Claiming your Walmart Marketplace listing means you’ve passed the strict approval process of one of the largest, well-known retailers in the world. But why should you consider getting listed on Walmart Marketplace?
Walmart is one of the largest multi-channel retailers. It partners with various third-party marketplace sellers to bring a vast selection of brands and products to its customers. Promoting your products on the Marketplace Walmart is one of the easiest ways to popularize your brand and generate revenue.
As a retailer, your primary goal is to attract a broad customer and increase your product sales. The practical solution to achieve your marketing objectives is to bring your business online. Globally, many sellers opt to either create a website or utilize several eCommerce platforms, such as Amazon, Shopify, and eBay, to market their products.
Advertising your products on online stores is a good start for your business’ digital marketing journey. However, these popular marketplaces are saturated with fierce competition. Entering these marketplaces can make it difficult for your brand and products to get noticed.
The good news is Marketplace Walmart offers the same perks and benefits as these big eCommerce platforms, but with less competition. Selling your products on this platform gives you a huge opportunity to attract your target customers and achieve your business goals.
Understanding the Walmart Marketplace
Walmart Marketplace is a popular eCommerce platform owned and operated by Walmart. The company launched its website, walmart.com, in 2000. Recognizing the immense opportunity brought by the increasing popularity of mobile and the Internet, the company launched the Walmart Marketplace in 2009.
The Marketplace Walmart was designed to help multiple third-party merchants sell their products at walmart.com. This concept attracted retailers countrywide. Today, Walmart Marketplace hosts more than 36,000 retailers.
Selling your products on Marketplace Walmart is one of the most efficient ways to position your brand in front of customers who are already in the sales funnel.
Perks of Joining the Walmart Marketplace
Claiming your spot on Walmart Marketplace allows you to reach over 300 million unique Walmart online visitors per month.
Here are more reasons your business should take advantage of this popular eCommerce platform:
• Gain Brand Exposure — Walmart is an established brand with millions of unique monthly visitors. This means that becoming a Walmart Marketplace seller allows you to leverage its brand power.
• No Monthly Fees — One of the biggest advantages of selling on Marketplace Walmart is the lack of annual seller fees. The company only collects a six to 15 percent referral fee, depending on the type of item you’re selling. In addition, you only get charged for successful order transactions.
With other eCommerce platforms, you need to pay variable closing fees, monthly dues, and referral fees. This is to keep your products listed on their website. Walmart’s setup allows you to take home more profit for your business.
• Fast and Secure Transactions — Walmart ensures all order transactions are processed securely. You get paid every other week without getting charged a per-order transaction fee. Once customers purchase your product, your referral fees are automatically deducted from your profit.
• Low Competition — Less than 10 percent of sellers use Marketplace Walmart. This is because Walmart implements a strict vetting process on which companies they permit to sell on their website. Getting approved on Walmart Marketplace speaks to the quality and value of your products.
• No Inventory Limitations — Walmart allows a broad range of products on their site. This means that you can list your entire catalog of eligible items on their website.
• Free 2-Day Shipping — Walmart’s free two-day shipping program is the company’s answer to Amazon Prime. The difference, however, is it doesn’t collect hefty membership fees.
Walmart customers receive free two-day deliveries with no minimum spend or membership required. With this concept, Walmart marketplace sellers gain increased conversions, improved visibility, and more positive reviews.
To grow your eCommerce business and achieve the best results, you need to claim your Walmart Marketplace listing. But first, you must be approved on Walmart’s platform.
How to Get Approved on Marketplace Walmart
Walmart aims to maintain its reputation as a trustworthy vendor that sells products at affordable prices. For this reason, retailers need approval before they can sell on Walmart Marketplace.
The application process takes 10-15 minutes. Before you start your application, prepare the following documents:
• US business tax ID
• W9 or W8 and EIN verification letter from the Department of Treasury
• US business address
• Planned integration channels and methods for your product catalog
• Primary product categories and other related information (i.e., catalog size, etc.)
