Amazon is the most visited shopping website in the US but do you know what the second most popular is? The answer is Walmart, whose marketplace is growing daily with 11 million unique items and 88 million unique visitors a month. This blog will explore the Walmart marketplace and how it differs from Amazon.
The first thing difference is the sign-up process. Sellers have to be invited to sell on Walmart’s marketplace—a process which can take from two to four weeks. The reason for this is Walmart only wants sellers with an excellent reputation on Amazon and eBay.
Ideally, you should have an order defect rate below 1% and have top-notch seller feedback.
Less competition
As a result of this barrier to entry, sellers find there is less competition on Walmart’s marketplace compared to Amazon. Current estimates suggest there is around 1,000 third-party sellers and growing. For comparison, Amazon has over two million-sellers!
Interestingly, Walmart has a Buy Box which is solely awarded on price. The Amazon Buy Box as many of you will be aware is awarded on a range of different factors including price, shipping, customer service and feedback rating.
Walmart’s marketplace is currently offering 10 million SKUs and growing by a million each month. Amazon has a mammoth 260 million SKUs!
In August this year, Walmart acquired Jet.com for the princely sum of $3 billion, so l think in the not too distant future we could see a considerable rival for Amazon.
FBA Vs FBW
Most of you will be familiar with FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) but maybe not so familiar with FBW (Fulfilment by Walmart). Walmart uses its stores and fulfilment centres to ship online ordered. Walmart offers two-day shipping called the rush shipping option but it’s pretty costly.
Is it worth your time? If you’re an excellent seller it could be well worth looking into Walmart due to the heavy investment the company is making in its ecommerce platform. You can apply here.
Related reading: Should l Sell on Jet.com?
