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Walmart is beefing up its online marketplace business, expanding its product selection with three new categories: high-end beauty products, secondhand items, and collectibles.
The “every day low price” retailer said it’s identified its marketplace business as a significant driver of growth in its fast-growing e-commerce success. Over each of the last six quarters, Walmart’s US e-commerce sales have grown more than 17%, Tom Ward, EVP and chief e-commerce officer of Walmart US, noted on a call with reporters.
Walmart
“Walmart marketplace is key to providing an endless aisle for customers to find the items they want to discover and new products,” Ward said.
“As customers visit us more and more often, they continue to ask us for more of the items and brands that they love, and we bring that to them with speed and scale through Walmart Marketplace, and that strategy is working,” Ward added.
Walmart’s marketplace sales in the US rose 32% in the second quarter, while e-commerce sales grew 22% YoY.
Manish Joneja, SVP of Walmart Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, said the new products “provide more selection for customers and more opportunities for sellers.”
Walmart
Walmart’s decision to get into pre-owned items stemmed from consumer demand, Joneja added. “As we see our customers look for more sustainable options, more price sensitive-options…they want the option to be refurbished, pre-owned, reconditioned.”
Walmart’s fulfillment business and marketplace reported “more than 30% growth in each of the past four quarters,” CFO John David Rainey noted during the second-quarter earnings call.
Beginning September 10, Joneja said, sellers can sign up to use Walmart’s services to fulfill orders from any independent e-commerce website as part of a new Multichannel Solutions program.
“Sellers are looking for a smart path for growth,” Joneja said in an August 27 statement. “We’re bringing all the pieces together to be much more than a marketplace and investing in new ways for sellers to serve customers as we grow together.”