Are you an Amazon seller? You might be able to take advantage of Walmart.com, another huge marketplace to become a Walmart seller.
Walmart.com has been a part of brick-and-mortar Walmart stores for years, but the Walmart Marketplace was launched in 2009. This allowed third-party sellers to access Walmart.com, whose products complement those of first-party brands.
Walmart Marketplace now has hundreds of thousands of sellers and is growing. Walmart Marketplace offers a wide range of categories that include everything from fashion to electronics, making it a great sales channel for both small and large sellers in the United States.
Walmart.com continues its growth (it saw 79% e-commerce sales growth in 2020), and online shopping has become the norm for millions. This blog post will tell you everything you need to know about selling on their online marketplace.
How to apply to sell on Walmart - and Why bother?
Walmart.com has always been cautious about who can sell on their platform. Many e-commerce sellers have found it difficult to apply and have strict requirements. This has prevented many sellers from taking advantage of this great opportunity.
Selling on Walmart is free. Walmart will only charge a referral fee if you make a sale. Depending on the product category, this fee can range from to 6%-20%. Referral fees are similar to Amazon’s fees except that there is no minimum fee. Instead, you simply pay a percentage of each product's selling prices.
Walmart Marketplace is a restricted marketplace. Not everyone can sell here. Although approval to sell is a more involved process than other platforms, the low level of competition makes it worthwhile. You won't face the same competition if you are approved to sell on Walmart Marketplace.
What is Walmart looking for in Sellers?
Walmart.com wants every customer to have a positive shopping experience. Walmart.com is best able to ensure that customers get the highest quality customer service by approving only established e-commerce sellers who have proven to be a first-class seller on marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
First-Class Customer Services
Walmart will evaluate your brand's performance on Amazon, Ebay and Shopify to determine if it is a good fit for their platform. Make sure your customer service ratings are high and that you have demonstrated that you value customer service.
A Unique Product Selection
Walmart is looking for brands that offer unique products to their customers. The bottom line? Walmart will sell products only you offer. They don't want to see the same products all over again, so make your products stand out.
Competitive Pricing
Walmart has always made it a priority for their customers to get the best prices on products. Therefore, they are looking to partner with brands who will offer competitive pricing.
Reliable and Fast Fulfillment
Providing first-class customer service goes hand in hand with efficient shipping practices. Walmart wants to ensure that customers receive fast and reliable shipping. You can partner with companies such as Deliverr.com if you don't have reliable and fast shipping options. Before applying, ensure that you meet this requirement.
Amazon sellers who recognize the importance of providing customer service usually meet these qualifications with ease and have no problem being accepted to sell on Walmart.
1. How to apply to Walmart - know before you start
If you have all the information required, it should take no more than 10-15 minutes to request to sell on Walmart Marketplace. These requirements include:
US Business Tax ID (SSN Not Accepted)
W9 and W8 and Verification Letter from Department of Treasury which verifies your US business address or place of physical operation
Planned integration method (bulk upload API, solution provider, or API) for your product catalog
Primary product categories, catalog sizes and related information (e.g. Total SKUs that you will sell on Walmart.com at first with verified UPC information and used vs. rebuilt etc. )
Catalog cannot contain any products from Walmart’s Prohibited Product Policy
History of e-commerce success
It will save you time later by providing as much information about your company as possible. It's a good idea if you have to communicate with Walmart Marketplace to fill in any gaps in your application. This will help to avoid delays in the review process. So, how to apply to sell on Walmart once you gathered all the information? Simply head to https://marketplace.walmart.com/ to start the application process.
2. Types of Responses you may receive
If Walmart approved your account, you will receive an email with a link to create your account for seller.walmart.com. If you receive this email make sure to log in to your account to start the onboarding process ASAP (within 2-7 days). Walmart will set your account to INACTIVE if you don’t complete your onboarding within that time.
