An increasing number of Amazon sellers are beginning to explore other sales channels due to the rising operating costs. Although Walmart cannot shake the dominant position of Amazon, it is slowly rising and adopting various measures to narrow the gap.
However, we cannot switch the eCommerce platform with one click. Even sellers who perform well on Amazon have to start from scratch on Walmart.
Sellers interested in Walmart should be prepared to invest time, money, and energy to build the store. Instead of blindly moving everything from Amazon to Walmart, we have to see Walmart differently.
This article lists 4 mistakes Amazon sellers often make when selling on Walmart, 8 differences between Amazon and Walmart, and the 5 tips for improving online Walmart store ranking.
4 Common Mistakes Amazon Sellers Make When Running a Walmart Store
1. Upload Amazon listings to Walmart without Changes
Many Amazon marketplace sellers will copy the original content, pricing information, and product description from Amazon product listings without considering the subtle differences in user behavior, platform algorithms, product category, and Walmart's requirements when uploading Walmart listings.
Using the Amazon content without changes makes it hard to improve store rankings on Walmart. The same things will happen if you directly put Walmart listings on Amazon.
2. Use Amazon FBA to Fulfill Orders
Walmart clearly stated that sellers should not use the fulfillment system of its competitors (including Amazon) to deliver products purchased at Walmart.
Walmart believes that this will confuse its customers and damage customers' shopping experience. Violation of the regulations will cause order cancellation and account suspension.
Sellers are advised not to break the regulation. You should include this reminder in your Walmart eCommerce strategy.
3. Insufficient Inventory
Some sellers focus their business on Amazon operations and only list a small portion of the inventory in Walmart to test the market demand. Most sellers will forget to replenish the inventory when the products are sold out due to a lack of employees or motivation.
4. Passive Management
Similarly, many online retailers upload their product listings and ignore opportunities to promote sales, such as advertising, requesting reviews, and providing two-day delivery services. Such a passive operation will eventually lead to a decline in sales.
The Difference Between Selling on Walmart vs Amazon
1. Number of Users
One of the most obvious differences between the two online marketplaces is the number of users. Taking the data from the United States as an example, Amazon's monthly visits are about 206 million. In contrast, the monthly visits of Walmart are close to 132 million.
The number of Amazon users far exceeds that of Walmart, so the monthly traffic of the two platform sellers is also different. Each merchant selling on Amazon may have around several thousand. In contrast, Walmart sellers' monthly visitors may be as high as tens of thousands.
From a demographic perspective, both platforms have many millennial users. But Walmart reports that more than half of its online buyers are from middle- to high-income families with children.
2. Walmart Marketplace Sellers Requirements
Amazon's seller approval process is more manageable. It is driven by its iconic "Bezos virtuous circle" business model, attracting a large number of sellers to join the platform, launching more inexpensive products on the market, and ultimately attracting more customers.
Today, Amazon has over 8.3 million sellers worldwide (of which only 2 million are active sellers), contributing more than 50% of Amazon's annual sales.
On the other hand, Walmart's seller requirement is more strict. For more information, you can check the Walmart Seller Central here.
3. Listing Requirements
The product ASIN in Amazon becomes UPC on Walmart. In addition, Walmart's classification system is also different from Amazon. Take shoes as an example.
Amazon has stricter shoe size requirements. As can be seen from the filter type of the search result page, the purchase behavior of the two platforms is also different. These nuances are vital for setting up the Walmart product feed.
4. Order Fulfillment Options
78% of Amazon's top sellers will use FBA, but Walmart prohibits FBA fulfillment and has launched its own logistics service WFS.
Sellers who use Walmart's two-day delivery service have a greater chance of grabbing the "Buy Box." The two-day delivery service is equivalent to Amazon's Prime service.
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5. Pricing Policy
Walmart started with a reputation of "good quality and low price." Hence, it has strict control over product pricing, requiring sellers to sell products on other platforms not lower than their product prices on Walmart. If you decide to sell on the Walmart marketplace, it is necessary to follow its policy.
6. Return Policy
Customers can return most of Walmart's orders in Walmart's local stores. Customers do not need to pay any replenishment or return shipping fees, so their desire to shop is even stronger.
However, this may also lead to huge returns. Fortunately, Walmart's return service offers discounts, which ease the burden on sellers.
In addition, Walmart sellers can set their return period and policy more freely, and a longer return period can reduce the product return rate.
7. Advertising
According to data from Teikametrics, only 1.6% of sellers currently advertise on Walmart, which is an attractive option for new advertisers.
However, Walmart's advertising campaign is different from Amazon's. The first-price auction is adopted. The seller who wins the auction pays advertising costs according to their bids.
8. Overall Market Maturity
The Walmart eCommerce market is still in its infancy, and the seller services it provides are far less than Amazon. However, Walmart's eCommerce store can be used as a long-term investment channel.
How to Gain a Leading Position on Walmart
1. Become a Seller on Walmart Now
Walmart's e-commerce is not yet "mature." Sellers who join earlier will have more time and opportunities to test and optimize Walmart's operating strategy.
2. Find a 3PL(Third-party Logistics) Partner
Walmart does disallow the use of Amazon's order fulfillment service, so sellers must find other third-party logistics companies or fulfill Walmart's orders by themselves.
Deliverr is Walmart's official fulfillment partner. Sellers who use Deliverr can get two-day delivery and more organic traffic in search rankings.
3. Use Automation Tools
Is there software to manage Walmart and Amazon in one place? Much multi-channel software provides automated tools that can use algorithms or artificial intelligence to automatically format product data to meet Walmart's requirements. It can also help fill in gaps in the data, allowing sellers to focus more on other efficient tasks.
This software can also help sellers manage inventory, remind them that the inventory has fallen to a threshold, and suggest replenishment to prevent inventory depletion or incorrect amounts.
4. Advertising
Advertising is vital for product promotion. Walmart provides "sponsored product" pay-per-click advertisements. Sellers can bid on Walmart based on keywords that perform well on Amazon.
As mentioned earlier, Walmart uses the first-price bidding model, so it is recommended that sellers use manual bidding to control costs.
Similarly, before advertising, ensure that the product listing and ads are optimized.
5. Creative Marketing
Sellers can launch product packages or bundle sales to increase AOV(average order value ). They need to avoid possible cross-channel pricing violations.
Send emails to existing customers to get some early product reviews, or use platforms such as Bazaarvoice to attract user reviews to build the store's reputation and attract more traffic to increase the product rankings faster.
Conclusion
As a third-party seller, selling on these eCommerce platforms is not easy. Methods work on Amazon may not work on Walmart. That's why we need to learn about their rules and requirements to avoid unexpected losses. The most important thing to do is to know the differences between Walmart and Amazon before investing.
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