Walmart Marketplace management, for brands already on Amazon.
Shelfcrest runs Walmart Marketplace management for private label brands and ecommerce businesses that already sell on Amazon: listings rebuilt for Walmart search, Walmart Connect ads, Walmart Fulfillment Services, and the seller performance standards Walmart holds every account to.
What Walmart Marketplace management covers
Walmart Marketplace management is the ongoing work of running a brand's store on Walmart.com: account setup, product listing optimization, catalog and inventory management, marketing through Walmart Connect, fulfillment, and the performance standards that decide whether the account stays open.
Most brands that come to the Walmart platform already sell on Amazon, and the fastest way to fail is to copy that account across. Walmart's listings, ad products, fulfillment program and performance metrics all have their own rules, and Walmart can suppress, suspend or terminate an account that misses its standards.
Walmart Marketplace management services from Shelfcrest keep one person on both marketplaces. The Walmart store is built from what already sells, then run to Walmart's own standards for visibility, sales growth and long term success, with every change written down.
Six signs your Walmart seller account needs management
A performance alert in Seller Center
Walmart evaluates standards over 30 or 60 days, and missing them can mean suppression, suspension or termination.
Listings copied from another marketplace
Walmart search, listing quality and item setup work differently, and copied product listings rarely earn visibility.
Tracking numbers that fail validation
Walmart requires a valid tracking rate of 99 percent or above, far stricter than most sellers expect.
Customer messages answered late
Walmart expects replies within 48 hours on 95 percent of inquiries.
No ads, or bids copied from elsewhere
Walmart Connect has its own ad products, its own search data and its own marketing strategies.
No plan for Walmart Fulfillment Services
WFS meets most performance metrics for you, but it changes costs and inventory planning.
What Walmart Marketplace management covers, area by area
| Area | What is done | How often | What it protects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listings | Account setup, item setup and product listing optimization for Walmart search and the content quality score | At launch, then monthly | Visibility on Walmart.com |
| Advertising | Walmart Connect campaigns, such as Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands, bid against the product's margin | Weekly | Profit on every ad sale |
| Fulfillment | Seller fulfilled shipping settings, or inventory sent to Walmart Fulfillment Services | Weekly inventory check | Delivery promises and costs |
| Performance | Cancellation, on-time delivery, tracking, response and feedback rates against Walmart's standards | Weekly, and the day an alert appears | The account itself |
| Reporting | One report with every marketplace side by side | Monthly | Decisions made across the whole catalog at once |
Every marketplace is run by one person, so a stockout, a price change or a listing rewrite in one store is planned against the other. For Amazon, see full Amazon account management.
Eight areas of Walmart Marketplace management, and the question behind each
- Account and item setup
- Is every item in the catalog set up with complete attributes, so it can be found in Walmart search and filtered correctly?
- Listing quality
- Does each product listing meet the content quality score targets, with copy written for Walmart customers and a clear path to higher conversion rates?
- Pricing
- Is the price competitive for Walmart, where price competitiveness is now part of the Pro Seller criteria?
- Walmart Connect
- Are Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns bid against margin, with their own search data?
- Fulfillment
- Should this item ship from your warehouse or through Walmart Fulfillment Services?
- Seller performance
- Are cancellation, on-time delivery, tracking and response rates inside Walmart's standards?
- Ratings and returns
- Is the negative feedback rate under 2 percent and the return rate under 6 percent?
- Pro Seller progress
- Which Pro Seller tier does the account qualify for, and what is the gap to the next one?
Walmart's seller performance standards, and the Pro Seller tiers above them
Walmart publishes the performance standards every Marketplace store must meet, measured over the last 30 or 60 days. Above them sits the Pro Seller program, whose Rising, Advanced and Pro tiers ask for more on each metric and add a badge that tells customers the store performs well.
Cancellation rate = orders canceled by the seller / all orders
Valid tracking rate = orders with valid tracking / all orders
Negative feedback rate = orders rated one or two stars / orders sold, past 60 days
Worked example, illustrative
A brand ships 600 seller fulfilled orders on Walmart in a month. Eleven are canceled because the stock count was wrong.
- Cancellation rate is 11 / 600 = 1.8 percent.
