Walmart’s latest announcement is a game-changer for suppliers and brand owners alike. Walmart recently launched two powerful self-serve tools designed to enhance your brand presence and boost sales: Walmart Brand Shop and Walmart Shelf. Launched in February 2024, this feature has been updated and is available to all sellers.
This blog will unpack everything you need to know about the benefits of these self-serve solutions, how they can generate more sales, and who can take advantage of them. We’ll cover:
- What are Brand Shop and Shelf?
- Benefits for Sellers
- How to Create Your Brand Shop & Shelf
- Key Differences Between Brand Shop and Shelf
- Measuring Success with Brand Shop & Shelf
- Why This Matters for Your Brand on Walmart
What are Brand Shop and Shelf?
Here’s a concise breakdown of what each offers:
- Brand Shop: This serves as your always-on virtual storefront. Here, you can tell your brand story, showcase your product portfolio, and curate collections to engage customers. Similar to Amazon’s setup, Brand Shop offers sellers a platform to highlight the depth and breadth of their brand directly to customers. Imagine it as a mini-website within Walmart.com, offering a seamless shopping experience. With SEO optimization and quick loading times, Brand Shop helps improve Google search ranking and enhances discoverability.
- Shelf: Think of this as a virtual aisle specifically designed for highlighting curated product selections. Perfect for seasonal promotions, new product launches, or showcasing specific categories, Shelf allows you to grab customer attention and drive targeted sales. Instead of walking down a physical aisle, customers browse this curated selection online. It enhances the shopping experience by making it easier for customers to find and explore relevant products. Shelf can also serve as landing pages for marketing campaigns, leading to higher conversion rates.
Benefits for Sellers: Amplify Your Brand and Generate Sales
Here’s how Brand Shop and Shelf can work wonders for your brand at Walmart:
- Enhanced Brand Presence: Create a digital space to showcase your brand identity and values, going beyond individual product pages.
- Increased Customer Engagement: Tell your brand story, educate customers about your products, and build stronger brand loyalty.
- Improved Product Visibility: Showcase your full product range and curated collections, driving traffic and increasing product discovery.
- Boosted Sales Conversions: Offer a seamless shopping experience within your brand environment, leading to more sales.
- Free and Easy to Use: Both Shop and Shelf are completely free to build, customize, and maintain.
Who Can Create a Brand Shop & Shelf?
This opportunity is open to a wide range of sellers on Walmart Marketplace:
- Walmart Suppliers (First-Party Sellers): If you sell directly to Walmart, you can leverage Brand Shop and Shelf to showcase your brands.
- Marketplace Brand Owners (Third-Party Sellers): Owning a registered trademark for your brand allows you to create your Brand Shop and Shelf.
Building Your Brand Shop & Shelf: A Straightforward Process
Walmart has made the process user-friendly:
- Brand Registration (Required): Head to the Walmart Brand Portal to register your brand with Walmart. After submitting your business registration details and any required trademark documents, Walmart will confirm your registration via email. This ensures you have access to Shop Builder, the tool for creating your Brand Shop and Shelf.
- Shop Builder in Walmart Ad Center: Once your brand is registered, access Shop Builder through the Walmart Ad Center. This platform offers user-friendly templates to design your Brand Shop and Shelf for desktop, mobile web, and app experiences.
Creating Your Brand Store on Walmart
We’ll walk you through each step of creating your brand store at Walmart. We’ve included screenshots to make the process as easy as possible. To create your Brand store, follow these simple steps:
- Log in to your Walmart account: Go to the Walmart Ad Center and sign in using your credentials.
- Access the Shop Builder: Once logged in, navigate to the Sponsor dropdown menu and select “Shop Builder.”
- Choose your store type: Decide whether you want to create a Brand shop or a Brand shelf.
- Design your store: Start designing your store by adding sections like Hero Banners, Category Hubs, Item Carousels, and Promo Cards. These sections help showcase your brand and products effectively.
- Add content and images: Input relevant content, images, and links for each section to make your store engaging and informative.
- Review and save your changes: Take a moment to review your store design and ensure everything looks good. Then, save your changes to proceed.
- Submit your store for review: Once you’re satisfied with your store setup, submit it for review by Walmart. They’ll check it to ensure it meets their guidelines and standards.
Once approved, your Brand store will go live. You can direct customers to your Brand store through various media campaigns, such as sponsor ads. Utilise these opportunities to drive traffic and boost sales. With these easy-to-follow steps and careful design, you can effectively engage with customers and maximise your revenue on the platform.
Brand Shop vs. Shelf: Key Differences
While both tools empower your brand presence, here’s a breakdown of their key differences:
- Focus: Brand Shop allows for a broader brand story and product showcase, while Shelf is ideal for highlighting specific product collections.
- Complexity: Brand Shop offers more customization options, while Shelf is simpler and features a hero banner and item collection.
- Quantity: You get one Brand Shop per registered brand, whereas you can have multiple Shelf pages for a single brand.
Measuring Success with Brand Shop & Shelf
With Brand Shop, you can track key performance metrics like visits, orders, and views through the Walmart Ad Center. This data helps you understand customer engagement and optimize your Shop for better results.
Unfortunately, Shelf pages don’t yet have built-in performance reporting. However, you can leverage sales data from other sources to track Shelf’s effectiveness.
Why This Matters for Your Brand on Walmart
Today’s customers crave a seamless and brand-centric shopping experience. Brand Shop and Shelf empower you to create exactly that within the massive Walmart platform. By building a dedicated brand presence, you can stand out from the competition, engage customers more effectively, and ultimately drive more sales.
Embrace the Self-Serve Storefront Revolution
Walmart’s move towards self-serve digital storefronts mirrors a trend across the retail landscape. It’s a win-win for both sellers and Walmart. Sellers gain greater control over brand presentation, while Walmart benefits from increased engagement and higher conversion rates.
Conclusion:
The introduction of Brand Shop and Shelf marks a significant milestone for Walmart sellers, offering them powerful tools to elevate their brand presence, promote products, and drive sales. By leveraging these self-serve solutions, sellers can engage with customers in new and impactful ways, ultimately enhancing their success on Walmart’s platform.
If you need assistance or want to optimize your store’s performance, reach out to Ecomclips at info@ecomclips.com With our expertise, we aim to help sellers increase sales. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity! Contact Ecomclips today.
