Walmart's foreign sellers outnumber local sellers for the first time, with Chinese sellers being the most active

It is learned that according to the latest research from MarketplacePulse, in the past year, the number of foreign sellers from China, India, Canada and the United Kingdom among Walmart's third-party sellers has exceeded the number of its domestic sellers in the United States, among which Chinese sellers are the most active.

Research shows that 46.7% of Walmart's new third-party sellers in 2022 are from the United States, and the rest are foreign sellers, most of which are Chinese sellers. Until 2023, Walmart's foreign new seller growth has always exceeded that of the United States. So far, American sellers still account for a minority of Walmart's new sellers.

It is learned that Walmart's e-commerce business has undergone two major transformations in the past decade.

The first time was in 2016, when Jet.com acquired Walmart, and Walmart's e-commerce business began its path of acquisition-based expansion, acquiring brands such as Moosejaw and Bonobos and India's largest online retailer Flipkart. Since then, Walmart's e-commerce business has really begun to grow.

The second time was in March 2021, when Walmart’s third-party marketplace was opened to non-US sellers for the first time. Prior to this, Walmart’s third-party marketplace was only open to invited US sellers.

On March 25, 2021, Walmart held a strategic conference on US site investment promotion in Nanshan, Shenzhen, and officially recruited Chinese third-party sellers to join. Subsequently, Walmart began recruiting sellers in India in January 2022, in the UK in June 2022, and in Canada in August 2022.

So far, China accounts for more than 90% of Walmart's new international sellers and nearly half of all new sellers. Although Walmart may add more countries in addition to India, the United Kingdom and Canada, Chinese sellers will still dominate, which is determined by the current competitive landscape Walmart faces in the US e-commerce market.

In recent years, Amazon has relied on its strong e-commerce business to continuously increase its share of the US retail market, posing a threat to Walmart's position as a retail giant.

In 2021, Amazon's share of the US e-commerce market hit a record high of 56.7%, directly leading to its retail market share increasing to 9.4%, surpassing Walmart's 8.65%. This means that Amazon, which was founded 28 years ago, surpassed Walmart, which was founded 60 years ago, for the first time to become the largest retailer in the United States.

On the other hand, Temu and Shein are rising in the US e-commerce market and further dividing the market share. Various crises have forced Walmart to accelerate the expansion of its e-commerce business.

It is worth noting that both Amazon, an old rival, and Temu and Shein, new rivals, rely mainly on Chinese sellers to build their supply chains. On Amazon, the share and GMV of Chinese sellers are constantly increasing.

As a result, Walmart has also accelerated its recruitment of Chinese sellers. In August last year, Walmart relaxed the entry threshold for foreign sellers, simplified the entry process, and shortened the entry time for WMC (Walmart Advertising) and WFS. In February this year, Walmart completely lifted the annual GMV investment threshold for Chinese sellers.

As competition with Amazon intensifies, Walmart is expected to continue to focus on recruiting Chinese sellers to gain an advantage in the supply chain.

Editor✎ Ashley/

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