- The Walmart Marketplace ‘item spec’ feature helps e-commerce sellers properly categorize their products and include relevant product attributes, making products easier to discover.
- Support for version 4.0 will end on October 31st, and users should migrate to 5.0. Sellercloud already has a beta integration with 5.0, passing this benefit on to all users.
The Walmart marketplace is loaded with features to help merchants succeed. One of those key features is item spec.
This might be the first time you’ve ever heard of Walmart’s item spec feature; however, if you sell on Walmart, you likely take advantage of it every time you create or update a product.
In this article, we’ll explain Walmart’s item specs, their benefits, and why you should migrate from version 4.0 to 5.0 if you connect to Walmart via an API.
What Is Walmart Item Spec?
Item specs are a part of product creation on the Walmart Marketplace. It is essentially short for ‘item specifications’—the features of your product.
For example, if you create a Walmart Marketplace listing for a product in the smartwatch category, Walmart will ask for details related to that product. It is based on the category that you choose.
Walmart will provide item-specific attributes. For example, when selling a T-shirt, Walmart will not require you to enter a screen size because this is irrelevant to the product.
Providing sellers with relevant item specifications prevents them from missing relevant information that the buyer may need, making listings more useful to both buyers and sellers.
Entering the right item specifications helps consumers find your products and make better buying decisions (reducing the possibility of returns).
When searching for products on Walmart.com, they may use filters to refine their search, and your products are more likely to appear in relevant searches.
This affects how your products appear on Walmart.com and search engines like Google. It optimizes your listings so they can be found more easily online.
It also makes updating listings easier if you have specific fields, prevents buyers from searching for information in the description, and makes it easier for the seller to update if there are changes.
The item spec does not include the product title or description, though both are important and impact your listing’s ability to reach customers.
What Is Walmart Item Spec 5.0?
Item spec 5.0 is the latest version of Walmart’s item spec feature. According to Walmart’s Developer Portal:
“Walmart has launched new and updated requests in the Item Management API! Item Spec 5 now has Product Type Groups and Product Types aimed to improve content quality during item setup and maintenance through granular Product Type data models. This will create consistency between specs, style guides and content quality scoring.”
Walmart also states that with version 5.0 of the item spec, you will have improved categorization, site shelving, discoverability, and relevance for your products.
If you connect to the Walmart Marketplace via API, it is important to note that support for version 4.0 will end on October 31st. To avoid disruptions, you should migrate to 5.0 before this date.
Review the documentation here for more information and to start migrating to Item Spec 5.0.
What Are the Benefits of Walmart Item Spec 5.0?
According to Walmart Marketplace’s Item Spec page, three of the biggest benefits of Item Spec 5.0 are:
- An easier workflow for faster setup times and management.
- New and improved attributes to make your products easier to find and improve the flow of customer traffic.
- Walmart Marketplace item spec setup is shared with WFS (Walmart Fulfillment Services), so you don’t have to set up products twice.
The page also lists the many benefits item spec 5.0 has over item spec 4. It says:
- Increase content quality by up to 10% with even more attributes compared to Item Spec 4.
- Increase attribute relevance—Item Spec 5.0 has removed 60% of generic attributes.
- Increase attribute granularity by up to 65% with more precise item attribution.
- More attributes are now structured text, meaning listings will appear on the correct shelves and navigation paths on Walmart.com.
- Drive listing consistency: whether you’re a first or third-party seller, the item setup data model is the same.
Sellercloud Is Ready for Walmart Item Spec 5.0
Sellercloud is an omnichannel e-commerce solution that helps online sellers expand their presence across marketplaces, manage inventory and warehouse operations, and increase efficiency.
With Sellercloud, you can create listings once and push them to your connected marketplaces. You can also manage channel-specific properties per item, enabling you to enter item-specific information that will only be shown on Walmart.
Sellercloud has a close relationship with the Walmart Marketplace, and all Sellercloud users can automatically benefit from our beta item spec 5.0 integration.
In Sellercloud, you can also manage channel-specific details per item for wholesale and your personal store in addition to marketplaces.
Sellercloud also provides other software solutions for many other e-commerce challenges, such as:
Book a Sellercloud demo today.
Key Points
You’re now an expert on Walmart’s item spec feature. Bear in mind these key points.
- Walmart item spec provides the correct fields to enter depending on the product category you are selling on the Walmart Marketplace.
- Providing product specifications will make your products easier to find and lower returns. It also means your products will be easier to find on search engines.
- Walmart’s item spec 5.0 is the latest version, and it includes ‘Product Type Groups’ and ‘Product Types.’ Version 5 promises improved categorization, site shelving, discoverability, and relevance.
- Walmart will cease to support version 4.0 at the end of October 2024. If your business connects to Walmart via API, you should update to version 5.0.
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