Dive Brief:
- Walmart hosted its first summit dedicated to Walmart Marketplace. The “Let’s Grow! 2023 Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit” took place in Las Vegas on Wednesday and Thursday, with 1,500 registered attendees.
- The event brought together a group of third-party sellers as a continued means to build alongside them, according to Manish Joneja, senior vice president of Walmart Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services.
- The retailer announced that it plans to open its Marketplace to sellers in Chile next year. It already has existing markets in the U.S, Canada and Mexico.
Dive Insight:
Among news announced at the summit, Walmart said the company is scaling local pickup and delivery services for sellers with physical storefronts, expanding Walmart Fulfillment Services to include big and bulky items and multi-box shipments and rolling out digital brand shops and shelves on the company’s website.
Additionally, Walmart Fulfillment Services will not charge sellers peak season storage fees for sellers who inbound by Oct. 1.
Walmart said the goal of fulfillment improvements is to cut costs for merchants and make shopping more convenient for customers. The retailer noted that sellers see a 50% jump on average in gross merchandise value when selling items through Walmart Fulfillment Services.
“Today’s summit is a big milestone for us and our seller community. Walmart Marketplace can take you to new places, whether that’s a new market on the map, an emerging area like refurbished products or a spot on a shelf in one of our thousands of stores,” Joneja said in a statement.
Joneja spoke at the event, along with CEO Doug McMillon, Chief eCommerce Officer Tom Ward and other Walmart senior leaders.
Walmart has been unveiling more services for merchants on its platform. The retailer, for example, introduced an Inventory Transfer Services tool that helps sellers improve inventory availability, saves costs by sending goods to one centralized location, and offers faster shipping times due to improved two-day and next-day shipping coverage.
The company has also introduced means for sellers to reach specific customer segments. This summer Walmart introduced a dedicated e-commerce site for business to business sellers, dubbed Walmart Business. Last year the company launched a refurbishment program called Walmart Restored to help sellers offer refurbished goods to consumers.
