Updated: Walmart’s Marketplace Ambitions

Update: A Walmart spokesman has reached out to PYMNTS to note that Hunyh misspoke in his conversation with Internet Retailer, and at this time, Walmart is not considering offering order fulfillment.

While not as well-known as some of the others out there, Walmart’s marketplace currently is home to about 1,000 sellers and offers more than 10 million SKUs. That itself demonstrates growth, as the SKU count in April was around 5 million. This is all in line with Walmart’s goal to add more than 1 million SKUs per month to its marketplace, according to spokesman Tri Huynh.

Huynh also noted that Walmart is looking for a future where its marketplace can do more for its sellers, particularly when it comes to offering order fulfillment – though Walmart corporate has since disputed the claim.

Marketplace membership with Walmart is contingent on an invitation or submitting a request (and being accepted). According to Walmart, there is, at present, about an even split between invitees and requestees. Acceptance on the marketplace is contingent upon experience on other marketplaces (eBay or Amazon, for example), with an emphasis on sellers who trade in private-label products or electronics, apparel and accessories.

“We look at how well they are doing on other marketplaces,” Huynh said. “We don’t mind if they sell the same products on other marketplaces. That means it’s a good product.”

And in the spirit of being open to competition, Walmart displays marketplace prices alongside its own.

“We merge results into one listing page. The lowest price gets the buy box,” Huynh noted.