Walmart ramps up online marketplace ahead of holiday season

Walmart enhanced its online marketplace with new capabilities and seller solutions, the retailer announced at its annual Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit this week.

• Walmart will grow its US third-party marketplace ecommerce sales by 20.3% this year to reach $10.90 billion, per our forecast.
• That’s only 2.2% of total retail marketplace sales in the US.
• These updates could help Walmart grow its share of marketplace sales, especially with the busy holiday season fast approaching.

Betting on beauty: Walmart is adding premium beauty products to its marketplace, including skin and hair care products from over 20 new brands like COSRX, T3, and Beachwaver.

• “We’re seeing increased interest in premium beauty,” said Silvia Azrai Kawas, executive vice president, consumables at Walmart US. “It's the fastest-growing digital category across beauty at Walmart.”
• The retailer launched premium beauty in-store and online in 2022, expanding the assortment to over 40 brands including DevaCurl and Drybar.

By expanding this category into its marketplace, Walmart can help customers discover new brands and grow its share of US cosmetic and beauty sales, which we forecast will grow 6.9% to reach $101.52 billion this year.

“The premium beauty space is highly disruptive, with new brands and products emerging all the time, and we see a new, younger and curious beauty shopper on social media platforms,” said Kawas.

Bigger and better: The collectibles industry is projected to reach $1 trillion over the next 10 years, said Julie Barber, executive vice president, general merchandising at Walmart US. To capitalize on that growth, Walmart is expanding its range of pre-owned and collectible merchandise.

• Resold at Walmart is the retailer’s first destination for cross-category and cross-condition pre-owned products across categories like luxury, fashion, collectibles, and electronics.
• Walmart’s Collector Shop now allows pre-ordering, enabling sellers to build anticipation for product drops.

The retailer will offer collectibles sellers marketing support for on- and off-site activations, trade shows, and livestreams, said Barber. This includes Walmart’s own collector events, which it hosts three times a year, timed to coincide with other collector events like San Diego Comic Con.

Signed, sealed, delivered: Walmart continues to streamline its fulfillment services for sellers, introducing multichannel logistics and cross-border fulfillment.

• The retailer’s new Multichannel Solutions program, launching September 10, enables sellers to fulfill orders from any ecommerce site via Walmart’s fulfillment services.
• Walmart is opening its carrier network to full truckload shipments.
• With its Cross Border import service, Walmart can now transport inbound goods from Asia to Walmart Fulfillment Services facilities across the US.

Walmart also announced the launch of LocalFinds, which offers shoppers direct pickup and delivery from local sellers’ physical stores. The service will be available starting in Atlanta and Dallas this fall, with other cities to follow.

Tis the season: Walmart launched several new solutions to help sellers streamline the holidays.

• A revamped Global Seller Center site and app provide onboarding for eligible sellers in any market so they can sell internationally.
• Walmart Marketplace Capital is offering qualified sellers cash advances to help them scale during the holidays.
• Sellers will have access to a Deals Dashboard, making it easier for them to enroll their items in Walmart’s popular deals events and providing them with richer customer data and insights.

Walmart is waiving its peak season storage fees for those who inbound their inventory to Walmart Fulfillment Centers through September 30.

“It's our way of saying thank you to our sellers,” said Jare’ Buckley Cox, vice president, Walmart Fulfillment Services, at Walmart US, noting that sellers that get their inventory early will be well-positioned to take advantage of Walmart’s many deals events during the holiday season.

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