In recent months, Walmart has made a concerted effort to challenge Amazon’s dominance as the top online marketplace.
As a serious online seller, you may wonder how the two retail giants differ in their approach to online sellers.
Among other questions, you may want to know:
- Which company’s entry requirements are easier to navigate?
- What types of sellers do best on each site?
- If I were a current Amazon seller, would I be able to adapt to Walmart’s fulfillment policies and procedures?
Barriers to Entry for Selling on Walmart
The biggest difference between Amazon and Walmart is the barrier to entry. Walmart currently maintains very strict requirements for its new sellers.
To sell on Walmart Marketplace, you must be ‘invited’ by the company. The process can take up to a month to complete.
At first glance, this can be frustrating, especially if you are eager to sell your product or working against a seasonal deadline.
However, the company has a good reason to vet its sellers thoroughly, namely its reputation.
Opening the floodgates to dishonest or low-quality sellers can wreak havoc with Walmart’s reputation online, in the press, and, ultimately, with its customers.
In addition, if you do make it through the process, you can take pride in knowing that you have passed the entrance exam of the largest retailer on the face of the planet!
Another factor to consider is that since Walmart is relatively new to the online marketplace, the company wants to ensure that its sellers already have an excellent reputation on Amazon and eBay.
To qualify, your order defect rate must be below 1%, and your seller feedback must be stellar.
In terms of size, you should attract thousands of visitors and be able to show high monthly revenue.
For those that make it, the process is well worth the effort. For one thing, you will face less competition once you are listed.
Walmart’s third-party sellers number in the low thousands. By contrast, Amazon works with 2 million third-party sellers.
The immediate benefit is that your chances of standing out at Walmart are much greater than on Amazon.
Understanding the Right Niche for Each Site
Walmart’s selling proposition focuses on price.
One application of this is that the Walmart Buy Box is granted to the company that offers the lowest price.
Amazon considers other factors, such as performance, sales, fulfillment, defect rate, and several other variables, before awarding its Buy Box.
Product choice is another difference between the two sites.
Amazon, with 260 million SKUs, is known as the ‘Everything Store.’ At the same time, remember Walmart’s brick-and-mortar slogan: ‘Save money. Live better.’
While the selection is wide, the product categories are mostly limited to home décor, kitchen supplies, tools, electronics, and affordable clothing.
This means certain higher-end luxury brands are unlikely to do well on the Walmart Marketplace.
Walmart also prefers brand owners over retailers, favoring sellers that offer specific products associated with a unique brand name.
By contrast, three types of sellers/products tend to do well on Amazon:
- Unique or private-label products such as custom jewelry.
- Hobby or niche products.
- Used or refurbished products.
Fulfillment and Integration
Walmart is adopting a process similar to Amazon’s regarding packaging and shipping products to its customers.
However, the devil is in the details.
Most sellers fall into the trap of rushing through the initial setup and integration process without paying attention to the details.
This is a recipe for disaster, and you will discover this as soon as your first sales begin to come in.
To successfully operate on both platforms, you must maintain consistency in listings, pricing, inventory management, order processing, and completion.
Instead of going it alone, speak with a representative at Descartes Sellercloud about your integration needs.
We have the expertise to determine your compatibility with Amazon and Walmart Marketplace.
Your investment at the beginning of this process can mean the difference between huge sales growth or dropping off the sites and flat-lining your business.
Book a demo today.
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