Sometimes, however, Walmart.com might not respond to your application for several weeks or even months. Walmart.com may not respond to your second application if they reject a seller on their first application. If you reapply after your first application has been rejected, your application status will be marked as a duplicate and you won't get a reply.
If this happens to you, go to sellerhelp.walmart.com, click "support" then click "Password or Other Access Issue" then click "other access issue." At this point, you can open a ticket via email.
To ensure that support can assist you best, you should provide as much detail as possible when you open a ticket. Make sure you are clear about what you want to accomplish. Also, provide as much detail as possible so that support can connect your current application with any previous applications. You will need to include your name, address, and business name in your message. Also, be sure to clearly explain your communication goals with them.
Let them know that although you have already applied, you were rejected. However, let them know that you have met all requirements and that you want to ensure that your application is approved. The more information you provide, the better your chances of getting your application reviewed by the appropriate department.
3. Set up for Walmart Third Party Sellers
The next steps happen once you have been approved to sell on Walmart.com. First, you will receive an email with the link to register your company. The entire registration process is six steps long:
Account creation
Walmart Retailer Agreement
Company registration
Tax forms
Payment information
Shipping information
Creation of an account
First, create a username/password to use when managing your Walmart Marketplace seller accounts. Based on the information in your application, your username will automatically be assigned.
These credentials will be used to log in to Seller Center (Walmart's portal for managing seller accounts).
Walmart retailer agreement
Next, we'll look at the Walmart retailer agreement. This is a legal agreement that all Marketplace sellers must sign. Before you can move forward, sellers must agree to these terms and conditions.
Register your company
You'll be one step closer to becoming a company official by entering a display and corporate address.
Display Name: The name that customers see on Walmart.com.
Corporate Address: The address of your corporate headquarters/offices.
Forms for tax
This step involves filling out a W-9 for tax purposes.
You must fill in your name, address, and TIN (Taxpayer Information Number) fields.
Information about payments
Walmart has partnered up with Hyperwallet and Payoneer to process Marketplace partner payments. To receive your Walmart payments, you will need to register with Hyperwallet or Payoneer.
Shipping information
Here you can choose your shipping pricing model, shipping method, and the regions that you are able to ship. The default shipping methods are Value, Standard, Next Day, Expedited, and Expedited. After the initial setup, you can dig deeper into your shipping strategy using Walmart Marketplace's customizable shipping templates.
4. Understanding the Walmart Seller App
Walmart’s Seller Center is the platform used for uploading and managing your product listings and fulfilling orders. You can track your sales, check out your listing quality and much more. If you are used to navigating Amazon’s seller platform, Walmart’s takes a little adjusting to.
Since you probably have been selling on Amazon, Shopify or other online platforms, your inventory is already set up and listed somewhere. The most efficient way to get all your items into walmart.com is by using their API or a bulk upload. Service providers can also help you get your inventory moved over.
Important - make sure each of your inventory items has a quantity of at least 1 or the product won’t be set up in Walmart.
Pro Tips and Summary
Walmart has partnerships with Shopify, Deliverr, and PayPal that you can use to speed your application process.
Make sure you start your account set up right away when you get approved so your account doesn’t go inactive.
Do NOT list Fulfillment by Amazon as a Shipping Method. Drop shipping from Amazon is not allowed!
Walmart Marketplace is growing, and you too can be a part of it. You should apply if you meet the requirements for entry. Once you are approved to sell, you will receive a predictable increase in orders.
If you wish to apply to sell on Walmart, go to Sellegr8's Walmart Seller Account application page and apply through the link in the page. As an official Walmart Solution Provider, Sellegr8 can help you apply and launch - feel free to reach out to us if you need help applying. After applying and getting your account created, check out our powerful suite of tools, Sellergr8, for help with your Order Management, Email Automation, Listing Monitoring and Keyword Analytics. These tools help sellers excel on Walmart like you do on Amazon. Check us out today.
About The Author
Alon Saggie is an entrepreneur, Sellegr8's co-founder and a veteran eCommerce seller, who helps other sellers crush it on Walmart.com.