The 2024 Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit featured announcements about multichannel fulfillment, holiday planning, category expansion and new features.

At the event, Walmart also shared that it had 12x more marketplace items for sale during its July sales event, Walmart Deals, than the year before.

Walmart said its marketplace has grown sales more than 30% in each of its last four fiscal quarters. Additionally, it said, the number of sellers listing items on Walmart.com grew 20% in the company’s previous fiscal year. It also noted that global Walmart ecommerce sales surpassed $100 billion last year.

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. It is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of top such marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

New ways Walmart is fulfilling online orders

The company previewed a new initiative earlier this year called Walmart LocalFinds, which it spotlighted at the summit. Walmart LocalFinds connects online and offline shopping via direct pickup and delivery from sellers’ physical stores.

It uses Walmart’s last-mile delivery network to “enable speedy deliveries and connect shoppers with local businesses through Walmart’s digital channels,” the company said. The company said it’s launching Walmart LocalFinds in Atlanta and Dallas this fall, with other U.S. cities following. Retailer 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. is the first nationwide seller participating in the initiative.

Walmart is also offering cross-border fulfillment. The Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) import service for full-container-load shipments will handle transportation of goods from Asia directly to the company’s facilities across the U.S., Walmart said.

Jare’ Buckley-Cox, vice president of fulfillment services and WFS, said at the summit that Walmart is providing a “simpler import process and reduced rates.”

Meanwhile, the retailer is also offering new services via WFS. Its new Multichannel Logistics program allows its sellers to fulfill orders from other ecommerce sites using Walmart’s supply chain.

“Walmart will fulfill orders and manage returns while offering plain, unbranded packaging, fast, reliable shipping and competitive rates averaging 15% lower than the competition,” the company said, adding that it is launching the program Sept. 10, “in time for holiday deliveries.”

Holiday planning

Walmart is again waiving peak-season storage fees for sellers who send inventory by Sept. 30, which Buckley-Cox said will position sellers for the retailer’s holiday-season events.

In a panel during the Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit, Seth Brown, channels and marketing director for Datavision, said sales volume at his company spikes by at least 500% during the peak holiday season.

“Everybody plans for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, but we see the week leading up to Christmas is just as strong,” Brown told the audience during the panel. “Research and know your replenishment times for your inventory and plan accordingly because you will sell just as much that last week as you do during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday time.”

Walmart is also rolling out a Deals Dashboard tool for sellers to enroll their items in Walmart’s sales events.

“The feature also provides sellers more data and insights to improve the quality of offers and make more deals available to customers during [the holidays],” Walmart said.

Walmart Marketplace category expansion

At the summit, Walmart announced it would add a Premium Beauty category to its marketplace product assortment. It also said it would expand its collectibles and pre-owned merchandise categories.

The Premium Beauty category includes skin care, hair care and hair tool products from more than 20 brands, Walmart announced.

At the Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit, the retailer announced it would add a Premium Beauty category to its own marketplace, in addition to a resale category and updates to its collectibles category.

Walmart Marketplace is also “introducing Resold at Walmart, its first digital destination for cross-category and cross-condition pre-owned items.” The category includes 5 million items from more than 1,700 sellers, according to the company.

“By extending the life of these products, Resold at Walmart aligns with our commitment to make the more sustainable choice the everyday choice and builds on the success of Walmart Restored, a collection of refurbished electronics and small appliances powered by Walmart Marketplace,” the company said in a statement.

Walmart is also changing aspects of its collectibles category. Part of that includes enabling preorders “to build customer anticipation for drops, including releases exclusive to Walmart.”

New features for sellers

Among the new features Walmart highlighted for sellers at its marketplace summit was an expanded seller reach.

Darren Carithers, senior vice president of international marketplace and WFS, said at the summit that sellers will be able to make their U.S. catalogs available internationally with a few clicks. He added that Walmart will also translate those web pages to Spanish and French for sellers, who can then set their international prices.

Walmart has also updated its Global Seller Center and updated its app to “provide seamless onboarding for eligible sellers in any market, so they can cross borders and go global by selling in the U.S. Mexico, Chile and Canada.”

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