November 1, 2023

Walmart Seller Center: What You Should Know for Success

Discover the key to Walmart Seller Center success! Explore our comprehensive guide for expert insights and strategies. Maximize your ecommerce potential with Walmart today!
Walmart Seller Center: What You Should Know for Success
Walmart Seller Center: What You Should Know for Success

Walmart is one of the biggest retail stores in the world known for offering products at affordable prices. 

Walmart brick-and-mortar stores have been around as far back as 1962. However, it wasn't until 2009 that the Walmart online marketplace was launched. 

Today, Walmart comprises thousands of sellers with dozens of product categories ranging from electronics to fashion, home and kitchen, and more. 

To start selling on the Walmart marketplace, you need to register using the Walmart Seller Center. 

So, if you're a business owner thinking of launching a business on the Walmart marketplace, read on as we go through everything you need to know about the Walmart Seller Center and how to sell on the Walmart marketplace. 

What is the Walmart marketplace? 

So what is the Walmart marketplace? Walmart marketplace is an online platform with established professional sellers selling high-quality products that complement Walmart's products. 

Sellers on the Walmart marketplace can easily list their products without having to worry about monthly fees or set-up costs. This allows sellers to save more and earn more. 

In addition, Walmart has an established audience of 120 million monthly visitors and loyal customers who shop from various product categories and channels. This means that you can get your brand in front of millions of customers who are ready to buy your product. 

Why should you sell on the Walmart marketplace? 

Selling on the Walmart marketplace comes with many notable benefits. Here are a few reasons why you should be selling on the Walmart marketplace: 

  • You can expand your customer reach by selling your products on Walmart.com. As we mentioned earlier, Walmart marketplace gets millions of visitors per month which gives your product a massive reach. 
  • Walmart is a reputable platform that customers trust. By selling your products on the Walmart marketplace, you can give your business some credibility. This means customers will feel more comfortable buying products from you at Walmart. 
  • Walmart has less competition than other platforms like Amazon. This is because Walmart has a more complex application process, giving you fewer sellers to compete with. 
  • Most platforms include setup costs which can affect your overall profit. Walmart doesn’t charge any monthly fees or setup costs. You will only be paying a referral fee when you sell your product. 
  • The Walmart marketplace has Omnichannel capabilities, which allow you to integrate it with other sales channels. 

What qualifications do you need to sell on the Walmart marketplace?

To sell on the Walmart marketplace, there are some qualifications that you need to meet. These qualifications include: 

  • Business Tax ID(s) (SSN is not accepted) or Business License Number
  • Additional documents to help verify your business name and address. 
  • History of success in a marketplace or ecommerce. 
  • Your products should have GTIN/UPC GS1 Company Prefix Numbers for proper identification 
  • Your product catalog should meet the guidelines and restrictions of Walmart’s Prohibited Products Policy. 
  • You must fulfill your products using Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) or another B2C U.S. warehouse that provides efficient order fulfillment and return services. 

How to sell on the Walmart marketplace 

Here’s a simple three-step checklist to help you get started on the Walmart marketplace: 

  1. Apply to sell on the Walmart marketplace

Before selling at Walmart, you need to meet the minimum qualifications listed above. It is crucial to have everything ready to avoid any back and forth. With everything ready, the application process could take only a few minutes. 

  1. Create your seller account 

Once approved to sell on Walmart, you will need to create a seller account. Go to Walmart’s Seller signup form, fill in your name, business name, business email address, phone number, etc., and create your account. 

Once done, you will receive an email requiring that you verify your business. Once you are verified, you continue to set up your account. 

Verify business details 

To verify your business, go to the seller's homepage and click on the “Get Verified” button. Then, fill out the verification form with all the details requested. This includes tax information and other business details. Once done, submit the form for review.  The verification process could take up to two business days. 

Set up payments

Once your business details are verified, you can proceed to set up your payments. You can choose between three payment processors: Payoneer, PingPong, and Hyperwallet. 

Set up shipping 

Next, you will need to set up your shipping method for order fulfillment and return services. To set up your shipping, go to your seller homepage and click on Start Shipping. Choose your shipping template, fill on all necessary details, and click on Submit. 

  1. Test and go live 

The final step is listing your products and testing orders to ensure a smooth process before going live. You can test two or three orders without shipping them. Simply check for acknowledgment of orders, order cancellation, shipping, and refund. Once all is validated, you can go live. 

What is Walmart Seller Center?

Walmart Seller Center is a platform on the Walmart marketplace that enables sellers to manage their products and sales. 

To start selling on the Walmart marketplace, you will need to register your company via the Walmart Seller Center and update your account settings. 

You can upload and manage your product listings, track your orders, monitor your inventory, and get access to several tools and resources. You can monitor your performance and optimize your selling experience using tools like the Listing Quality Score. 

Also, using the navigation bar at the top, you can get customer support, view customer messages, view notifications, and edit your profile. 

7 strategies to boost sales on Walmart Seller Center 

The Walmart Seller Center is user-friendly as it comes with several tools and resources that can help improve your performance and boost sales. 