You will be assessed based on your business performance, previous marketplace experience, prices and fulfillment methods, among others. Once you submit your application, the Walmart team will review your request. This process typically takes two weeks.
One of Walmart’s business development managers will connect with you for verification purposes. If your application is approved, you will be required to sign the Retailer Agreement and begin your onboarding.
How to Sell on Walmart Marketplace
The next step is to set up your Walmart Marketplace Seller account. Here’s a brief guide on how to sell on Walmart Marketplace:
1. Complete your registration. Follow the link in your approval email to set up your account. You need to accomplish five different sections. These are Account Creation, Partner Registration, Taxes (W-9), Bank Account Verification and Shipping Info.
2. Accomplish your Partner Profile. This is a public page that contains your business information, including your company name, logo, description, and tax information. Your Partner Profile serves as proof of brand credibility.
To complete this section, you must accomplish all items listed on the “Launch Checklist.” You will see a progress bar that indicates the readiness level of your profile for launch. Once the progress bar reaches 100 percent, the items listed will be automatically crossed off in the Launch Checklist.
3. Verify bank deposit from “WM Marketplace Penny Test.” Log in to your registered bank account and check your transactions for a $0.01 deposit. This confirms that Walmart can communicate with your bank in facilitating future payment transactions.
The bank deposit typically takes one or two business days to appear in your account. To speed up the process, be sure to enter your account information correctly.
4. Complete your item setup. You may upload products on Walmart manually or enter them via bulk upload. There are 24 categories and 79 subcategories you can choose from. Be sure to select the right classification for each item. Doing so ensures your product appears on relevant search results.
5. Check your product details and test orders. Verify the product images, descriptions and pricing for any products in Staged status. To access and test your items, visit the Seller center, then select “Preview Item.”
6. Launch your account. Once you complete all items on your Launch Checklist, you will receive a message that you’re ready to launch. Simply select “confirm” to trigger a launch request. The Walmart Marketplace team will then review your profile.
If all the information you provided is correct, your products will be live on the website within 24 hours.
Can You Sell Used Items on Marketplace Walmart?
Yes, you can. However, any used items you offer must be sold as a seller or a drop-ship vendor (DSV). This means that you must keep your products in your warehouse and include them on your Walmart product listing. Once a product order is confirmed, attach a Walmart packing slip on the package for delivery.
Optimizing Your Walmart Marketplace Listing
All online marketplaces have algorithms in place. The Walmart search algorithm allows it to determine which items show up at the top search results for each particular term. This is the reason you don’t see coffee makers when you search for dog carriers.
To rank above your competition, you need to optimize your Walmart Marketplace SEO. Investing in your Walmart SEO is an excellent way to reach more interested leads and generate higher sales.
Here are some tips to get your Walmart Marketplace optimization started:
1. Use a specific product name.
Keep your product name succinct and unique. It should be composed of at least 50 characters, but no more than 75. Use this formula in writing your product name:
Brand + Size of Item (if applicable) + Defining Features + Item Name + Style (if applicable) + Pack Count
Here are some tips to keep in mind in creating your product title:
• Avoid including any information about your company other than the product brand
• Do not use special characters, such as +, @, #, etc.
• Incorporate product attributes
• Avoid including retailer-specific information, such as special offers
• Do not use marketing phrases like “top-selling,” “best” or “affordable”
• Avoid referencing other marketplaces (i.e., Sold on Amazon)
2. Utilize high-quality images.
Use professional, well-lit product photos. Ideally, you must provide zoom-enabled, high-resolution product images. Here are some tips you can follow:
• Use the front view of the item as a primary product image
• Make sure the background is white (255/255/255 RGB)
• Crop the image to eliminate excessive background space
• Include background images with different angles of the product
• Provide rich content, such as interactive tours and product reviews
• Do not use placeholder images
• Avoid offensive or obscene photos
3. Highlight key product features.
Emphasize specific product details to attract customers. To improve your searchability and product relevance, pay close attention to the product shelf description, short description and long description.
