Amazon is one of the biggest retailers that comes to mind when thinking about e-commerce marketplaces and has been a go-to spot for sellers and buyers alike. However, many other retail giants are making a play for Amazon’s spot in this space and are succeeding in attempts at eventually surpassing Amazon in the online retail industry. 

Walmart Doubles Marketplace Growth

Walmart’s recent partnership with Canadian based commerce platform plays a large role in the retailer’s growth. After expanding their online marketplace presence to include many of Shopify’s small businesses, Walmart has added thousands of merchants to their online retail store. The growth of new sellers accelerated at quick speeds with the addition of 3,000 sellers in June alone, triple the number of sellers Walmart began 2020 with. Overall, this year has shown an addition of more than 15,000 new sellers to Walmart’s marketplace portfolio. With goals to grow the marketplace as a core priority in the company’s strategic plan, Walmart has exceeded its original target of onboarding 1,200 new sellers by the end of the year. 

Walmart Outperforms Amazon in Sales

While Amazon and Seller Central have made their names as a convenient online marketplace for customers, Walmart is quickly becoming a bigger player in the e-commerce world. Statistics from earlier this spring show a 55% increase in web traffic on Walmart’s site compared to only a 15% growth on Amazon’s. Many third-party vendors on Walmart’s marketplace noted massive increases in sales, with some stating a 100% growth when compared to sales of previous years and others mentioning they were closing in on Black Friday sales volumes. 

Factors for Growth

Shopify’s partnership announcement with Walmart is not the only contributor to this retailer’s online growth. Since the beginning of the pandemic, online grocery sales have also surged. The company’s strategy to streamline this by combining their grocery app and their main, flagship app in the midst of COVID-19 has expanded much of their reach. This merge informs many of the company’s regular customers of the availability of online grocery. Since this transition, the Walmart app is trending as the number one shopping app on the iPhone

With continued plans for growth, Walmart has become a powerful contender to those looking to diversify their selling strategies to multiple e-commerce platforms. It was mentioned in Forbes as having the “better handle” on meeting needs and expectations for online shopping. Walmart’s focus and plans on making online shopping profitable will strongly benefit those that join it on its journey to becoming one of the biggest players in the e-commerce marketplace.