- That meets Walmart's standard of 2 percent or below, and the Advanced Seller tier of 2.0 percent.
- It misses the Pro Seller tier, which asks for 1.5 percent or below: 9 cancellations at most on 600 orders.
- The fix is inventory management across marketplaces, so a unit sold elsewhere is not still for sale on Walmart.
| Metric | Walmart's standard | Pro Seller tier | Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cancellation rate | 2% or below | 1.5% or below | 30 or 60 days |
| On-time delivery rate | 90% or above | 95% or above | 30 or 60 days |
| Valid tracking rate | 99% or above | Not a tier criterion | 30 or 60 days |
| Seller response rate | 95% within 48 hours | 95% responsiveness | 30 or 60 days |
| Negative feedback rate | 2% or below | Not a tier criterion | Past 60 days |
What a Walmart account audit finds
Illustrative examples on an unnamed account. Not client results.
Listings pasted from another marketplace, bullets and all
They were written for another search engine and another content score
Rewrite for Walmart search and complete every attribute in item setup
Cancellations from stock sold elsewhere first
The same units are listed in two stores without a shared count
One inventory count across channels, with a buffer on Walmart
Tracking numbers uploaded before the carrier scan
Walmart asks for tracking only after the package is with the carrier
Upload tracking after hand over, and check the valid tracking rate weekly
Walmart Connect bids copied from another platform
Search volume and competition differ, so the bids do not match the value of a click
Build bids from Walmart's own search data and the product's margin
The first 30 days, then every week
Week 1: access and the audit
You give Shelfcrest access in Walmart Seller Center. Listings, performance standards, fulfillment settings and ads are read against what works on your Amazon account. Output: a ranked list of risks and opportunities.
Week 2: performance first
Anything that threatens the account comes before growth: open performance alerts, tracking uploaded too early, cancellations from shared stock, customer messages waiting past 48 hours.
Week 3: listings and fulfillment
Item setup completed and listings rewritten for Walmart search, sent to you for approval. A decision on Walmart Fulfillment Services, item by item, with the costs laid out.
Week 4: ads and the first report
Walmart Connect advertising built from Walmart search data, to help each product reach customers. The first report puts every marketplace side by side, so the business sees one picture.
Every week after
Performance standards, inventory across both channels, bids and search terms, and listing updates, in that order.
Every month
One written report covering Walmart and Amazon: sales, ad spend against margin, performance standards, Pro Seller progress, and the priorities for next month.
Included in Walmart Marketplace management
- Item setup and listings rewritten for Walmart search
- Walmart Connect campaigns, bid against margin
- A Walmart Fulfillment Services decision for each item, with costs
- Seller performance standards checked weekly, and alerts the day they appear
- Inventory planned across Walmart and Amazon together
- Pro Seller progress tracked against each tier
- Every listing change sent for your approval first
- One monthly report with Walmart and Amazon side by side
- Your Seller Center account, listings and reports stay yours
Walmart Marketplace management is for brands selling on Walmart as a third party seller, not for Walmart suppliers. Photography, product data and trademark work are not included. On the Amazon side, the same person runs Amazon PPC management and listing optimization.
A 10-step Walmart seller account check you can run this week
- Open the Performance dashboard in Seller Center and note every metric outside Walmart's standard.
- Check the valid tracking rate. Anything under 99 percent needs attention first.
- Check the cancellation rate against 2 percent, and find the reason for each cancellation.
- Look for customer messages older than 48 hours and answer them.
- Read your one and two star ratings from the last 60 days and group them by cause.
- Compare three of your Walmart listings with your Amazon listings: were they simply copied?
- Check that every item has its attributes complete in item setup.
- Compare your stock on Walmart with the stock on Amazon for your best seller.
- Check the Pro Seller page for the tier you qualify for and the next one up.
- Work out whether Walmart Fulfillment Services would cost more or less than shipping yourself for one item.
If that check turns up more than you can fix in a week, that is the point where Walmart Marketplace management pays for itself. The ACoS calculator works for Walmart Connect campaigns as well as Amazon ads.