A. Shelf Description — This section allows you to highlight the significant advantages of your products. To optimize your Walmart Marketplace listing, be sure to keep the following tips in mind when creating your product shelf descriptions:
• List three to five major advantages of your product in bullet points
• Avoid grammar mistakes
• Do not use duplicate product descriptions
• Incorporate keywords in your content
• Provide useful information about the product
• Avoid keyword stuffing
B. Short Description — This section sits right below the shelf description. To optimize your Walmart Marketplace SEO strategy, you need to maximize the allowable 500-1,000 characters.
Here are some tips you can follow in creating your product short descriptions:
• Write interesting, keyword-rich descriptions
• Maximize the allowed character count –the longer paragraphs, the better
• Write clear and concise product descriptions
• Avoid duplicate and generic content
• Include key phrases, such as product name, brand, and style, that customers are likely to search for
C. Long Description — This is the biggest section on the Walmart Marketplace pages. Follow these tips to boost your Walmart Marketplace optimization tactic:
• Ensure your long descriptions have 1,000-4,000 characters or 250-300 words
• List down 10-30 product features and benefits
• Write unique product descriptions
• Do not copy descriptions from other websites and marketplaces
• Include facts and tips on your content to establish your expertise
• Use a conversational tone to make the copy comprehensible
4. Select relevant product attributes.
Product attributes appear on the left side of the Walmart Marketplace listing. These are product details used to categorize your products and allow the customers to see narrowed or filtered results.
There are 24 product categories you can choose from to define your product attributes. Here are some tips to ensure you select the right classification:
• Fill out the relevant attributes to your product
• Avoid selecting the category “other” to increase your product visibility
• Provide accurate product details to boost your ranking on the results page
5. Provide competitive pricing.
Pricing plays a crucial role in Buy Box attainment. Walmart presents all the seller listings on one page. These listings contain all the products from different merchants, with varying prices.
Now, customers are more likely to get drawn on products with competitive pricing. Sellers whose products go into the customer cart are considered the Buy Box winner. To boost your Buy Box chances, you need to:
• Offer a competitive pricing
• Maintain stock availability
• Keep track of your competition and their price range
• Offer free shipping on Walmart or keep the shipping fee at a minimum
• Deliver products to your customers on time
• Encourage your customers to leave positive reviews on your page
6. Provide fast customer service.
Consumers want fast and secure service. To attract customer attention and boost their brand loyalty, ensure your product listings contain Walmart’s fast shipping badge. In addition, always keep your customer support line open.
7. Maintain positive customer reviews.
Reviews are vital in your Walmart Marketplace listing. To streamline your Walmart SEO strategy, focus on providing an unparalleled customer experience.
Follow these tips to increase your chances of getting positive reviews on Walmart:
• Answer customer emails within one day
• Maintain a positive relationship with your customers
• Use a reliable fulfillment provider
• Provide accurate tracking information
• Deliver products on time or earlier than stated
• Optimize your Walmart SEO and product listing
With the right Walmart Marketplace optimization tactic in place, you can boost your chances of ranking high on relevant product searches. Be sure to partner with a digital marketing agency that can handle all your Walmart SEO marketing needs and demands.
Grow Your Business Through Walmart Marketplace Optimization
Optimize and expand your eCommerce business with Thrive’s Walmart Marketplace optimization services. From account set up and branding to keyword optimization and analytics reporting, we’ve got you covered.
Learn more about how to sell on Walmart and other eCommerce platforms with the help of our SEO experts. Partner with us and let’s work together on generating higher ROI for your business. We offer Walmart Marketplace optimization, Amazon SEO and other eCommerce optimization services. Schedule a call with our digital marketing specialists today!
