Walmart Partners with Shopify in Historic E-Commerce First

Need to Know

• Shopify will become Walmart’s first-ever commerce platform partner.
• The partnership will allow Shopify merchants to sell their products via Walmart.com, the second-most-popular e-commerce platform in the US, only Amazon.
• More than 1,200 Shopify merchants are expected to join Walmart.com by the end of the year
• Over 120 million people visit Walmart.com each month.
• The move positions Walmart.com as major competitor to other online retail giants, namely Amazon.

Analysis

Walmart has partnered with Shopify as its first-ever commerce platform partner in a move that primes Walmart to go head-to-head against leading online commerce giants.

Starting on June 15, Shopify’s US merchants will be able to apply to list their items on Walmart.com’s online catalog. Once approved, merchants will be able to bulk edit their product listings, which will automatically sync across Shopify and Walmart’s platforms, at no additional cost.

The move will allow a huge roster of small businesses access to Walmart’s more than 120 million online visitors per month.

“At Shopify, we’re focused on helping entrepreneurs go from just an idea to becoming thriving, scalable businesses. By partnering with Walmart, we will be able to connect merchants with consumers across America within a trusted marketplace, helping merchants drive new sales while consumers discover new products they’ll love,” Satish Kanwar, VP of product at Shopify wrote in a blog post announcing the partnership.

Walmart has been gradually building up its digital capabilities, handily positioning itself as a major competitor against online retail giants such as Amazon — and this latest partnership is just the most recent step in the company’s strong digital strategy. Currently, sales on Amazon account for nearly 40% of all online retail in the US, with Walmart in second place at roughly 5%. In February, plans for Walmart+ leaked, which is a subscription service similar to Amazon’s Prime service.

Shopify is a good partner for Walmart, as the Canadian company, too, has been aggressively expanding its offerings and capabilities. In April, it rebranded its Arrive app to launch Shop, an all-in-one shopping app that allows users to browse more than a million stores, and make and track purchases. The same month, the company began allowing merchants to manage email marketing campaigns directly within Shopify’s merchant portal.

Online retail has boomed for Walmart, as it has for most companies, in the wake of COVID-19 lockdown measures. Last month, the company reported a 74% surge in digital sales, with an increase in net sales overall of 10.5%.