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Walmart SEO

The Big Pearl Lemon Guide To Walmart SEO

Walmart has been a mainstay of the American retail landscape for over fifty years. Founded by a former J. C. Penney executive, Sam Walton, the first Walmart store, dubbed Walmart Discount City, opened in Rogers. Arkansas in 1962. Since then, the company has expanded to almost 12,000 stores across the globe and, in recent years has expanded its online marketplace to compete with its fiercest retail rival in the 21st century; Amazon.

Meet the Walmart Marketplace

There are those that believe that Amazon cannot be beaten in the online retail space in the USA. Jeff Bezos’ baby certainly has a major market share across all kinds of demographics and dominates sales across a slew of niches. It is not unbeatable, however, and the Walmart Marketplace has grown quickly, faster perhaps than some industry pundits expected.

How fast? Check out the chart below.

screenshot www.marketplacepulse.com 2019.05.14 13 49 03

Walmart is not really out to position the Walmart Marketplace as an Amazon clone, though. The average Walmart shopper is a rather different one than the average Amazon shopper, although that is changing. Understanding that Walmart needed to appeal to the growing Millennial market more than it did, current CEO Doug McMillion has spearheaded the acquisition of a number of digitally native brands including Jet.com, Bonobos and Modcloth. But the company’s base still remains older than Amazon’s and, perhaps a little more down to Earth.

As is the case over at Amazon, a significant amount of the revenue Walmart is amassing from its online ventures is coming from the third party dominated Walmart Marketplace. This marketplace has opened up a new avenue for the increasing number of small retailers and entrepreneurial individuals hoping to make a living, build a business and maybe even get rich, thanks to the 21st-century consumer’s increasing fondness for shopping online.

Why Does the Walmart Marketplace Exist?

Regular Walmart shoppers head to their local Walmart – which is likely to be a maximum of ten miles from their home no matter where in the States they live – knowing that they can find everything from the ingredients for dinner to toys for the kids, a growing selection of affordable clothing, almost everything they need for their pets, DIY supplies and much, much more. Most Walmart shoppers have remained loyal to the company over the decades because they knew that if they needed it, they could probably find it there.

Then along came eBay, followed by Amazon. These sites offered marketplaces bigger than a whole city full of Walmarts. So the company realised, as its growth began to stagnate, something had to be done.

“It’s important that customers, when they come to walmart.com or use our app, find what they’re looking for, so we need to have a broader assortment,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon was quoted as saying in 2016. And Walmart has, thanks in large part to their third party sellers, remained committed to this ideal. We bet you didn’t know that you can find a $400 Michael Kors handbag at Walmart but you can, as long as you are shopping via walmart.com.

What Can You Sell on the Walmart Marketplace?

While all products sold on the Walmart Marketplace are held to some high standards – higher than Amazon’s in the opinion of many industry experts – just what you can sell there covers a lot of different niches and product categories. The full list of rules and restrictions runs some 10+ pages long and can be found here, but in very basic terms, if you can sell it on Amazon, the chances are that you can sell it on the Walmart marketplace as well.

Who Can Sell on the Walmart Marketplace?

Originally, the Walmart Marketplace was limited to North American marketplace sellers, but in 2017 the company expanded the program to welcome sellers from the UK, China, Canada and more.

For foreign sellers, working with Walmart can be a little more complicated than it is with Amazon primarily because you will be responsible for your own shipping – something we will get into more detail about soon – but a growing percentage of Walmart Marketplace sellers are now located outside the States and are still doing well.

The Pros – and Cons – Of Becoming a Walmart Marketplace Seller

As with almost anything in life, and certainly almost anything in business, there are distinct pros and cons involved in becoming a Walmart Marketplace seller, along with differences from Amazon – if you are already doing business on that platform- that are notable.

