There probably isn’t a single American who doesn’t recognize the Walmart brand. Now, America’s largest retailer offers space for business owners to sell on Walmart.com and monopolize on the market, too.
Thanks to Walmart Marketplace and their commitment to selling American-made products, this online platform helps businesses, both large and small reach a wider audience and achieve the ultimate American dream.
Just shy on 10 years ago, Walmart made a statement that they would spend $250 billion on U.S.-made products and they have remained true to their word. If your ultimate business goal is to sell on Walmart.com, check out this guide to help you establish a successful selling strategy.
What You Need To Know About Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace has established itself as a very real competitor in the world of online selling in the U.S since its inception in 2009. And the key reason this platform has become so popular is that they support both large and small business owners across America.
In fact, Walmart Marketplace saw an impressive 79 percent in growth in 2020 alone as online shopping has burgeoned, worldwide.
This puts Walmart Marketplace in third place, just behind eBay and Amazon as the top online marketplaces for selling and buying in America.
Product Selling Success
So, if you’re a business owner looking to sell on this platform, you’re probably wondering if Walmart Marketplace supports your products. The good news is that they support both generic and branded products within a huge range of categories.
If you’re looking to establish your brand and successfully sell your products well on Walmart Marketplace, there are a few key areas to focus on:
- You want to sell high-quality products
- Make sure your brand or the one you aim to sell is trusted and well-established
- Carefully consider your pricing and make sure it’s competitive
If you’re selling a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, this is a double-win. A DTC brand means you own and produce the product yourself, and you can bypass third-party retailers, wholesalers, etc.
Essentially, it means you don’t have to compete with resellers, you can keep close tabs on how your products are listed on the marketplace, and you can keep your pricing competitive.
1. Get the Approval You Need to Sell on Walmart.com
Selling on Walmart Marketplace is all about providing first-class customer services and a great product range. So, in order to sell on the platform, you’ll have to be approved by Walmart, first.
The first thing you’ll need to do to sell on Walmart.com is complete an application. Make sure you have the following information on hand:
- Your company registration information
- Your business tax details (W8 and W9 forms)
- Shipping information
- Payment information
Bear in mind that it takes can take several weeks to a couple of months for Walmart to process the application and award approval.
If your information is approved, you will be notified via email. In this email, you’ll be offered a link to the Walmart onboarding system and a checklist of tasks to complete when joining Walmart Marketplace.
All in all, the approval process is pretty simple. However, Walmart Marketplace generally looks for reputable e-commerce sellers that can offer the best quality products at a very competitive price point.
2. Invest in Keyword Research
This is a huge driver behind the success of how well your products sell. Bear in mind that most online shoppers search in the same way, no matter the platform they’re using. In other words, their keywords won’t change from one platform to the next.
So with this in mind, you want to conduct some research via Keyword Scout and determine the best keywords for your products on Walmart Marketplace. Otherwise, you could also use Google Keyword Planner for this research.
Jot down your findings and create a list of all the most relevant keywords. Include as many of these keywords in your title, description, and product features as possible — but beware of keyword stuffing.
3. Invest in Product Research
Another essential strategy to spend some time on is product research and comparison. You want to take a look at how other products are selling on other platforms, i.e. whether they’re selling well or not.
There is a myriad of online tools for this purpose, some of which include ZonGuru, AMZBase, AMZScout, Seller App, Jungle Scout, and more. When you look at the product research, you want to consider the review count — if it rates at 50 or higher, this is a great sign that the product is selling well.
Alternatively, you could also capitalize on Walmart’s own tool within their Seller Center, called Growth Opportunities. It offers you the chance to preview some of the best-selling and in-demand items on the Walmart Marketplace platform.
If you’re an e-commerce business just starting out, you want to adopt a strategy of searching for products with a small number of sellers, just so that your competition is not as stiff!
4. Be Smart About How You List Products
There needs to be a clear-cut method behind how you list and sell your products on the marketplace. You want to start out by listing all of your best-selling items, first. This is smart because it allows you to spend time perfecting each product listing while gauging whether you can handle an influx of orders.
Once you have figured out how to handle an influx of sales, only then should you move on to listing the rest of your catalog. Another good strategy is to conduct some research on stock-keeping unit (SKU) gaps in the Walmart Marketplace.
If you have products in your catalog that can fill these gaps, this is an extra opportunity for you and could give you a handy advantage on this platform.
It’s also very important to zone in on the products you can price competitively. As mentioned, price and affordability are everything on Walmart Marketplace. List your products with a low profit margin last. Being smart in how you list your products gives you an edge in the selling process.
In short, it gives you the chance to assess the marketplace, how it works, and what shoppers like and don’t like.
