Why Amazon Sellers Should Be Open to Selling on Walmart Marketplace

Walmart is an excellent marketplace for third-party sellers with upwards of 8 million members who average spend more than $1,000 a year at Walmart.com. But successful Amazon sellers often think twice about using the Walmart marketplace to sell their products. After all, why rock the boat if they’re already doing well?

Here are a few points Amazon sellers should consider before writing off this fantastic opportunity to grow their business.

Grab More Market Share

While Amazon might be a marketplace goliath, that shouldn’t stop a brand from exploring additional revenue streams. Even if the new source won’t produce the same number of sales, why give up on potential earnings?

In some cases, Walmart.com is very competitive with the amount of exposure it brings to a product. For example, when shoppers research a product, search engine results pages (SERPs) commonly show Amazon.com and Walmart.com listings in the ads section up top. It often happens that Walmart.com will do a better job of pushing a listing to the top of the SERPs. Using both will increase the chances of gaining exposure.

Selling on the Walmart.com marketplace also provides access to its brand loyalists, opening a new customer base for Amazon sellers.

Brand, Product, or Category Restrictions

Both Amazon and Walmart have lists of products, brands, or categories that are either not allowed to be sold on their platforms or require approval beforehand. If an Amazon seller gets a denial for a product they want to sell, they could always try the Walmart.com Marketplace.

For example, DVDs, “Made in Italy,” and holiday sales of toys and games all require preapproval by Amazon but not by Walmart.

ASIN Removals

Each product listed on Amazon gets an Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN). At times, Amazon will remove an ASIN for a variety of reasons. Some examples include:

• Customer complaints
• Rights owner complaints
• Safety
• Packaging condition
• Authenticity

When this happens, an Amazon seller must remove their product from Amazon’s Warehouse. Having a secondary option like the Walmart Marketplace will prevent the seller from getting stuck with their merchandise.

Leveraging Against Suspensions

It’s never good for a business to put all its eggs in one basket. As with other marketplaces, Amazon has lots of rules and regulations. As hard as sellers try, they could run into performance issues. If things go sideways, their selling privileges could get suspended. Although it’s typically possible to get an account reinstated, it’s painful for a business not to have any sales going on in the interim. Amazon sellers who also use the Walmart Marketplace will continue to have sales as they work to reinstate their Amazon accounts.

A Growing Marketplace

Overall, the Walmart Marketplace is an excellent place for third-party sellers. It is one of the top sources of sales for brands after Amazon and with good reason. Though it began allowing third-party sellers to use its platform much later than Amazon, Walmart.com continues to expand its services. For example, Walmart Fulfillment Services now offers Amazon sellers similar capabilities to the coveted and once unique Fulfillment by Amazon.

Walmart used to be cautious with the marketplace but has went all-in over the past twelve months. First, it invited international sellers (most of whom have since been from China). Second, it pushes sellers to use Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) for their inventory. And finally, advertising like sponsored products in search results has become essential. “The relationship between digital growth, marketplace growth, advertising is something that we’re trying to take advantage of,” said Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, this month.

Source: Marketplace Pulse, Walmart Opens Third-Party Seller Floodgates

Amazon is the crown jewel of third-party marketplaces in the United States, but the Walmart Marketplace brings a lot to the table for businesses and brands looking to expand. If you want to explore a partner that can help you sell on Amazon and Walmart, we could be that.