Walmart's marketplace doubles in a year: report

Aug 13, 2020

Dive Brief:

The number of sellers on Walmart's marketplace has doubled to more than 50,000 since July 2019, according to a report from Marketplace Pulse. More than 5,000 new sellers have joined the platform since the retail giant announced its partnership with Shopify last month.

Since the beginning of 2020, the number of items available for sale on Walmart's marketplace has dropped from more than 50 million to about 36 million, according to the report. The decrease in product offerings stems from a few large marketplace sellers delisting their catalogs, particularly in the books and home categories, per the report.

The remaining catalog represents 90% of the company's overall product offerings.

Dive Insight:

With its e-commerce business growing, Walmart's marketplace expansion comes amid its other digital efforts. Beyond its collaboration with Shopify, the retailer also merged its grocery and shopping apps in May and introduced contactless options across delivery, pickup and in-store transactions in April.

Meanwhile, Shopify has stepped up its digital offerings, too. In addition to its relationship with Walmart, the e-commerce platform teamed up with Affirm to facilitate installment payment plans and rolled out 3D model and video features for merchants.

But as Walmart hones its online marketplace, rival Amazon has run into trouble with its sellers. The e-commerce veteran has struggled to consistently verify the quality of goods sold via its platform, but it recently made efforts to address the problem. Last month, Amazon unveiled a group of former federal prosecutors, investigators and data analysts who will serve as part of its counterfeit crimes unit.

Brands have taken different approaches to addressing Amazon's marketplace. In November 2019, Nike pulled its products from Amazon to focus on other channels. But luxury brand Valentino teamed up with the platform to fight merchants accused of selling fake Valentino shoes.

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