5. Optimize Your Listing Content
If you really want to see true success in terms of sales, you need to spend a good chunk of your time (actually, most of it) on product listing content. This includes the title, description, details, and imagery of all products:
- Product Title – keep it to 75 characters, maximum, and always include keywords, brand name, sizes, model number, and unique attributes
- Description – keep this content original, concise, professional, and close to your brand voice, and include keywords
- Images – invest real effort into product photography, a mobile phone won’t cut it — use a professional if you have to!
There’s no benefit in copy-and-pasting the content you see on other online platforms, you need to create fresh, original content that’s suited to your Walmart audience.
6. Do Your Research on Product Categorization
There’s no use in spending a large portion of your time on product content and imagery, only to list your products in the wrong category. This means that your ideal customer might not be able to find your products.
Much like the physical Walmart stores, you need to make sure you put your products on the right shelves by doing some research first. Walmart Marketplace categorizes products much the same as they do in-store.
Refer to the Knowledge Base on Walmart Marketplace for information on how to list and attribute your products correctly. This way, you can ensure they show up in the right category or on the right ”shelf” according to your customer’s search requests.
7. Keep Your Prices Competitive
Yes, we’ve mentioned this more than once, but the price of your products could not be more important on Walmart Marketplace. If Walmart is known for anything, it’s for low prices and value-for-money.
You want your pricing to stay in line with this mission. This is the best way to obtain good visibility on the platform and make your mark as a successful seller. But your pricing should also make sense for your business, of course.
A good way to determine the best price for both you and your customers is to calculate the actual cost to sell an item. Then, determine the markup that would make selling the product profitable for you.
8. Make Your Customer Service a Priority
If you spend time on your customer service this not only works for the brand you sell and your reputation as a seller, but it encourages shoppers to leave good customer reviews.
The more customer reviews a product has, the better its visibility and general standing on Walmart Marketplace. The great news is that Walmart sends emails to your customers for you and encourages them to leave product reviews. The rest is up to you to create a good shopping experience.
In order to achieve this, you need to remove all room-for-error. In other words, don’t give your customers anything to complain about.
Some of the best ways to do this include:
- Accurate and informative product descriptions
- Adding an FAQ section and answering questions on a regular basis
- Offering an accurate sizing chart
- Providing as much additional information about your products where possible
- Ensure you are always available to your customers, whether it’s to answer questions or respond to complaints
- Resolve any issues as fast as possible — Walmart allows for a 1-day turn-around on customer emails
Shipping is also a major aspect of the customer service experience. You want to ensure you have a detailed contingency plan if anything in your shipping process goes awry. Some important considerations include:
- A store of reserve products at all times — this helps to prevent overselling your products
- If you’re not a direct-to-consumer brand, use at least two suppliers for each product you sell
- Always have a backup plan for your order fulfillment in case of unpredictable scenarios
You also want to create a general template for all customer service inquiries, without it being too generic or obvious that it’s a template. This allows you to efficiently reply to customers and nip issues in-the-bud as they occur.
9. Make the Most of Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS)
An integral part of your e-commerce success as a business is order fulfillment. Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) offers a full suite of services to help you unlock your full potential when selling on Walmart Marketplace.
The WFS platform allows you to focus and put energy into all of the most important aspects of your business, while your shipping is expertly sorted for you.
You have access to seamless shipping processes, returns, customer service, inventory management, and storage through a Walmart fulfillment center.
Not only this, but Walmart works with some of the most reliable shipping partners, such as Deliverr to ensure your order arrives in a guaranteed 2-day turn-around.
WFS is a cost-effective fulfillment solution that offers a simple and affordable pricing structure. You also have access to enhanced support with a dedicated call center for all your queries.
10. Use Walmart Sponsored Products to Drive Sales
This is a self-service program created specifically for Walmart Marketplace sellers. Using Sponsored Products an opportunity to drive brand awareness and increase your overall revenue/sales.
Through this program, you can create your own product campaigns and reporting to help your products get the attention they deserve.
Sponsored Products Advertising is a cost-per-click service based on native ad units that help your customers find your products. These cost-per-click ads appear in search results, items pages, product and category pages.
The best part is that you don’t pay directly for the views your products receive. Instead, you only pay when a customer clicks on your ad. With Walmart’s internal relevancy engines, your ads appear at the best time and in the right place to drive these clicks.
An added benefit to Walmart Sponsored Products is that your leads are already ”warmed up”, i.e. shoppers who are online and ready to make a purchase can see your ads.
In Need of Expert E-Commerce Marketing Management?
Whether you’re an up-and-coming startup or a business that’s already well-established, there is plenty of opportunities to sell on Walmart.com. The site is tailored to both — all you need is a solid e-commerce marketing strategy.
By partnering with OperationROI, you have access to a team of e-commerce experts with more than two decade’s experience in helping e-commerce businesses find their feet and success.
Learn more about the e-commerce marketing solutions we offer and the platforms we manage, including Walmart Marketplace. Contact us today so that we can learn about your goals and show you how we’ve helped other Walmart sellers grow their business.
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