At its annual “Let's Grow! 2024 Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit” last week, Walmart announced category expansions and new features that the company believes will simplify selling for e-commerce merchants. Highlights include:
Resold at Walmart – Third-party sellers can now offer used items for the first time across categories including luxury fashion, electronics, collectibles, and sporting goods. Walmart's assortment of used products currently includes 5M items from more than 1,700 performance-managed sellers. The used marketplace builds upon the Walmart Restored storefront that launched in 2022, which sells a collection of refurbished electronics and small appliances.
Multi Channel Fulfillment – Merchants can now use Walmart Fulfillment Services to fulfill orders from any e-commerce website via Walmart's supply chain. Walmart will fulfill the orders and manage returns in plain, unbranded packaging with fast shipping at rates it says will average 15% lower than the competition. The program launches for the first time on Sep 10th, in time for the holidays. That's huge!
Walmart Cross Border – A new import service for full-container-load shipments where Walmart Fulfillment Services directly handles the transportation of inbound goods from ports of origin in Asia to facilities across the US.
Open Carrier Network – Sellers on the Walmart Preferred Carrier Program can now choose to ship an entire truckload at special rates through carriers vetted by Walmart.
Walmart LocalFinds – Walmart is introducing a new program that offers customers the ability to find sellers’ merchandise in their local vicinities and then have the goods delivered via Walmart's last-mile delivery network. The service launches this fall in Atlanta and Dallas with other cities to follow. 1-800-Flowers will be the first nationwide seller to participate.
Premium Beauty – Walmart is launching a new premium beauty assortment on its marketplace with more than 20 brands including COSRX, T3, and Beachwaver.
Collector Shop – Walmart is launching a new collector shop that enables sellers to offer pre-orders for product drops, including releases that are exclusive to Walmart. Eligible sellers can receive 0% commission fees for collectibles through Oct 31st on categories including action figures, dolls, trading cards, sports memorabilia, and comicbooks. “Crap!” said eBay.
Revamped Global Seller Center – The new dashboard and app make it easier to sell in the US, Mexico, Chile, and Canada with free translations. Attendees of the summit will be the first to access the new cross-listing capability and free translations.
Waived Peak Season Storage Fees – for sellers who inbound inventory by Sep 30th.
Walmart Marketplace Capital – is expanding to offer sellers access to cash advances up to $5M.
New Deals Dashboard – streamlines the process for sellers to enroll items in Walmart's deals events and provides additional seller data and insights.
Manish Joneja, Senior VP of Walmart Marketplace and WFS, said, “Sellers are looking for a smart path for growth. We’re bringing all the pieces together to be much more than a marketplace and investing in new ways for sellers to serve customers as we grow together.”
Walmart Marketplace has achieved more than 30% sales growth in each of the past four quarters, and the number of third-party seller listings on Walmart.com grew 20% during fiscal 2023.