The Pros of Becoming a Walmart Seller

Fewer Fees

Fee schedules on Amazon can be more than a little confusing to the new seller. Aside from the fact that there are two different types of seller – Individual and ‘Professional’, there are usually multiple elements to the fees charged on any sale made including referral fees, item fees and ‘variable closing fees’. You can review a full overview of the various costs involved here.

Walmart, on the other hand, charges fees that are far more straightforward. They only charge a fee, which they also term a referral fee, when an item sells. How much that fee depends upon the product category. You can review a full list of those fees here, but in general, they average out at around 15% of the sales price.

For some sellers, this is a distinct pro as they can list products with no initial extra outlay before a sale is made.

The Power of Walmart Name Recognition and Demographic Diversity

Yes, there is probably no longer a single person in the USA that does not know what Amazon is and the vast majority of North American adults have at least visited the platform as browsing shoppers even if they have yet to make a purchase. However, for many Amazon is still something of an unknown, perhaps not quite trustworthy entity. And the often lurid media headlines and even political problems the company has been running into over the past few years has not always helped.

While Walmart is no stranger to controversy either, they do have a six-decade and counting history that their eCommerce division benefits from. They also appeal to a slightly broader demographic and, as we mentioned, Walmart’s more recent strategic acquisitions have begun to bring them greater interest from the all-important younger higher-income Millennial demographic that Amazon once attracted far more of. Take a look at this infographic from retail statistics experts Numerator, and you will see just how diverse the 2019 Walmart.com shopping demographics are:

screenshot snapshot.numerator.com 2019.05.18 09 34 44

While general Amazon demographics are harder to come by without the access that having a Seller Central account grants, the most recent accurate statistics on who holds an Amazon Prime account – a good sign that a person is a regular Amazon shopper – shows a much lower penetration at lower incomes levels, and yet according to Numerator the average online basket size for Walmart.com shoppers is still $50, so nothing to be sneezed at.

statistic id610070 us amazon prime membership penetration 2017 by income

This means that for sellers becoming a Walmart Marketplace seller may expose their products to a wider audience than they might garner over on Amazon and for some, whose products do appeal to multiple age groups this is likely to be another boon.

Higher Sales VolumeHigher Sales Volume

A growing number of Walmart Marketplace sellers are reporting that they enjoy a higher sales volume on Walmart.com than they do on Amazon. Some also claim that visits to their own sites are increasing despite the fact that Walmart.com does not allow for product branding within customer packaging. The fact, however, that they do (as do Amazon) allow companies to feature a link to their information within listings means that while there are few reliable statistics to back these assertions up they certainly make sense.

Less Competition

As the ‘younger’ eCommerce destination – and due to the fact that Walmart definitely seems to be pickier about who it approves to sell in their Marketplace (more on that later) – the competition for consumers’ eyeballs and wallets is not quite as intense as it is over at Amazon, right now at least. This does mean that a business that meets Walmart’s standards may have a better chance of gaining visibility faster and more effectively, especially if they take the time to learn more about Walmart SEO.

In-Store Returns

At the end of 2018, Walmart rolled out a program that is becoming a real game-changer for third-party marketplace sellers, one that may become the biggest advantage of all overselling on Amazon; in-store returns.

Returns are a challenge for any retailer, but they are especially difficult for those who sell online. A difficulty in making returns can be all it takes to turn a seller off making an online purchase, as no one really wants to deal with the hassle. That buyers can now return many ‘eligible’ third party Marketplace purchases to their local Walmart store (which as we mentioned is likely to be 10 miles or less from their home) is a plus.

The sellers themselves benefit too. While they have to issue refunds by themselves and do so promptly,  Walmart takes care of the actual process of return shipping, meaning that there is less likelihood that things will go wrong and the returned merchandise will not end up back in the seller’s hands.

The Cons of Becoming a Walmart Seller

Lower Margins

Pricing – and keeping it as competitive as possible – is huge to Walmart. While allowed to set their prices as they see fit, it is not unusual for Walmart to delist items they feel are overpriced for the Marketplace. This may mean that the margins are lower on Walmart sales versus Amazon sales, but for many higher sales volume coupled with fewer fees seems to be able to even this wrinkle out.

