With over 150,000 sellers and counting, Walmart provides a platform for brands to expand their business. Among them, 73% have profit margins above 20%, and more than half of small-to-midsize sellers earn more than $100,000 in annual revenue.
However, this opportunity comes with its fair share of challenges. From tough competition to strict compliance policies, Walmart sellers often face hurdles that can hinder their growth.
In this guide, we’ll explore these common challenges and provide actionable solutions to help sellers thrive on the Walmart Marketplace. By implementing the right strategies and using tools like MetricsCart, sellers can maximize their success.
Why Should You Sell on Walmart?
Walmart offers numerous advantages that make it a prime choice for online sellers. Here’s why you should consider selling on Walmart:
Massive Customer Base
Walmart is one of the largest retailers in the world, with millions of loyal customers shopping both in-store and online. As a result, you gain access to a massive audience that actively shops across categories. This gives you an expanded opportunity for sales, brand recognition, and customer acquisition.
Lower Fees Compared to Amazon
Walmart Marketplace offers more competitive fees, allowing sellers to keep a larger share of their profits. Unlike Amazon, which charges both referral and fulfillment fees, Walmart Marketplace keeps fees straightforward and generally more affordable.
Additionally, Walmart doesn’t require a monthly subscription fee to sell, which benefits smaller sellers or those testing a new product line.
Brand Trust
Walmart’s brand is built on value, reliability, and convenience, fostering strong customer trust. Sellers at Walmart benefit from this positive brand perception, as customers often feel confident purchasing from Walmart’s platform versus smaller, lesser-known marketplaces.
Omnichannel Integration
Walmart allows you to integrate with its physical stores, offering customers options like in-store pickup and free shipping to stores. This integration connects sellers with customers who want both the convenience of online browsing and the immediacy of in-person pickup, ultimately expanding your reach across Walmart’s digital and physical platforms.
Common Walmart Seller Marketplace Challenges & its Solutions
Selling on Walmart’s marketplace isn’t without its obstacles. Below, we outline the most common challenges sellers face and provide solutions to help overcome them.
Poor Visibility and Search Issues
Walmart’s online marketplace lists over 35 million products, making it easy for your listings to get lost in the search results. In addition, if the product detail page has missing SKUs, an invalid product title, or an incorrect type or category, it can result in search issues.
Moreover, the platform’s search algorithm favors sellers with better ratings, more reviews, and a longer selling history.
Solution: Improving your product listings with high-quality images, clear product descriptions, and relevant keywords is critical to better search performance. MetricsCart’s Content Compliance Monitoring analyzes your PDP and provides a content score, ensuring that your product content aligns with Walmart’s guidelines.
Moreover, the rating and review analysis platform can help identify areas where your product’s customer experience can be improved, boosting your ratings and helping you appear higher in Walmart’s search results.
READ MORE | Want to Improve Your Walmart Product Ranking? Check out Walmart SEO: An Essential Guide for Brands to Improve Product Ranking
Risks of Walmart Account Suspension
Walmart is known for its strict compliance policies. These include compliance with local, state, and federal laws, avoiding explicit material and obscene language, and not violating brands or trademarks.
Walmart also holds sellers to high standards, specifically on metrics like on-time delivery and inventory accuracy. Failing to meet these standards can result in penalties such as account suspension or even termination.
Solution: Sellers can reduce the risk of account suspension by consistently monitoring compliance. Regular performance checks and maintaining high customer service standards are also essential. In addition, participate in Walmart’s webinars or training sessions, communicate with Walmart’s support periodically, and keep your account sailing smoothly.
Price Wars and Competitor Undercutting
Pricing in Walmart’s marketplace can be volatile, especially when third-party sellers engage in price wars and are constantly undercut by competitors. It can lead to reduced profit margins during peak shopping periods like Walmart+ Week or Black Friday.
Moreover, price wars can be challenging for small businesses with limited resources, making it difficult for them to cover operational costs and sustain their operations in the long run.
Solution: You can implement a price-monitoring solution that will help you stay abreast of pricing changes and adopt measures to stay ahead of the competition. This will enable you to maintain a healthy balance between competitive pricing and profitability.
READ MORE | Dive into Price Wars in E-Commerce: Everything You Need to Know
Order Fulfilment Delays
Sellers often struggle with fulfilling orders on time, which affects customer satisfaction, leads to poor reviews, and damages a seller’s reputation. This usually happens when there is a delay in processing, packing, and shipping an order after a customer has made a purchase.
It can also result from shipping issues, supplier delays, carrier issues, increased orders during peak shopping seasons, or inventory management problems.
Solution: One way to avoid fulfillment issues is to utilize Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), which ensures fast, reliable shipping to customers. For sellers managing their shipping and delivery, optimizing their supply chain through better inventory management is essential.
Using assortment and availability monitoring tools allows you to track product stock and maintain a healthy online inventory. It also ensures the availability of your fast-moving products and avoids stock-outs.
Unauthorized Sellers and Gray Market Goods
Unauthorized sellers listing your products on Walmart can damage your brand reputation and lead to lost sales. These sellers undercut authorized resellers by offering products at lower prices, often without adhering to the brand’s guidelines or quality standards.
Additionally, gray market goods or counterfeit items—products sold outside authorized distribution channels—pose a significant risk. These can dilute brand value and create confusion for customers who may end up with counterfeit or substandard products. Combatting unauthorized sellers is essential to maintaining pricing integrity and customer trust.
Solution: To combat this, sellers can implement Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies to protect the brand’s profit margins. You can also use a MAP monitoring solution to track and identify unauthorized sellers and remove counterfeit or gray market goods from Walmart Marketplace.
READ MORE | Confused about MAP Monitoring? Check out E-Commerce MAP Monitoring: The Must-Know Aspects for Brands
Conclusion
Selling on Walmart Marketplace offers incredible opportunities, but it’s essential to understand and overcome the challenges that come with it. From high competition to pricing disruptions and unauthorized sellers, addressing these issues head-on with the right strategies and tools is critical to succeeding.
MetricsCart’s digital shelf analytics solution is designed to help sellers navigate these challenges. It offers services like MAP monitoring, Content compliance monitoring, and Ratings & Review Analysis to ensure your Walmart Marketplace presence is optimized for success.
Struggling to Boost your Walmart Marketplace Strategy?
FAQ
To become a Walmart Marketplace seller, you need to apply through their seller registration process. You’ll need to provide business details, tax information, and product categories. Once approved, you can start listing your products.
Walmart Marketplace allows a wide range of product categories, including electronics, home goods, clothing, and more. However, it’s essential to ensure your products meet Walmart’s quality standards and comply with their policies.
However, you should be aware of some restrictions. They are defined by product category (e.g., cosmetic products), so consider your product categories to understand how your products might be impacted.
Success on Walmart Marketplace requires competitive pricing, great customer service, and optimized listings. Using tools like MetricsCart for compliance and performance monitoring can also give you a competitive edge.
