Beyond Amazon: adding Walmart and more marketplaces

Most sellers who add a second marketplace start with Walmart. It is the closest to Amazon in how it works: a third party marketplace on a major retailer's site, a fulfillment service that mirrors FBA, pay per click advertising, and a brand program for trademark owners. Walmart says its site reaches 120 million monthly visitors.

The first difference is access. Anyone with the right documents can open an Amazon seller account, individuals included. Walmart vets sellers: its beginner's guide says it looks for a history of marketplace or eCommerce success, and it requires a business tax ID, with a Social Security number not accepted. For an established Amazon seller, that track record is an advantage.

The second is fees. Amazon's Professional plan costs $39.99 a month plus referral fees by category. Walmart charges no setup or monthly fees, only a referral fee per sale that varies by category, which its beginner's guide puts between 6% and 15% of the total sales price, shipping included.

The third is product IDs. Walmart asks for GTIN or UPC codes with GS1 company prefixes, and offers a GTIN exemption for products without one, such as private label goods. Sellers who listed on Amazon with other codes may need new ones before applying.

Fulfillment works in parallel. Amazon's FBA ships with Prime; Walmart Fulfillment Services picks, packs and ships in two days or less, with no minimums or maximums, and takes returns in more than 4,600 stores or by mail. Both marketplaces also let you ship orders yourself, measured against performance standards.

Those standards differ in detail but not in spirit. Walmart asks for on-time delivery of 90% or above, valid tracking of 99% or above, cancellations of 2% or below and responses within 48 hours. Amazon measures order defects, late shipments and cancellations on its Account Health page. A seller who meets one usually meets the other.

Brand protection runs through separate programs. Amazon Brand Registry accepts a pending or registered trademark. Walmart Brand Portal requires a trademark registered with the USPTO, and handles copyright, trademark, patent and counterfeit claims. Each program unlocks its marketplace's Sponsored Brands ads.

Running both from one stock is possible in either direction. Amazon says Multi-Channel Fulfillment can fulfill orders placed on your websites and other sales channels from FBA inventory, and Walmart says WFS fulfills orders from other channels, naming Amazon, eBay, TikTok and your own website. Check each marketplace's rules for orders fulfilled by the other before you rely on it.

Listings carry over in principle but not in format. Walmart's catalog is built with Setup by Match, single items, bulk upload, the API or solution providers, and Walmart scores content quality and price competitiveness in its Pro Seller program. Most sellers start with their best Amazon products, rewritten for Walmart's attributes.

Both marketplaces have a buy box. On Amazon, the Offer Display features the most competitive offers on a product page, weighing price, delivery speed and stock.

On Walmart, sellers compete for what Walmart calls the Buy Box, and Walmart ties it to its Every Day Low Price approach: its Pricing Opportunities dashboard, Repricer tool and Success Hub's Match Buy Box price suggestions all exist to help third party sellers win it.

Fast delivery matters on both. Amazon's FBA offers carry the Prime badge; Walmart says WFS items earn the 2-day delivery and Fulfilled by Walmart tags, and are eligible for free shipping for Walmart+ members. On both marketplaces, handing fulfillment to the marketplace is the simplest way to meet shoppers' delivery expectations.

Competition has to be checked product by product. Walmart's vetting keeps its seller base selective, and its catalog of 170 million SKUs, by Walmart's count, sits alongside Walmart's own first party offers. Before listing, look at how many sellers already offer the product on each marketplace, and whether Walmart itself sells it.

Customer service standards are similar. Amazon's order defect rate target is under 1% for orders you ship yourself; Walmart asks for a negative feedback rate of 2% or below, a return rate of 6% or below and responses within 48 hours. With FBA or WFS, the marketplace handles most customer service and returns for you, though negative feedback still counts against you on Walmart.

Storage is a cost on both. Walmart's WFS charges a monthly storage fee by cubic feet and time stored; Amazon charges monthly storage and aged inventory surcharges on FBA stock. Sending each marketplace only what it will sell in the next weeks keeps both bills down.

Pricing needs one decision across both. Customers compare, and both marketplaces reward competitive prices: Amazon through the Featured Offer, Walmart through its price competitiveness score. A single price policy per product, adjusted for each marketplace's fees, avoids undercutting yourself.

A multichannel strategy starts with categories, not platforms. Check that your categories are open to you on Walmart and that none of your products fall under its Prohibited Products Policy, then compare each marketplace's referral fee for those categories. Some online shoppers search Walmart first for everyday goods, others Amazon; your own sales data on each platform will show which of your products each set of shoppers wants.

However the channels split, one ecommerce operation runs them: one product catalog, one inventory count, one customer service standard. Sellers who treat Walmart as a copy of Amazon, rather than a second store with its own rules, tend to struggle with both. Tools help here: listing connectors, repricers and inventory software can lower the cost of running two marketplaces, and Walmart lists solution providers for catalog setup.

The guides in this section cover Walmart in depth, from the application to Brand Portal, plus Amazon's own route to more countries: Remote Fulfillment with FBA, which offers US stock in Canada, Mexico and Brazil.