Shipping Restrictions

The shipping options offered to Walmart Marketplace sellers are changing, and most would say for the better, but they can still present more logistical difficulties than Amazon sellers face and don’t offer any direct branding opportunities.

Sellers currently have plenty of options when it comes to choosing the types of shipping they offer to potential customers. They can choose between major carriers and the 2-day shipping option that so many Amazon customers love -and pay for Prime to get – has been extended to cover not just Walmart’s own goods but those of third-party marketplace sellers should they choose to do so as well.

Another sticking point for some sellers is that Walmart does not allow third-party marketplace sellers to brand their items as anything other than Walmart items. As their rules make clear “orders must be shipped in non-branded packaging and can’t include materials from any company other than Walmart.”

Applying to the Walmart Marketplace Program

So, now that you know a lot more about the Walmart Marketplace, who it serves and what it does – and does not – have to offer third party sellers you still want to give it a shot. Great. Although it’s a somewhat complicated process, and one that we are not, as we are not retailers ourselves, perhaps the best people to explain it all in-depth, we’re going to take a brief look at the application process as we have come to understand it while helping newly approved vendors with their Walmart SEO.

Preparing to Apply

Before you even begin your official Walmart Marketplace application, you will need to try and ensure you have all your ducks in a row. Amazon has, thus far, allowed millions of third party sellers into the fold while it is not believed that the Walmart Marketplace has even hit the million mark yet. This is because Walmart is considerably more selective about just who they approve.

While people have had various little gripes about Walmart for years, it is generally agreed by most that the customer service in most physical stores is good, especially when compared to other big-box retailers. And it’s this reputation that Walmart does not want to be tarnished when their customers make the switch from offline to online shopping.

Seller reputation is, therefore, a biggie. If you have your own active website that can demonstrate a good reputation as a trusted seller – even if it is a small one – that will give you an edge. The company will also, however, take into account the rep you may have built up on Amazon or eBay as well. It’s very hard for a business that is brand new to the eCommerce space to gain approval for the Walmart Marketplace, but if you have an established reputation, you can flaunt you are already ahead of the pack.

Then there are your products. As we mentioned earlier, the scope is huge, but Walmart does need to see that what you have to offer is either so well priced that it will offer huge value to their customers or unique enough to do the same.

This is where we should pause a minute. Unlike Amazon, almost all Walmart Marketplace items must be branded with a UPC (although there are exceptions for some jewellery and refurbished items) This means that craft type items are almost always not allowed, so if you are an Etsy seller, Walmart isn’t for you.

Unusual is OK, though, and this may be where Walmart really wins some customers hearts. Although strange, a good example is Pokemon branded Ramen.

Pokemon has been around for over 20 years, but the recent cinematic release of the Ryan Reynolds fronted Detective Pokemon film has brought increased interest in its yellow and black protagonist outside the gaming community. Thanks to a couple of articles, the concept of some rather cute Pokemon Ramen – originating in Japan of course – came to light – and yes, US consumers began searching for it in the US.

When finding the product on Amazon, this listing is marked as Amazon’s choice.

screenshot www.amazon.com 2019.05.18 11 22 29

Yes, you are correct. That’s $40 for a single cup of ramen. Lunacy, even if you are the biggest Pokemon fan in the world. And yet Amazon seems to not only overlook the huge markup (these things retail for the equivalent of around $2 in Japan) but even approve of it!

