Walmart has provided momentum for the expansion of its e-commerce marketplace Marketplace by hosting live events for third-party sellers. The Walmart Marketplace Summit opened on August 30, inviting sellers of all sizes to participate and help Walmart further develop its digital products. Walmart also announced plans to expand its e-commerce platform, which currently operates in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, to Chile next year. This will enable cross-border sellers to expand their international influence and may further promote Walmart's e-commerce business in Chile.

The retail giant continues to roll out digital brand storefronts called Brand Stores, which allow third-party sellers to increase sales with curated and seasonal products. Walmart has also created "new opportunities to reach more customers," including Walmart Business, which is dedicated to B2B sellers, and Walmart Restored, which allows resale.

Walmart also works with third-party sellers to provide local pickup and delivery services for retailers with physical stores, where shoppers can choose in-store pickup or same-day delivery. Walmart Delivery Service is an end-to-end delivery solution that can be used to deliver large items such as trampolines.

Walmart Marketplace

Walmart Marketplace has been around since 2009, and the retailer has been ramping up its efforts to grow the service in recent years. Walmart partnered with Shopify in 2020 to open the marketplace to more small sellers and offered limited-time discounts to new sellers in early 2023.

Small and medium-sized retailers can expand their influence by displaying their products in front of Walmart customers. According to the Digital Commerce 360 ​​survey, 77% of respondents said that their goal of joining Walmart's e-commerce platform is to reach more customers. On average, respondents earn 38% of their total sales through the e-commerce platform.

For large retailers like Walmart that can handle marketplace logistics, the benefit is having a selection of merchandise beyond the usual SKU assortment. Manish Joneja, senior vice president of Walmart Marketplace and Walmart Delivery Services, said in a press release that Walmart Marketplace allows "customers to get what they want, whether it's from Walmart-owned products or inventory from third-party sellers."

The growing marketplace also gives Walmart another way to compete with Amazon, an area where it still has a lot of work to do. Walmart had about 50,000 active sellers on its platform in January, compared with 493,000 on Amazon, according to Zentail. Amazon accounts for 37% of e-commerce sales, while Walmart accounts for 6.4%, according to Insider Intelligence.

Walmart has launched a Prime Day competitor, offered subscription plans that compete with Amazon Prime, and even tried to create a better website than Amazon.com earlier this year to take market share from Amazon. Despite Amazon's huge lead, Walmart is determined to carve out its own niche in the e-commerce market.

Editor ✎Estella/

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