Are you a Walmart seller looking to boost your sales and increase your success on the platform? If so, you’ll have to pay close attention to the top five common mistakes among Walmart sellers. These mistakes could be killing your Walmart sales. In this article, we’ll explain these common mistakes that many sellers fall into and provide you with valuable tips on how to avoid them.
In this article, we will cover:
- The top five mistakes of Walmart sellers
- The common mistake of Walmart sellers
- Tips for Avoiding Mistakes
The top five mistakes of Walmart sellers
1. Sellers think Walmart and Amazon are working in the same way
The seller thinks Walmart and Amazon are working in the same way. Nowadays, most of the sellers on Amazon are trying to expand their sales in other marketplaces, and Walmart is the first name that comes to mind. However, switching the e-commerce platform with just one click is not possible. Even experienced sellers on other platforms need to start at Walmart from scratch. If you want to sell at Walmart, you should be prepared to invest time, money, and energy to build the store.
It is a common mistake among sellers that they think what works on Amazon will work on Walmart, and it is a great mistake. If you assume that your top-selling product on Amazon will perform the same way on Walmart, you are living in a dream. The fulfillment costs, advertisement strategy, customer service, platform algorithm, customer behavior, and almost every point are different.
2. Ignore the Walmart Pro Seller Badge
The second big mistake of Walmart sellers is that they ignore the Walmart Pro Seller Badge. In Walmart, winning a pro-seller badge is a massive game changer to enhance your sales. Most of the sellers ignore this pro-seller badge because they are not aware of the benefits of it.
There are no applications or fees required to get the Pro Seller Badge. If you’ve set up as a seller on Walmart and actively selling on the Walmart Marketplace, you can begin earning your badge. It is a great way to establish yourself as a leader on the platform. It helps to increase buyers’ confidence and the visibility of your product.
The Walmart Pro Seller badge works far better than Amazon. It helps to enhance traffic and conversion rates. So, ignoring attention to the pro-seller badge will be a big mistake for the sellers.
3. Incorrect Listing
Another big mistake the Walmart seller has made is the incorrect listing. Most of the sellers also don’t know the Walmart listing requirements. They simply copy their listing from Amazon and paste it to Walmart.
However, as per Walmart listing guidelines, the listing requirements are different from Amazon. If you use Amazon content without changes, it will be hard to improve store rankings on Walmart. The same thing will happen if you directly upload Walmart listings to Amazon.
Selles must enter different pricing information in Walmart versus Amazon. Walmart SEO plays a significant part in increasing sales as well. Walmart doesn’t like keyword stuffing. The main reason for this is that the majority of Walmart’s sellers ignore SEO.
Walmart also uses an algorithm to rank products on the search page, just as other e-commerce marketplaces do. So, all the sellers should optimize their listings properly on Walmart.
Here are some recommendations for a better Walmart listing:
Title: The title should be clear, specific, and within 80 characters. Most of the sellers use the wrong title format. Sellers should write a clear, specific product title that customers easily understand. Use the following format to write the product title:
Title format: Brand + Item Name + Model Name + Style + Key Attribute + Pack Count + Size
A good example of a Walmart title: ASUS Mattle Black 15.6” Laptop PC X555DA-WB11
A bad example of Walmart Title: ASUS Mattle Black X555DA-WB11 15.6” Laptop PC with AMD Quad-CCore A10-88700P Processor, 4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Drive, and Windows 10
The seller should add keywords in the key attributes that are likely to be searched for. If customers are likely to search for the product’s color, include this in the product title.
Description: Most of the sellers repeat words in the description section. But we should avoid repeating the same word over and over in the description. If you are selling a “desktop,” use synonyms like “personal computer” in the description to avoid repetition.
Bullet Point: The seller should include 3–10 bullet points in their product listing. Don’t use more than 80 characters in each bullet point. We should include the short phrases or keywords in the bullet point.
Images: Before uploading images, please study the Walmart policies to get an idea. Make sure that the images you want to upload meet all of Walmart’s requirements.
4. Incorrect product category mapping
This is the most critical mistake for Walmart sellers. Walmart has tons of product categories, and sometimes it’s difficult to figure out which one your product belongs to.
When you upload your product catalog to Walmart or manually add products one by one, you have to assign categories for every product. If you sell the same product on other platforms, you might get confused here. You’ll see that the same product belongs to a different category at Walmart.
If you do not correctly identify the product category, your listing will not be promoted. This means your listing won’t show up in search results. So, it will be harder for customers to find your shop.
5. Assuming that You Can Use Amazon FBA to Fulfill Walmart Orders
The majority of Amazon sellers are using FBA. And Amazon allows multi-channel fulfillment. And Walmart allows third-party logistics. So, naturally, you will think that you can use FBA to fulfill Walmart orders. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
Walmart clearly stated that sellers should not use the fulfillment system of its competitors to deliver products purchased at Walmart. When they say competitors, they mean Amazon. If you try to do that, your account can be suspended.
Walmart launched its own logistics service, WFS, which is Walmart Fulfillment Service, to deliver your orders.
The common mistake of Walmart sellers
There are also some common mistakes among the sellers without the mentioned issues. Here are some common mistakes that have been noticed:
Missing SKU: In some situations, the seller might forget to assign an SKU to the product. Without the SKU, it is very difficult to track and manage inventory accurately.
Incorrect Pricing: Sometimes sellers make mistakes in the listed price of a product. This might lead to confusion and a potential loss of sales due to incorrect information displayed to customers.
The mismatch between product ID and actual product: This mistake is made when the product ID associated with a product does not match the actual item being sold. This happened because of a lack of seller concern.
Testing for a Month and Giving Up: Some sellers at Walmart couldn’t decide what they should do. They launch a product for a short period and decide to abandon it due to unsatisfactory results or a lack of success.
Listing Prohibited Products: This involves the practice of trying to list or sell products that are prohibited or restricted by laws or regulations. This could lead to potential legal consequences and penalties.
Tips for Avoiding Mistakes
- Don’t think Amazon and Walmart are the same. As a seller, you should treat them separately and use separate strategies. If you want to start selling at Walmart, study Walmart from scratch.
- Never copy Amazon listings into Walmart. At least you should modify them. Learn the requirements for the image, title, bullet points, and description that we already discussed.
- Don’t forget about SEO. You should descriptively use the keywords and don’t overdo the keywords. Walmart likes listings that are buyer-friendly.
- Walmart provides an ultra-tool called Growth Opportunities. This tool shows you how to optimize your listings. Walmart shows you how to make your listings better. So, after you upload a new listing or update an old one, check Growth Opportunities.
- Don’t ignore the Pro Seller Badge. Every seller should try to meet the requirements to earn this badge.
- Make sure every product you upload or enter has a product category. If you enter the wrong category, the site will find category errors.
In conclusion, every seller needs to avoid the mistakes at Walmart to sustain their business. Sellers can ensure their sales are successful at Walmart by being aware of these mistakes and taking proactive steps to avoid them. We should pay attention to the common issues and implement strategies as per Walmart’s requirements. We should utilize the tips provided in this content to fix any mistakes and improve our Walmart sales.
If you need any help with Walmart or other e-commerce platforms, feel free to let us know in the comment box or email us at the following email address: info@ecomclips.com
To know more about Amazon or other marketplace, please check out our other blog. Also, you can check our YouTube videos related to Amazon as well.