Over on the Walmart Marketplace, however, it’s a bit of a different story. The item is (at the time of writing) sold out, but no wonder, as although $9 is still a bit much for ramen given that it’s an import it’s a far more reasonable price.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 11 30 40

If you spend time going through the two marketplaces comparing prices on niche items like these, the story repeats itself over and over again. Whether it’s really the case or not, it seems like Walmart’s tighter controls prevent the consumer from being gouged, while Amazon seems not to care so much. So niche retailers are welcome on Walmart, just not those who are not willing to offer decent and reasonable pricing. If you can’t show that you are willing to offer the competitive pricing the likelihood you will be approved is slim.

Walmart Application Basics

Once you are ready, your first step on the road to becoming a Walmart Marketplace seller begins by completing the application you’ll find here. It’s reasonably simple; you can see the basic information you’ll be required to provide in the tabs, and, according to most people we have spoken with it takes about 15 minutes.

screenshot marketplace apply.walmart.com 2019.05.18 11 48 34

The wait to be approved is longer, anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. It’s likely that you will have to speak to a Walmart Marketplace consultant to confirm various details included in your application before a decision is made too.

For those of you who already sell on Amazon or eBay the answer to your next question (because we know what it is ) is yes, this is all a lot more of a pain in the you know what than the applications there, but to gain access to a marketplace that can boast it attracts 300 million + ready to buy visitors a month – and a lot more around the Christmas holidays – the effort is often worth it.

Getting Started with Walmart SEO

So you did it. Your application was approved, you’ve been given your basic onboarding session by your seller rep, and you are ready to start listing products on the Walmart Marketplace. This means we are finally getting to the point here, Walmart SEO.

All eCommerce platforms have their own search algorithms. Amazon’s is called A9eBay’s is called Cassini. Walmart’s does not have a name yet (although if it ever does, we assume like so many other elements of Walmart’s branding, it will honour their founder Sam Walton) But nameless or not, Walmart Marketplace search results are powered by an algorithm, and if you are going to come out on top you will need to learn about it, and then optimize your listings to ‘please’ it from the start.

Walmart SEO vs Google SEO

Ah! You know SEO. You’ve been doing it (or having someone do it for you) for years, over on your own website. In fact, Google rather likes you. So this is going to be easy.

Here’s the big sticking point though. On the Walmart Marketplace, you are not optimizing for Google. Interestingly, your listings may eventually show up there, Google can index Walmart.com and does, but it takes its cues from what it can see are the most popular items. And those are determined by Walmart SEO which, while it shares several similarities with Google SEO also has a lot of differences.

Google search is all about data. Google thrives on data. Walmart search is all about serving its customers by directing them to the most relevant products as quickly as possible. That is not all though. The algorithm is also designed to give preference in search of those items that offer the best value and the sellers who offer the best service. It’s a more complex process, going beyond getting keywords right – which is still important but only a very small part of the puzzle, as you’ll see if you read on.

The New Walmart Listings

Many of the articles you will find written about Walmart SEO at the moment offer good points but miss one thing. Walmart.com has changed. The way the listings look in 2019 is not the way they looked in 2017—a golden rule of SEO. Things change, they change often, and you have to keep up. What we are about to offer in terms of information and advice about Walmart SEO is accurate as of May 2019. When it no longer is, we’ll start again and learn all about the changes and then let everyone know what they are. Not to toot our own horn too loudly, but a lot of SEO agencies and practitioners don’t do that.

But now back to the matter at hand, an SEO focused walkthrough of your Walmart Marketplace listing.

Listing Titles

Unlike Amazon, Walmart is not very generous with the number of characters it offers sellers in which they can describe their products in the listing title. You have a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 75. There is also an approved formula that you must adhere to. That formula breaks down as follows, as defined by Walmart themselves.  

Brand + Clothing Size Group (if applicable) + Defining Quality + Item Name + Style (if applicable) + Pack Count.  

They also advise that if your product has a colour, you find a way to include this. And, here’s the fun part, they want the title to be unique to their platform. They do not want to see sellers repeat what they might use over on Amazon or eBay.

