Amazon or Amazon.com is an online retailer and a famous cloud service provider. Amazon is the largest of all both as a retailer as well a cloud service provider. It was originally an online bookselling company but later on, it offered a monumental product range and inventory, enabling consumers to buy just about anything, including clothing, beauty supplies, gourmet food, jewelry, books, movies, electronics, pet supplies, furniture, toys, garden supplies, and household goods.

In 2020, $41 billion worth of clothing was sold on Amazon. Making the platform the number 1 apparel seller in the US. Clothing sales are likely to surpass the 45 billion mark in the year 2023. Recent research trends have shown that 87% of Amazon sellers are making a profit on clothing sales. An additional 37% of sellers even note that their average profit margin exceeds 20%.

Walmart Marketplace is an effective sales channel for sellers both big and small in the United States and Canada. With more than 400 stores in Canada that serve 1.5 million customers each passing day, it is very close to Amazon in business.

Moreover, Walmart is one of Canada’s largest employers and is ranked one of the country’s top businesses with almost 100,000 employees and the top 10 most influential brands. Walmart Canada was recently recognized as a LinkedIn Top Company of 2022. At least 45% of Amazon sellers believe Walmart’s online business will be strong competition for Amazon in 2022—and 31% are considering launching WFS businesses in 2022.

In this article, we are going to discuss how to sell on Walmart as well as Amazon. More specifically, we will make you understand the similarities and differences between both businesses. We will also focus on the pros and cons of selling on Amazon vs selling on Walmart.

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How to sell on Walmart in comparison to Amazon?

Amazon uses the Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) model for the sellers to sell their products on Amazon. FBA is a service that helps you by outsourcing order fulfillment to Amazon. It provides storage, packaging, and shipping assistance to sellers. This takes the burden off the sellers and grants them more flexibility in their selling practices.

In comparison to it, Sellers need to apply and get approval to sell on Walmart.com, whether or not they use Walmart Fulfilment Service (WFS). This reduces the competition and for your information, it has fewer sellers currently. Hence, this makes it a less saturated Marketplace where sellers get 13 times more visitors a month compared to Amazon sellers.

In addition, Walmart asks you for a simple cost structure that includes a fixed monthly storage fee and fulfillment price that is based on the shipping weight of your product alone. Amazon’s storage fees are based on how much inventory you currently have stored in their warehouses.

To do business on Amazon you have to take the service of dedicated Amazon Managers. These managers are paid a monthly fee and a part of your sales profit. However, Walmart has a WFS fulfillment expert for custom recommendations on business optimization and growth.

Also read: How to Make Passive Income on Amazon?

Similarities between Walmart and Amazon

Both Walmart and Amazon provide Guaranteed 2-day free shipping and free returns to their customers. Whether it be Amazon’s fulfillment warehouses or Walmart’s supply chains, the picking, packing, shipping, and delivering orders to the customers happens in two days times.
Walmart and Amazon manage customer support for the sellers. This includes the service and return requests. Call center services are dedicated to solving the problems of customers and supporting them.
Walmart recently launched a service that will directly compete with Amazon Prime, called Walmart+. This is a $98 membership that includes same-day delivery on groceries and other general merchandise, fuel discounts, early access to deals, and other benefits. Buyers who do not have Walmart+ will need to spend at least $35 to get free 2-day shipping.

How to sell on Walmart?

Now that you know the selling on Walmart in comparison to Amazon, let us try to know the necessary steps to get your products listed and earn sales.

Meet the Seller Requirements

There are many requirements to sell your products on the Walmart Marketplace. These are the 3 key points you need to focus on to sell your products. These include:

E-commerce experience.
A compelling catalog of products enhances Walmart’s overall offerings.
History that speaks to an ongoing focus on providing a positive customer experience

Begin the Application Process

The application process is a must to start selling on the Walmart marketplace. It is required that sellers have a US Business address. Besides business Tax ID information and other legal requirements, you need to:

Demonstrated history of successfully selling through a marketplace or other e-commerce avenue.
Competitively priced product catalog that builds on the existing assortment of inventory on Walmart.com, with GTIN/UPC GS1 Company Prefix Numbers.
Your catalog integration plan-of-action (how you will upload your product catalog—manual or bulk upload, API, or through a solutions provider).
Solid record of accomplishment of fulfilling orders quickly and accurately, and providing first-rate customer service.
warehouse capable of handling outgoing shipments and returns, or a Walmart-approved 3PL fulfillment provider

The time it takes to get your store approved to sell on Walmart varies, and depends on seller capabilities, size, and qualifications.

Register Your Business

After getting the approval to sell, you will sign the Retailer Agreement and start onboarding, which typically takes up to four weeks. Walmart provides sellers with a launch checklist to get started that includes information about verifying a deposit, completing your seller profile, and filling out product details. 4. Upload Your Product Catalog and run Test Orders.

Upload Your Product Catalog & Run Test Orders

At last, you have to upload your products on the website. The products can be added individually or in bulk through Walmart API. You can also work with a Walmart solution provider. It is crucial to ensure all your listings align with Walmart.com’s content and image guidelines.

Also read: How to Make Money Online Without Paying Anything?

Tips to sell on Walmart Marketplace

1. Focus on the most competitive price

Give value for money. It is known for low prices and if you want to stay on this mission, you need to focus on the most competitive prices. Your products will be most visible to the customers and hence have a higher chance of being bought.

2. Keep your product inventory filled to the brim

The products that you sell at the most competitive prices should never run low on inventory. This is the golden rule to get a Buy Box on Walmart. Like Amazon’s Buy Box, the one on the Walmart marketplace is quite similar. It is also an Add to Cart button that lets shoppers purchase something with speed and ease, benefitting both the buyer and seller.

3. Focus on unavailable products that your customer requires

Keep a huge variety of products on your Walmart in both breadth and depth. Run strategic promotions and always optimize your inventory reach. Either clearance sales or reduced prices, the strongest way to attract attention to this can be under these two banners.

4. Design attractive product pages and bundle your products for the customers

When customers click on a link to your product, Walmart.com will direct them to your product page. This page can be the deciding factor for a customer between purchasing your product or going with a competitor. In general, the simpler the better. Customers will appreciate, clear, to-the-point copywriting, easy page navigation, and quality photos of the product.

5. Provide good customer service

A standard customer service like that of Amazon is prescribed for any business to flourish at Walmart. You should focus on shipping rates, cancellation rates, returns, customer calls, etc. to improve your customer service.

6. Consider reviews from customers

Reviews matter a lot online, as they are one of the top ways to build trust with future buyers in a forum where you cannot do so face-to-face. The more (positive) customer reviews you have, the better you increase your chances of ranking higher in searches. In addition, because buyers seldom have the patience to scroll through 10 pages of product searches, ranking high vastly increases your chances of a sale.

Sum up

Now that you have sufficient knowledge about the similarities and differences, between selling on Amazon vs Walmart. The most important news is that you do not have to choose between selling on one marketplace or another. We recommended selling on both marketplaces to expand your customer reach and increase sales.

You do not need to choose between selling on Walmart or Amazon as you can sell on both e-commerce platforms! In fact, as per a recent Helium 10 survey, 48% of Amazon sellers believe that Walmart is important for their overall growth and are considering expanding their e-commerce business to that in 2022. Therefore, they would like to sell on both marketplaces.

One thing that you must know is that both marketplaces will penalize you if you list the same product at a different price on a different marketplace. So, as long as you keep the prices the same, selling on both marketplaces is a great idea to expand your customer reach and increase your sales!

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