October 4, 2023

Stratably hosted Sergio Cruz from Flywheel to share tools, levers and competitive tactics brands can employ on a more crowded Walmart.com.

Key topics:

1. An overview of the Walmart.com selling models and different types of 3P sellers
2. How to spot an invader – a 3P “clone” or “dupe” listing – and tactics to combat
3. Walmart’s new Brand Owner tag in Item360
4. Walmart’s new Brand Shop feature, akin to Amazon’s Brand Store

Watch The Recording Here

Action items for brands:

1. Register as Brand Owner in Item360 for greater control over your content.
2. Test and learn with a Brand Shop to curate assortment free from Invaders and to share your brand story with consumers. The Walmart team should connect with the Amazon team on Brand Shop best practices (Brand Stores on Amazon).
3. Merchandise your Brand Shop for items with best profitability, pricing, and inventory to improve odds of winning the buybox.
4. Use the IP infringement claim form to notify Walmart of sellers not abiding by Walmart’s rules, ensuring to include relevant data and proof points of violations.
5. Evaluate the need for added staff or technology to continually monitor PDPs and take action on invaders. Consider updating Walmart cost-to-serve estimates accordingly.

Here’s what we found most interesting:

1. At-risk categories: Categories that are non-perishable and have longer tail assortments are more vulnerable to 3P invader activity than grocery items and those with a smaller assortment that 1P keeps heavily stocked.
2. Brand Ownership through Item360 allows you to lock your content from unwanted changes via 3P sellers. While not 100% perfect, this is still an effective tactic and allows Walmart to act more quickly to resolve issues.
3. Walmart may take action against unwanted 3P variants on 1P PDPs, such as multi-packs, if the per unit price is higher than the 1P offer and therefore doing a disservice to the customer.
4. In addition to brand protection defense, Brand Shop also offers an opportunity to provide an elevated brand experience for the consumer.
5. Human resources for brand control can be leveraged across other marketplaces like Amazon. This can often be a better use of resources than brand control responsibilities falling to the Walmart account lead.
6. Walmart’s marketplace is still in the early innings, and challenges and opportunities will likely continue to evolve for 1P brands. Don’t wait to set up a strong brand protection foundation and leverage learnings from the Amazon business.