Tall order. But it can be done. Here’s a good example. The correct and proper product name has been included, as per the Marketplace rules, but this third party seller has also managed to incorporate some important keywords, keywords that, if you are looking for a good eye cream, even if you have no brand in mind, you are quite likely to use.  

walmart product listing for seo

This may not be possible with every product, and you should only follow this tactic if you can include your keywords naturally. If you cannot, it’s not the end of the world, as you do have a number of upcoming opportunities to do so.

Product Highlights

This is a short section that sits directly underneath all the required specs that you must include. It allows you to offer a bulleted list of the primary benefits or selling points of your product. It looks like this.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 14 02 49

Crazily, as we have spent more and more time working on Walmart SEO for clients, we have discovered that many third-party sellers are not making use of this part of the listing at all. This seller offers a similar product but has completely ignored this section. What a waste (and yes, example 1 ranks much higher in the search than example 2)

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 14 07 11

This is a place where you can not only sell the biggest perks of buying your product but also, with some clever copywriting, add some of your keywords again. So filling in this section, from a Walmart SEO point of view is a must, even if it calls for some extra effort.

About This Item

This is where you can really work some Walmart SEO magic. Going back to our bedding seller again – the one that seems to have studied a thing or two about Walmart SEO so good on them – this long description makes good use of what is actually limited space to get their keywords in, while also extolling the benefits (once again) of both purchasing these sheets and of purchasing them via this particular listing:

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 14 33 23

As impressed as we are that this seller is making an effort to make the most of what they have to work with, on a Walmart SEO report card we would have to give them a ‘could do better’. Why?  Because they seem to have lost sight of the fact that their listings should be as pleasing to the customer as they are to the Walmart Search algorithm.

The problem does not lie in the copy itself; it’s fine. There are some good keywords mixed in nicely with a nice description as well as a fairly subtle sales pitch for this offering itself.

The issue is readability. Oddly capitalized words run into one another. Punctuation is missing, and it all looks jumbled and confusing. Hard to read, in other words.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 16 08 39

This seller got a lot more right. The keywords are still there, the information is still there – more actually, as the care instructions are more comprehensive – and yet the bullet points and proper punctuation make it far more appealing to read.

Yes, there is a small typo there – can you spot it? – that were they our clients we would have advised they correct, but on the whole, it’s a better description, because it caters to humans and bots. One of the golden rules of any form of search engine optimization.

Keyword Research for Your Walmart Marketplace SEO

As Walmart SEO is not Google SEO, it makes sense that making use of keyword tools that are geared to Google Search only – as the Google Keyword Planner is for example – may not be of the greatest help for Walmart SEO.

Some people have to learn this the hard way when their keyword choices just don’t get the results they were hoping for because they stuck to their usual keyword research practices. This applies as much to some professional SEOs as it does to individual sellers Others, sensibly, take the time to make use of tools and practices that are better suited to marketplace SEO from the start, recognising that fact.

Our Walmart SEO go-to choice? Ahrefs’ keyword explorer tool. Ahrefs will reveal the keywords that send organic traffic to a certain Walmart Marketplace listing by analyzing its URL. You can then optimise your own page for juicy keywords to drive some traffic from best-selling items to yours.

There are some other great tools that offer similar functionality too. The most important thing is when doing Walmart SEO, however, is not the tools you use to help you, but the way you approach the project in general.

It is crucial that you remember that you are optimizing for marketplace search and that the queries are likely to be longer too. People tend to have a good idea of what they are looking for. So a search may be longer and include brand names, product names, colours, sizes, thread counts (going back again to our sheet people) and more.

In order to get hits from these longer key phrase searches, you must ensure that you create a listing that covers as much information as possible searchers are likely to be looking for but in a way that is still informative and easy to read. It’s a delicate balance and takes practice, which is why many sellers are choosing to outsource their Walmart SEO keyword research to experienced professionals who have that knowledge already.

Walmart Marketplace Listing Images

When it comes to eCommerce, it is hard to overstate the importance of good imagery.

