How Walmart’s Fulfillment Services Work in 2022
Many ecommerce merchants find order fulfillment difficult. Self-fulfillment is expensive and is prone to error. 53% of businesses’ fulfillment expenses rose in 2020, according to Statista.
Personnel, insurance, and warehousing space are driving up shipping costs. Working with a fulfillment service provider helps sellers build their business. With Amazon offering its FBA service, Walmart decided to offer its own fulfillment service: Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS).
Walmart’s Fulfillment Services can streamline order management for businesses. WFS offers fast delivery at reasonable shipping rates and can be a great way to scale your business.
Walmart sellers should know these WFS basics
Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) outsources inventory management for a fee. Walmart handles orders from WFS sellers. It handles orders, refunds, and customer assistance for the seller.
Walmart reportedly has one of the world’s best supply chains. Walmart Fulfillment Services combines Walmart’s efficient logistics with a trusted fulfillment procedure.
And as Walmart grows, so too will its fulfillment services.
WFS Eligibility
Existing Walmart Marketplace merchants can use WFS. Your products must also match these criteria:
- Walmart fulfillment centers only accept domestic shipments.
- Perishable or restricted goods banned
- 30-pound weight limit
- 25″ x 20″ x 14″ max.
You must also have a history of on-time orders, satisfied customers, and quality service if you’ve done self-fulfillment while selling on the Walmart marketplace.
The fees associated with WFS
Walmart Fulfillment Services’ easy price is a selling element. Walmart’s website says, “Enjoy a simplified cost structure with a fixed monthly storage fee and a fulfillment price based on shipping weight.” Exceptions include clothes and hazardous materials.
- Starting August 20, 2021, items under 16 ounces or 1 pound will cost $3.45.
- January to September storage costs $0.75 per cubic foot.
- However, the $0.75 fee only applies from October to December.
- Longer storage costs $1.50/cubic foot each month, for a total of $2.25/cubic foot per month.
What’s the difference between Walmart and Amazon FBA?
WFS is Walmart’s answer to FBA (FBA). Despite parallels, WFS and FBA have different benefits.
- Customers without Amazon Prime can’t get one- or two-day shipping, but WFS does.
- WFS’s two-day delivery has never been problematic. Amazon’s two-day shipping suffered during the COVID-19 epidemic. WFS handles fewer goods, but its great delivery record suggests future success.
- Shipping is easier. FBA requires merchants to ship to many fulfillment centers, but Walmart only requires one or two.
Nobody’s perfect. Your business model should select which marketplace to use.
Walmart Fulfillment Services pros/cons
Walmart’s third-party fulfillment is the best for Walmart merchants. Walmart Fulfillment Services offers speedy shipping at reasonable pricing, allowing merchants to focus on their business.
Benefits of WFS
Walmart Fulfillment Services offers various perks that may help you grow your business:
- Quick shipping: WFS merchants offer two-day shipping.
- Straightforward price: WFS’ pricing structure is simple, unlike Amazon FBA’s hidden fees.
- Transparency: Dashboards let sellers track orders and inventories.
- Customer and business support: WFS handles vendor inquiries, refunds, and returns. WFS customer assistance can benefit sellers.
- Better search results: WFS sellers get TwoDay tags. Walmart gives two-day merchants stronger rankings and Buy Box prominence in Walmart Marketplace search.
WFS is still in its early phases and will certainly improve as Walmart grows and more customers join the platform.
Drawbacks of WFS
Walmart launched WFS in 2020. Its newness and low user rate provide problems for sellers. Sellers must grasp WFS’s shortcomings to supply as much information as feasible.
- Stricter regulations: WFS doesn’t sell the same things as FBA. If caught, Walmart may close sellers’ stores.
- Geography: WFS ships solely domestically. All 50 states, some military addresses, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the USVI are shippable.
- Size limitations: Walmart’s product dimensions are limited, therefore some vendors can’t use the service.
Despite these restrictions, Walmart sellers should pursue WFS.
How to set up Walmart Fulfillment Services
As a Walmart Marketplace vendor, starting WFS is easy. If not, fill out Walmart’s Interest Form. Walmart suggests vendors have these details before applying:
- U.S. Business Tax ID; no SSNs.
- Category breakdown, catalog size, and more (e.g., total SKUs you initially plan to fulfill with WFS)
- How you plan to add your product catalog to the platform. Bulk upload, API, and external supplier are choices.
Sign in to your Seller Center account and use the WFS link in the marketplace dashboard to start.
- Walmart reviews your app. If accepted, you must switch to Fulfilled by Walmart.
- Any product you want to enroll must be on Walmart Marketplace.
- Next, send your products to Walmart fulfillment facilities to be stored until a customer orders. Walmart’s warehouses package and ship orders.
Walmart Fulfillment Services grows businesses
With fulfillment removed, WFS merchants may meet and exceed Walmart’s standards. Merchants can satisfy Walmart by:
- Regularly adding new products
- Being price-competitive
- Running high-performing ads
- Keeping customers satisfied
- Staying compliant with WFS
Let ShippingTree handle your Walmart orders and more
ShippingTree is a 3PL that works with online merchants to fulfill their orders. We can fulfill orders from Walmart and other sales channels so you can focus on growing your business.
Here’s why you should work with ShippingTree.
Done for you fulfillment
ShippingTree offers fulfillment services – we’ll manage your entire fulfillment process from initially receiving inventory to shipping orders and managing reverse logistics.
Reduced shipping costs
ShippingTree has a network of strategically positioned distribution centers and a team of fulfillment experts. Thanks to our in-house experience and strategic infrastructure, we can help you scale your operations while reducing shipping costs. Thanks to our partnerships with carriers, we can ship your products at a discounted rate.
Ecommerce integrations
ShippingTree is a tech-enabled 3PL provider, so our systems integrate seamlessly with your ecommerce store and all major platforms. This helps us streamline your ecommerce fulfillment, optimizing key processes such as inventory management.
Contact us to learn more about how we can help with fulfillment.