Walmart Marketplace Doubles in Size With Help from Shopify

Need to Know

• Walmart’s Marketplace has doubled in size this year according to a recent report, largely thanks to its recent partnership with Shopify.
• With the goal of onboarding 1,200 new sellers by the end of 2020, Walmart has already surpassed that with 3,000 new sellers in June alone.
• The Shopify partnership allowed merchants to list items and seamlessly integrate with Walmart’s platform.
• The mega-retailer is facing continued competition from Amazon, both with its third-party marketplace offering and the soon-to-launch Prime rival Walmart+.

Analysis

Walmart Marketplace has doubled in size since July 2019, now surpassing 50,000 sellers, according to a recent report. The rapid increase in sellers is in part due to the retail giant’s recent partnership with Shopify. 

On June 15th, Walmart announced it was opening its marketplace to Shopify’s small business sellers with the goal of onboarding 1,200 new sellers by the end of 2020. The marketplace as a whole onboarded 3,000 new sellers in the month of June alone. 

The partnership between Walmart and Shopify was a historic first, marking Shopify as Walmart’s first-ever e-commerce partner. The deal allows for small businesses to gain access to Walmart’s massive base of 20 million monthly online visitors. 

And while the partnership with Shopify has certainly helped accelerate the growth of Walmart’s marketplace, the pandemic is also a cause for customers to flock to online shops. 

“Growing our Marketplace is a strategic priority, and we are going to be smart as we grow. We will start integrating new sellers now and expect to add 1,200 Shopify sellers this year,” said Jeff Clementz, VP of Walmart Marketplace, following the announcement of the partnership in June. 

The third-party “stores” work similarly to Amazon’s marketplace, however, Walmart’s process requires a slower and more careful vetting process for sellers in an effort to avoid counterfeit sales. While Amazon’s marketplace adds thousands of sellers daily, Walmart is expecting to add 3,600 sellers in July. Though Walmart is experiencing slower growth than Amazon, that number is still triple the number of sellers Walmart was adding in January of this year. 

The expanded Walmart Marketplace is sure to be a perk for those joining Walmart’s next initiative, Walmart+. The program, which is likely to compete with Amazon Prime, will offer a host of rewards for members, including free same-day delivery and fuel discounts at Walmart gas stations.