Unable to view items directly, or to touch and examine them, consumers base much of their buying decision on the images that are included in the listing. This means that they really better had be good.

Walmart offers third-party marketplace sellers the chance to populate an image carousel. One large main image appears – that will rotate if your carousel is fully populated – while the remaining pictures can be seen below.  

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 19 24 40

There are some basics that must be kept in mind when choosing and populating your images for your Walmart Marketplace listing, including all the following:

  • Use high resolution, high-quality pictures every time. If it’s not crystal clear or does not render well, leave it out.
  • Do not use frames for the images. These will spoil the look of the images when they are seen in the smaller image carousel.
  • Try to include pictures that show the product from all angles.
  • Do not include any extras that do not come with the purchase. Doing so violates Walmart Marketplace guidelines.
  • Every image should not violate the Trust & Safety standards set by Walmart. This particularly applies to products like CDs & DVDs. If the imagery is graphic, you may have to edit it.
  • Don’t use images that feature watermarks, logos, or overlays.
  • Besides basic white background images that showcase the product – and for the background Walmart mandates you use a white at RGB: 255/255/255 – you can make use of images that depict the product in use, for example, sheets on a bed.
  • You can resize and do some editing work to a stock image as long as they fall under Walmart’s image guidelines.

As you can see from the example above, there are ways to get a little more creative. The Melissa and Doug listing features branded graphics in the image carousel. These do not violate Walmart Guidelines, as the listing includes other pictures that represent the product clearly, and they do not make any false claims that cannot be backed up.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 19 45 10

The graphic offers an eye-catching way to draw attention to the fact that the product is well-reviewed. Reviews of your products are featured on your listing – more on that later – but not as prominently. So this is a clever way to get the point across right from the start.

Here is a great example of making use of very simple images to get a strong point across. The product is shown from several different angles, and the use of border-free images with a white background really makes the product jump out from the page.

walmart product listing image quality

Specifications

There is one more text section available that, again, many third-party sellers seem to skip. It is the Specifications section, and, when completed, it appears at the side of the About This Product Section. This is a place for providing useful, accurate information that will inform the customer even further about the product. This makes your listing more valuable, and, therefore, better for Walmart SEO, as that algorithm is, remember, actively searching for listings that are the most helpful and informative.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 20 04 30

Price

As we have stressed before, Walmart SEO is not Google SEO. So far you will have seen some similarities, especially when it comes to the importance of using – sparingly and sensibly – the right keywords and key phrases, and copy that reads well, engages and is free of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

But, as this is a Marketplace run by a company that has long used pricing, as in low pricing, as its major selling point, it is only natural that it’s hugely important here. Pricing is one of the primary factors in deciding who gets the Buy Box in a search that features several products that are essentially the same. That is demonstrated in the picture below:

lowest price walmart for buy box 1

That being said, a listing that is not properly optimized in all the other ways we have covered will never register with the algorithm enough for it to even be considered for the first page, so it is not just a matter of who offers the lowest price and nothing else.

Not sure what to charge? Do some research. Take the time to comparison shop across the platform for products and items that are like yours. And by platform, we mean on the Walmart Marketplace.  Forget what is being charged on Amazon, or eBay. As our ramen example shows, they seem to let unreasonable pricing slip through, Walmart does not.

Reviews

Reviews are important in local Google SEO, and increasingly in general search engine optimization. They are also hugely important – and becoming more so every day – when it comes to consumer buying decisions. This great infographic from Broadly.com demonstrates why.

Reviews cropped

Walmart Marketplace sellers reviews are displayed towards the end of the listing page, and, like Amazon and eBay, the only way a review counts is if it is left via the Walmart Marketplace review system. In terms of Walmart SEO – and consumer trust in its credibility – a verified purchase review carries a lot more weight than one that is not.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 20 46 52

As you can see, our sheet seller does not have a perfect track record. But the fact that there are only three one-star reviews versus 28 five star reviews negates the effect of the one-star reviews. How could 28 people be wrong and only three, right?