So, here are a few strategies that can help you skyrocket sales on the Walmart marketplace: 

  1. Ensure product listings are well-optimized 
  2. Maintain excellent customer support 
  3. Keep prices competitive 
  4. Win the Walmart Buy Box
  5. Get positive customer reviews 
  6. Run tactical promotions 
  7. Use an effective fulfillment service 

Ensure product listings are well-optimized 

Your Walmart product listing is an essential part of your customer’s journey. The quality of your product listing can make a positive or negative impression on potential customers. What's more, Walmart recognizes a high-quality listing and uses an algorithm to calculate a Listing Quality Score that goes between 0 and 99. 

Walmart will display this score on individual detail pages as well as your store’s catalog.

You can keep tabs on your Listing Quality Score through your Walmart Seller Center Dashboard. 

To improve your score, you want to consider these factors: 

  • Content- product category, titles, product descriptions, images, and attributes. 
  • Offer - Price of item, shipping price, speed, and in-stock rate. 
  • Performance - Seller Order Defect Rate (ODR), prompt customer response, policy adherence, and customer experience. 

A high-quality product listing will get more eyes on your store, increase marketing opportunities, minimize product returns, and improve the conversion rate. 

Maintain excellent customer support 

Excellent customer service will always translate to positive reviews, referrals, and repeat purchases. 

A customer will always tilt towards a store that can provide excellent service and improve their shopping experience. 

What does excellent customer support look like? Here are some metrics to keep in mind: 

  • Ensure you have a 99% shipping standard rate and a product shipped rate of 99.5% and above. Your product cancel rate should also be below 1.5%.
  • You will not be able to avoid returns because of defects or damages that may occur. However, it is important to keep returns under 3%. You should also process refund requests within 24 hours of receiving the request from the buyer.  
  • Your 90-day Seller Rating should be 90% or fall below it. 
  • Overall, your customer service escalation rate should fall below 0.5%. 
  • You should respond to 90% of customer emails and respond to 60% and above of your customer calls within 24 hours. 
  • Each order file should be confirmed and received by Walmart within an hour of receipt. The electronic notice of shipment should be sent within four hours. 

Keep prices competitive 

Walmart is well-known for offering the lowest prices. With Walmart’s business model, setting competitive prices is the only way to stay relevant in the market. 

Focus on offering the lowest but most competitive prices. This also puts you in the best position to win the Walmart Buy Box. 

You want to consider two things when setting your prices. Consider your product and shipping prices before setting a price. Also, avoid running the rat race to the bottom as this could hurt your profit margin. Look out for what your competitors are doing both on Walmart and even on other marketplaces. 

Invest in repricing tools like Repricer to set competitive prices and stand out from the competition. 

Win the Walmart Buy Box

Winning the Buy Box can drastically change the game for your business. It can increase your conversion rate and triple sales. The Walmart Buy Box is controlled by price. This includes the price of the product as well as the shipping price. 

Sellers that offer the lowest prices have a higher chance of winning the buy box if they meet other criteria as well. These criteria include stock availability, good reviews, and good account health, amongst others. 

Get positive customer reviews 

Walmart is focused on giving customers a positive shopping experience. What’s more, customers will mostly make a buying decision based on customer reviews. 

With this in mind, you want to ensure that you get positive customer reviews on your product pages. You can do this by encouraging your customers to drop a review via email or social media after making a purchase. You can also offer incentives to encourage customers to drop their reviews. 

The better your customer reviews, the higher your rankings on the Walmart marketplace. 

Run tactical promotions 

One of the most powerful ways to draw attention to your Walmart product listing and increase sales is to run strategic promotions. 

Depending on what your goals are, you can run two types of promotions. 

The Clearance promotion will display a “CLEARANCE” badge above the product. This tells customers that your deal is better than the average. This kind of promotion is effective for moving slow inventory, excess inventory, or seasonal items. 

The Reduced promotion displays a “REDUCED PRICE” badge for products with $5 off on items above $100 or 5% off items that are below $100. This is also effective for slow-moving products and can give you a quick sales boost. 

Use an effective fulfillment service 

One way to ensure effective customer service is to do a good job fulfilling orders. This means delivering customer orders on time and also supporting customer returns or refunds. 

Thankfully, Walmart offers a sophisticated Fulfillment service - Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS). With Walmart Fulfillment Services, you can hand over the responsibility of fulfilling orders to Walmart. Thanks to their vast network of warehouses and infrastructure, you won’t have to worry about delivering products to your customers. 

On the other hand, you can choose to use a third-party fulfillment service. However, you want to ensure that you can deliver a great customer experience working with them. 

How much does it cost to sell on the Walmart marketplace? 

What makes Walmart stand out from other marketplaces is that there are no costs to set up a Walmart Seller Center account. You only need to pay referral fees each time you make a sale. These referral fees are a percentage of the total sales price for a completed purchase. These fees range from 6% to 15%. 

How much do Walmart Sellers make? 

The amount you can make as a Walmart seller depends on various factors. This includes the type of product and product category, how well you price your products, how well you advertise your products, and so on. 

According to data from Jungle Scout, Walmart sellers earn at least 20% and more than half of small businesses earn over $100k annually in revenue. 

Final thoughts

The Walmart marketplace is an online platform that provides businesses the opportunity to expand their reach and sales. 

With Walmart Seller Center, register your business, list and sell your products, manage your inventory, track your orders, and ultimately increase sales and profit. 

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