At a time when marketplaces are competing for sellers and sellers are expanding by signing onto multiple platforms and developing direct-to-consumer sites, Walmart is trying to entice would-be partners with 90-day discounts on tools and services that can help businesses get up and going more easily.
In a blog post, Manish Joneja, senior vp, Walmart U.S. Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, said the company aims to become its customers’ number-one shopping destination and the preferred easy-to-use, low cost and profitable platform for sellers of all sizes. As such, the company is providing new sellers some extra assistance in getting their products in front of Walmart marketplace shoppers.
Walmart established the New-Seller Savings program to make launching on Walmart Marketplace as simple, seamless and rewarding as possible, Joneja added. It grants new U.S. based-sellers up to a 25% commission rate reduction for 90 days when trying Walmart-exclusive tools and services including:
- Walmart Fulfillment Services. End-to-end fulfillment services for Walmart marketplace partners of all sizes.
- Sponsored Search Advertising. High-visibility search ads to help get sellers in front of customers actively searching for products they offer.
- Repricer. An automated pricing tool that helps sellers stay ahead of the competition.
Joneja noted that in its third-quarter earnings report released on November 22, Walmart announced that its marketplace SKU inventory had increased by 50% to 370 million SKUs. The company is intent on adding more, he stated, having onboarded 8,000 new sellers in the third quarter and actively recruiting more marketplace merchants to fulfill the needs of the 118 million customers on average who visit Walmart.com each month.