You are allowed to ask customers to leave reviews, and you should take every opportunity to do so. Add a small note to the packaging. Send a follow-up email requesting the buyer’s feedback, good or bad. The more positive reviews, the better, but, if you think back to the infographic, 68% of consumers trust reviews more if they see good and bad scores.

FAQs and Customer Q and As

There is a section of your Walmart listing that gives consumers the opportunity to ask questions about the product. You should be aware of the fact that you, as the seller, are not the only one given the opportunity to answer them. Walmart will also solicit the help of ‘community members’ who have purchased the item in the past (Amazon do the same thing), and the information they offer may not be what you want people to hear.

In the interests of proving that you are dedicated, helpful seller who cares about their customers it’s essential that you answer those FAQs as quickly as possible (you will be notified when they appear) This will not only add relevant information to your listing that you may never have thought to include, but it will also boost your Walmart SEO.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.18 21 19 33

This seller has failed to answer the question left for them. Even if consumers do not notice this fact (unlikely), the Walmart Algorithm will. The rest of the listing is well optimized, and there are some good reviews, but this oversight will cost the seller in terms of search visibility, so don’t let it happen to you.

Answer questions as completely and honestly as possible and, if necessary, reach out to the customer and invite them to contact you directly. Even if they choose not to, Walmart’s algorithm will take note of your efforts to be helpful and reward you with a positive ‘mark’ towards your Walmart SEO. As will other customers, who will recognise, and appreciate, a responsive seller when they see one.

Other Walmart SEO Quick Wins

Now that we have covered the basics of optimising your Walmart Marketplace listings using Walmart SEO here is a look at a few other ‘quick win’ tactics you can make use of to boost your efforts – and the visibility of your listings in Marketplace search.

Offer 2 Day Shipping

As anyone who subscribes to it knows one of the best reasons to consider Amazon Prime is the two-day free shipping perk. Walmart also offers two-day free shipping, but not as a part of a membership plan, but on certain items instead.

The plan once applied only to items sold by Walmart themselves, but as of 2018 the ability to offer it was extended to Marketplace sellers as well.

There are several criteria a seller must meet to be eligible for the program, and it is not immediately available to new Marketplace sellers unless they outsource their shipping to Walmart’s chosen partner, DeliverrThe process is outlined by Walmart and Deliverr here, but it is our advice that if and when the time comes, you implement two-day shipping if you can.

The biggest reason for doing so is that fast, free shipping is becoming something an increasing number of customers seek out and almost expect. By offering two-day shipping, your customers are likely to be more satisfied, resulting in better reviews, a higher seller rating and a better position in the Walmart Marketplace ‘SERPs’.

Those offering two-day shipping also enjoy a boost in terms of Walmart SEO as a free shipping legend appears fairly prominently in search results and it is also the first filter offered to shoppers when they refine a search, as you can see below.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.19 10 05 32

Pay Attention to Your Seller Profile Page

The page you see below is a Walmart Marketplace Seller Profile Page. It can be hard for a buyer to find, but if they take the time to do so (by clicking on the name of your company in your listing), it can tell them a lot about your company at a glance.

screenshot www.walmart.com 2019.05.19 10 10 11

Much of this page pre-populates when you are first setting up your account and from your statistics as a Marketplace seller. There are places, however – About This Seller, Customer Service and Shipping – that you can, and should populate yourself, as they offer another often overlooked chance to brand your business within the Walmart Marketplace and stand out in the minds of potential customers.

Get Help

Think all of this sounds like a lot of work? It can be, but there is help available if you need it. Besides the great resources offered by Walmart themselves via their Seller Central Portal, there are also SEO agencies, like Pearl Lemon, who have taken the time to master the nuances of Walmart SEO and are standing by to help. Interested in learning more? Book a call with us today.