other items.
Benefits of Selling on Walmart
In addition to the expanded traffic portal and the opportunity to sell at one of the leading and growing markets in the United States, you can also get the following benefits:
No Monthly Fee
After becoming a Wal-Mart seller, the biggest benefit you get is zero monthly fee. You can list your products for free on Walmart! When your store sells, you only need to pay the category recommendation fee.
Exposure
Every month, Millions of customers log on to Wal-Mart, and these numbers are increasing every day. Selling on Walmart means expanding your influence and reaching a wide audience.
Trust
Wal-Mart is a trusted brand and selling online on a trusted platform helps attract consumers quickly because customers trust the brand and take advantage of it.
Quick Checkout
Customers don’t want to spend too much time on checkout. They want it to be fast and safe. Wal-Mart provides a safe and fast checkout process to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience.
Customer Support
You don’t need to worry about investing in customer support when selling at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart provides outstanding support to all its customers. Therefore, you can contact Wal-Mart Marketplace at any time.
Requirements to become a Walmart Seller
Merchants need to meet certain prerequisites to become a Wal-Mart seller.
If you regard Wal-Mart as your sales platform, please meet the following criteria:
- You need to have a warehouse in the United States, and have a U.S. tax number and a commercial bank account.
- You should be able to ship and receive returns from a warehouse in the United States.
- You should also be able to provide UPC or GTIN codes for each SKU.
6 Steps to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
Step 1: Apply to become a Walmart Marketplace Seller
To become a Wal-Mart Marketplace seller, please visit marketplace.walmart.com. and fill up all required fields after clicking “sales request”. Once you have all the details ready, it will take 10 minutes to complete.
After completing each section, click “Save” at the bottom. Be sure to double check each section for errors. Incorrect information can slow down the approval process. When you are ready, click “Apply Now”. You will receive an email, once you are approved for your Walmart seller account.
Step 2: Complete your Registration
Follow the unique link in your approval email (subject line: “Your account has been created in the Walmart Marketplace”) to create your partner profile. The signup assistant will guide you through four key components: account creation, partner registration, tax (W-9) and shipping information.
Step 3: Complete Partner Profile
Now that you have created a partner profile, you will be able to visit the seller center. Here, you will find an “active checklist” that explains a few requirements before opening your account.
Step 4: Complete the Project Setup
The Walmart Marketplace project settings are the most complicated part of creating an account-you can imagine this because that is where you put everything (pictures, videos, descriptions, attributes, etc.).
After filling in all the required fields, “Verify Fields”. Correct any highlighted fields, and upload your file to Seller Central. After completion, the items in your seller center will become active.
Step 5: Test Project and Orders
In the seller center, select “Preview Item” to verify the content and price of any active product. This is what your customers will see, so please make sure everything is in order.
Step 6: Activate your Account
The last step to sell on the Walmart Marketplace is to activate your account. When you “mark as done” all the products on the Walmart launch list in the Seller Center, a message will pop up asking you to confirm that you are ready to launch. When you select “Confirm”, this will trigger a launch request.
The Walmart Marketplace integration team will review your profile, and if everything is good, your product will be listed on Walmart.com within 24 hours.
Qualifications for Selling on the Walmart Marketplace
There are several minimum requirements for becoming a 3P seller on the Wal-Mart market, which aims to ensure that sellers meet Wal-Mart’s high standards in three key areas:
- E-commerce experience
- An eye-catching product catalog that enhances Wal-Mart’s overall product offering
- History that speaks that we have been committed to providing a positive customer experience
Before you sit down to complete your Walmart Marketplace application, be prepared to provide the following information:
- US Sales Tax ID (SSN is not accepted)
- W9 or W8 form and EIN verification letter from the Department of the Treasury (verify your company address or physical location in the United States)
- A proven history of successful sales through the market or other e-commerce channels
- Your integrated action plan (how you will upload the product catalog)
- A good record of completing orders quickly and accurately and providing first-class customer service
Mistakes to Avoid for a Smooth Selling Experience at Walmart
Some of the mistakes sellers may make when selling on Wal-Mart are as follows:
- Missing SKU
Missing SKU is the most common mistake made by online sellers. If you don’t have a product’s SKU in your store, that particular product will not be available for sale.
2. Invalid Product Title
To write down the name or title of the product you wish to list on Wal-Mart, please write it in accordance with Wal-Mart’s standards. Do not include any special characters or words, such as Authentic, Best, Original, etc.
3. Incorrect Images
For the products you list on Walmart, there are specific guidelines regarding size, format, number of images, etc.
In addition, you must not use watermarked images for your products. If you use watermarked images, Walmart customers may not see these products.
Listing Prohibited Products
Before Wal-Mart lists products for sale, please read Wal-Mart’s list of prohibited products carefully.
How to optimize your Walmart Product List
As a Wal-Mart seller, you have the opportunity to optimize product listings and product visual effects to create a better customer and brand experience in the Wal-Mart market.
Product titles, descriptions, images, variations, etc. will affect conversion rates, revenue, and even your product search rankings.
Here are some best practices to make the most of the content of Wal-Mart’s product listings:
- Concise and to the point
- Tell the value proposition of your products and make them stand out
- Use and repeat related keywords, but don’t use the same keywords more than 3 times
- Use the active voice
- Include images that show your product in use
- If your product category allows, please add a video
- Don’t forget to add product attributes, tags, and back-end keywords through the Wal-Mart Seller Center
How to Increase Sales on Walmart Marketplace
There are several factors that can greatly affect your sales in the Wal-Mart market. Work to meet all these factors is ongoing, but can be divided into several key areas:
- Low product prices (and subsequent buy box ownership)
- Customer reviews
- Meet customer expectations/Walmart requirements, including fast and efficient order fulfillment
- Optimize product listing information
- Advertising on Wal-Mart Marketplace-Sponsored Products, Showcases
Conclusion
Wal-Mart Market is an ideal marketing platform for small suppliers. Not only does it display your products in front of millions of Wal-Mart customers, but it’s also a great platform to put your products on store shelves.
Deepak Wadhwani has over 20 years experience in software/wireless technologies. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Intuit, ESRI, Qualcomm, Sprint, Verizon, Vodafone, Nortel, Microsoft and Oracle in over 60 countries. Deepak has worked on Internet marketing projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange Country, Denver, Nashville, Kansas City, New York, San Francisco and Huntsville. Deepak has been a founder of technology Startups for one of the first Cityguides, yellow pages online and web based enterprise solutions. He is an internet marketing and technology expert & co-founder for a San Diego Internet marketing company.
