Selling on 3rd party marketplaces is one of the best ways to get additional revenue for your business. Why is it great? Because with a little knowledge or specialized help you can be up and running in no time.
If you are not familiar with selling on marketplaces my recommendation would be to not start on your own. Get a consultant – 2 hours spent with a consultant will save you hundreds of hours and a lot of money.
I’m going to focus today on Walmart because most merchants that have one or more retail stores tend to overlook this channel.
What are the most common reasons why businesses choose not to sell on the Walmart Marketplace?
- Don’t know where to start
- Only cheap stuff sells at Walmart
- Don’t want to associate my brand with Walmart
- Not interested in dealing with customers looking for bargains
- Regular marketplace fears – implementation, listing products, commissions, shipping, taxes, returns, etc
1. Don’t know how to start selling on Walmart
It’s not hard at all! There are 2 components that you need to take into account:
- Opening up a Walmart Marketplace account. Go here and reserve 10-15 minutes: https://marketplace-apply.walmart.com/. Do this right away as it will take 1-2 weeks for Walmart to approve your seller account.
- Setting up your inventory and orders sync with your website. This is also, not hard if you know what your doing – getting professional help will make all the difference but here are the most common cases
- Shopify: use this app: https://apps.shopify.com/walmart-marketplace-integration
- Magento: use this extension: https://m2epro.com
2. Only cheap stuff sells on Walmart
That is not true at all. Through my clients, I’m personally selling products ranging from $5 to +$500. Walmart is no longer a bargain bin – it’s a fully-fledged marketplace that rivals Amazon in both product offerings and customer support.
3. I don’t want to associate my brand with Walmart.
I’ve been selling on Walmart for 4-5 years since it got launched. In the beginning, brands were scared that resellers would list their products on Walmart and that it would bring down their brand’s value. Yes, this was true 4-5 years ago. Today, more and more brands are trying to get their products on Walmart. Speak to your vendors and get approval.
4. Not interested in dealing with customers looking for bargains
Customers on Walmart are no different than those on Amazon. I’ve reached out to 5 full-time support people handling both marketplaces. It’s less hassle doing support work on Walmart than it is on Amazon!
5. Regular marketplace fears
Implementation, listing products, commissions, shipping, taxes, returns, etc
Yes, this is a valid concern. Selling on marketplaces is easy only if you know what you are doing, especially in the setup process. But not selling on marketplaces is a big mistake that you cannot afford to make. You have 2 options – reserve time and money and go through a learning process based on trial-and-error OR get an external consultant to draft up exactly what you need to do, step-by-step, and get you started ASAP.