Doing it yourself, a Walmart only agency, software, or one agency for both channels
| Option | Works well when | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Doing it yourself | A few items and time to learn Seller Center | Performance standards slip while the Amazon account takes the attention |
| Walmart only agency | Walmart is your main channel | Nobody plans stock, prices and ads across Walmart and Amazon together |
| Multichannel software | Syncing inventory and orders across many channels | Software moves data; it does not write listings, set bids or answer alerts |
| Separate agencies per channel | Very large catalogs with a team on each side | Two reports, two strategies, and stock sold twice |
| One agency for Walmart and Amazon | Amazon works and you want Walmart run to the same standard | Agencies that copy Amazon listings to Walmart and call it launched |
Who this service is for
A good fit
- Private label brands already selling on Amazon that want to add Walmart
- Brands on Walmart with performance alerts, weak reviews or listings copied from Amazon
- Brands deciding whether to use Walmart Fulfillment Services
Not a fit
- Brands with no Amazon account who want Walmart only
- Walmart first party suppliers
- Accounts that need someone to log in with the owner's password
What Walmart Marketplace management costs
Walmart management: quoted after the audit
Walmart Marketplace management is quoted in writing after the free audit, as a flat monthly fee, not a percentage of Walmart sales. Walmart's own fees, such as referral fees and any WFS fees, are paid to Walmart. The Amazon plans are on the pricing page.
Walmart Marketplace management FAQ
What is Walmart Marketplace management?
Walmart Marketplace management is the ongoing running of a seller account on Walmart.com: listings and item setup, Walmart Connect advertising, fulfillment by the seller or through WFS, and the seller performance standards Walmart enforces.
What are Walmart's seller performance standards?
Walmart asks for a cancellation rate of 2 percent or below, on-time delivery of 90 percent or above, valid tracking of 99 percent or above, replies within 48 hours on 95 percent of inquiries, and a negative feedback rate of 2 percent or below, among others.
What happens if a seller misses the standards?
Walmart says failure to meet them can result in suppression, suspension or termination of the account, so alerts are handled the day they appear.
What is Walmart Fulfillment Services?
WFS is Walmart's fulfillment program: it picks, packs and ships orders in two days or less, handles order questions and returns, and charges no setup or monthly fees. With WFS, most performance metrics are met for you, except the negative feedback rate.
What is the Walmart Pro Seller program?
A program with three tiers, Rising, Advanced and Pro Seller, each asking for higher on-time delivery, lower cancellations and better content and price scores. Pro Sellers get a badge shown to customers.
What is Walmart Connect?
Walmart's advertising business. For smaller sellers it offers Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Videos and Onsite Display.
Can you copy my Amazon listings to Walmart?
The product data and photos carry over. The listing copy, item setup and ads are rebuilt for Walmart, because Walmart search and its content scores work differently.
Does Walmart charge a monthly fee?
Walmart Marketplace advertises zero monthly or setup fees for sellers. Referral fees vary by category and product type, and WFS has its own fulfillment and storage fees.
Do you manage Walmart and Amazon together?
Yes, and that is the point of the service. Stock, prices and ads are planned across both channels by one person, with one report.
How long does it take to see results on Walmart?
Performance fixes act as soon as the metrics window moves past the problem orders. Listing and ad changes need a few weeks of Walmart data before they can be judged.
How do you improve Walmart SEO?
Complete item setup, listing copy written for Walmart search, strong reviews and a competitive price. The Pro Seller program itself scores content quality and price competitiveness, which shows what Walmart weighs. Each listing is checked against both before anything else is changed.
Is there a Walmart Brand Registry?
Walmart's program for brand owners is Walmart Brand Portal, separate from Amazon Brand Registry, so a brand enrolled on Amazon enrolls with Walmart on its own. The Walmart Brand Portal guide covers what it offers.
Do you work with Walmart suppliers?
No. The service is for brands selling on Walmart Marketplace as third party sellers.
What do you need from us?
Access to Walmart Seller Center, your product costs, and approval of listing changes. For the Amazon side, service provider access in Seller Central.
What happens if we stop?
The Seller Center account, listings, campaigns and reports stay yours. Nothing is removed or locked.
Get a free Walmart Marketplace audit.
Send your Walmart store link, or your Amazon store if you are not on Walmart yet. You get a written audit: performance standards, listings, fulfillment and the first changes to make.