Walmart opens U.S. marketplace to Canadian sellers

Walmart is recruiting Canada-based sellers to join its flagship U.S. third-party online marketplace.

The discount giant is pushing ahead with efforts to attract international sellers for its third-party online U.S. marketplace  by targeting Canadian companies selling on its Canadian third-party marketplace. Leveraging the Canada-United States-Mexico free trade agreement (CUSMA), Walmart is opening its U.S. supply chain services and infrastructure to offer participating Canadian sellers delivery across the contiguous U.S. in as fast as one to two days.

These hosted solutions include Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), a fee-based program provides a wide array of services, including storing, picking, packing and shipping, along with the handling of returns and customer service, and the Walmart Connect retail media platform. Participating Canadian sellers will also have access to Walmart Seller Center tools designed to help them speed up processes, identify growth opportunities, and optimize their catalog and listings.

The discount giant, which began inviting select Indian sellers to apply to join Walmart Marketplace in January 2022, is seeking to bring 40,000 new sellers onto the Marketplace platform this year. In June 2022, Walmart started reaching out to select U.K sellers to apply to join Walmart Marketplace. Sellers approved to join the hosted e-commerce platform will be offered the services of a dedicated onboarding team, as well as access to tools and services designed to enable rapid scaling across the Atlantic, including the opportunity to get goods to U.S. consumers within two days.

Walmart also plans to expand its Marketplace assortment to offer over 200 million items, from its current selection of nearly 170 million products. The retailer is additionally working with payment technology company Payoneer to bring Canadian Payoneer small-to-mid-sized business clients onto its hosted e-commerce platform.

Walmart is giving third-party retailers new reason to participate in Walmart Marketplace as chief rival Amazon actively assists third-party retailers (primarily small-to-medium-sized businesses) to sell on its Amazon Marketplace e-commerce platform with at least 150 tools and services. Walmart’s efforts include “New-Seller Savings,” a recent limited-time Walmart Marketplace promotion that was exclusive to new participants on the platform. 

"Building e-commerce marketplaces that both customers and sellers trust has been a priority for Walmart for years,” said Darren Carithers, senior VP of Marketplace development for Walmart International, “Whether you are an experienced Walmart seller or new to the Walmart family, we want to help you succeed on our U.S. and Canadian marketplaces. By working together, we can serve more customers and help everyone save money and live a better life."

"Payoneer's mission is to connect small businesses to the global economy. Our partnership with Walmart gives our sellers the opportunity to work with one of the biggest names in retail. We are delighted to see more Canadian entrepreneurs and small businesses joining the global digital economy and selling to U.S. consumers on Walmart Marketplace," said Ya Wen, senior VP, Americas, Payoneer.

Walmart operates more than 10,500 stores and clubs under 46 banners in 24 countries and e-commerce websites.