The holiday season is a time of excitement and immense opportunity for sellers on Walmart Marketplace. To ensure you make the most of this bustling period, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide that covers the latest tips and tools you need at your disposal. From pricing strategies to listing optimization, sponsored products, shipping, returns, and top-notch customer service, this checklist has got you covered.
1. Pricing: Spread Joy and Increase Sales
Preparation is Key
To kick off a successful holiday season, it’s imperative to keep a close eye on your pricing and promotions. Take it up a notch by strategically pricing your products to not only delight shoppers but also drive more sales. Here’s how you can do it:
- Attract customers with promotions and best-of-web deals during special holiday sales events, using Reduced Price and Clearance flags along with strikethrough pricing.
- Prioritize offering the best-of-web price for key items and top-sellers. Winning the Buy Box nationwide will significantly boost your sales.
- Harness the power of the Repricer, an automated pricing tool that helps you stay ahead of your competitors by dynamically adjusting your prices.
The Pricing Opportunities Dashboard will be your trusted ally in highlighting opportunities to make your prices more competitive, allowing you to update items individually or in bulk with ease.
2. Listing Optimization: Shine Bright with High-Quality Listings
Make a Lasting Impression
High-quality listings are your ticket to success. Gain the Pro Seller Badge and create trust among your customers by ensuring that 60% of your trending catalog maintains a Listing Quality Score of at least 70%. Here’s how you can make your listings sparkle:
- Provide clear and compelling titles, detailed descriptions, high-quality images, and attributes for all your listings.
- Include at least four high-resolution, professional photos.
- Enroll in Walmart Fulfillment Services to earn 2-Day Shipping and Fulfilled by Walmart tags, enhancing your product’s visibility and conversion.
- Keep a close eye on your inventory to avoid overselling and use the Unpublished Items dashboard to address any unpublished listings.
- Monitor customer experience metrics such as ratings, reviews, Order Defect Rate (ODR), and policy adherence. Leveraging review syndication can give your sales a significant boost.
3. Search Advertising: Sponsored Products
Connect and Stand Out
To make your products stand out and connect with more customers, Walmart Sponsored Products are your best friends. Prioritize keywords that drive clicks and conversions, using the Keyword and Item Keyword Reports from your Sponsored Products Performance Dashboard to identify the best-performing keywords. Be sure to include these keywords throughout your item pages.
Start planning your search campaigns at least four weeks in advance. This will allow you to test bid ranges and daily budget caps, as well as ensure that your page content is retail-ready. For more insights, refer to the Holiday 2022 Insights & Search Guide to sharpen your advertising strategy.
4. Shipping: Give the Gift of Fast Shipping
Fast Delivery Wins Hearts
Fast delivery is a game-changer during the holiday season. Choose your preferred delivery program from Walmart’s portfolio of shipping solutions:
- Leverage Walmart Fulfillment Services for delivery in as fast as one to two days. Let Walmart pick, pack, store, and ship your holiday orders, which can result in a 50% lift in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) on average.
- Optimize your shipping settings with custom Shipping Templates to improve your catalog’s performance.
- Enable free TwoDay and ThreeDay Delivery nationwide or regionally to boost your product visibility and conversion.
- Diversify your portfolio of shipping carriers and upgrade shipping methods to prepare for last-minute shopping.
- Extend your shipping cutoff dates if possible.
- Follow Walmart’s packaging rules and ensure you ship the same business day with valid tracking.
5. Customer Service: Stay on the ‘Nice’ List
Exemplary Service Matters
During the holiday season, customer service is more critical than ever. Follow these guidelines to ensure you stay on the ‘nice’ list:
- Provide excellent customer service within 48 hours, even on weekends.
- Acknowledge and empathize with the customer’s issue.
- Maintain professionalism in your responses by double-checking grammar and spelling.
- Use pre-written templates in the Message Center to respond quickly.
- Monitor the Message Center frequently, as all messages require a response.
- Keep your information up to date in Seller Center to assist customers and Walmart in reaching you when needed.
6. Returns: Make Returns Easy for Your Customers
Turn Hassles into Happy Memories
Not every gift can be a perfect fit, but an easy returns experience can leave a positive impression. Here’s how to make returns hassle-free for your customers:
- Delight customers with longer return windows if you haven’t already. Review your Returns settings in your Partner Profile.
- Most Marketplace orders shipped through Walmart Fulfillment Services are included in our Free & Easy Returns program. This means your customers can make hassle-free returns in-store and online.
- Include packing slips with all your items to streamline returns.
- Enable Return Rules and Keep It Rules in Seller Center.
In summary, the holiday season on Walmart Marketplace offers tremendous opportunities for sellers. By mastering these 30 best practices, you can position yourself for success and ensure a seamless shopping experience for your customers. As you embrace these strategies, you’ll not only boost your sales but also make the most of the festive season.
Remember, excellent preparation and execution are the keys to thriving during the holiday season on Walmart Marketplace. So, dive in and make this holiday season your most successful one yet!
For more valuable insights, visit the Sell Better Blog to discover how Walmart Fulfillment Services can help elevate your business.
Join Walmart Marketplace today and reach millions of potential customers this holiday season. Getting started is as easy as taking three simple steps to unlock your business’s full potential.
About Walmart.com Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is dedicated to helping people worldwide save money and live better, whether they shop in retail stores, online, or via their mobile devices. With approximately 240 million customers and members visiting over 10,500 stores and numerous eCommerce websites in 20 countries, Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy, and employment opportunity.
