Walmart has spent the last few years turning Walmart Marketplace into a cornerstone of its omnichannel business, and the momentum is still accelerating.
That momentum was evident in Walmart’s Q1 FY2027 results, where U.S. Marketplace grew nearly 50% year over year, underscoring Walmart’s continued investment in third-party assortment, fulfillment, and retail media.
That strategy is now reaching suppliers directly. Brands that have historically sold through 1P or as Drop Ship Vendors (DSV) are increasingly being encouraged to evaluate Walmart Marketplace. For many, the shift raises important questions like:
- Why is Walmart making this push?
- Which products belong on Walmart Marketplace?
- What does Walmart Marketplace success look like?
Below, we explore why this shift is happening, what changes when you expand to Walmart Marketplace, and the 5 levers brands can use to win.
Why is Walmart encouraging brands to expand to Walmart Marketplace?
At its core, Walmart’s Marketplace strategy is about expanding customer choice while growing its digital business.
Unlike physical stores, Walmart Marketplace allows significantly expanded online assortment without taking on the inventory, warehousing, and distribution requirements associated with traditional 1P retail. That flexibility enables Walmart to offer more products, launch new products faster, and continue building Walmart.com into a destination that meets customers wherever and however they choose to shop—all while supporting the company’s broader digital and omnichannel growth strategy.
That strategy is increasingly shaping how Walmart works with existing suppliers. Brands already selling through Walmart as 1P vendors are being encouraged to expand long-tail assortment or launch new products through Marketplace, particularly for items that are not intended for store shelves. Likewise, some Drop Ship Vendors (DSV) are being encouraged to evaluate a transition to 3P, particularly in categories where Walmart Marketplace creates a more efficient operating model for both Walmart and the supplier.
For brands, the shift represents more than adding another sales channel. Walmart Marketplace also provides greater ownership over pricing, assortment, content, inventory, product launches, and marketing and media, giving suppliers more control over how they build and grow their total Walmart business.
That additional control can be a significant advantage, but it also comes with greater operational responsibility. Success on Walmart Marketplace requires a different strategy than traditional 1P or DSV relationships, making strong execution more important than ever.
What changes when you move to Walmart Marketplace?
The biggest shift is operational. Under 1P (including DSV), Walmart manages much of the retail execution. On Walmart Marketplace, brands take on greater ownership of the business and the levers that drive performance.
Three shifts matter most:
- You become responsible for driving visibility and conversion. Walmart provides the shopping destination and customer reach, but success depends on your content, reviews, retail media strategy, promotions, and overall execution.
- Fulfillment and in-stock become performance drivers. Speed, reliability, and availability directly influence search ranking, Buy Box position, and sales. Whether you leverage Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) or your own 3PL, operational excellence is rewarded with greater visibility and stronger performance.
- Pricing, content, and brand experience sit fully in your hands. You set retail pricing, own every element of the product detail page, and can leverage tools like Brand Shop to create a stronger brand presence on Walmart.com. Used well, that control becomes a competitive advantage. Left unmanaged, it can quickly work against you.
Brands that see the greatest success approach Walmart Marketplace with a retail mindset, operational excellence, and an integrated strategy. Rather than treating it as a standalone eCommerce initiative, they use it as a strategic extension of their total Walmart business.
Five Levers to Win on Walmart Marketplace
Whether you’ve already expanded to Walmart Marketplace or your merchant team is beginning to have the conversation, these five levers will determine how much value you capture.
1. Own pricing and assortment with intent
Walmart Marketplace removes the limits of your in-store footprint. Brands can list SKUs Walmart doesn’t carry on shelf, reach niche audiences, and test innovation with longtail products before scaling them more broadly. Early online success also builds the case for expanded distribution in your next line review.
That flexibility comes with expectation. Walmart Marketplace works best as a strategic extension of your total Walmart presence, not a dumping ground for long-tail SKUs, and Walmart is reinforcing that from its side of the table. Across several categories, merchant teams are beginning to expect suppliers to build a more complete online assortment strategy alongside their in-store business, viewing Walmart Marketplace as a strategic extension of the shelf.
Pricing ownership is the other half of this lever. Setting your own retail price lets you protect margin and manage your pricing strategy with the same ownership you have on other 3P platforms. The brands that benefit most treat pricing and assortment as a deliberate, data-informed strategy.
2. Make fulfillment and in-stock a performance discipline
Fast, reliable delivery and consistent in-stock rates feed directly into search ranking and buy box performance. Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) gives brands access to Walmart’s logistics network with competitive shipping and improved visibility, much like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) does for sellers there.
Speed is a real differentiator. Units shipped same-day or next-day through WFS grew nearly 150% in early 2026, and Walmart can now reach roughly 60% of U.S. households within 30 minutes.
Brands coming from DSV are accustomed to shipping from their own warehouses, which can put them at a structural disadvantage against competitors delivering in two days through WFS. Building fulfillment into your performance strategy protects both sales and search presence.
3. Drive your own demand through content, search, and retail media
More listings create more chances to be found, but discovery only converts when content is built for it. The work breaks into three stages:
- Get found. Align SEO with shopper intent, seasonality, and competition. Walmart Marketplace also gives you tools 1P doesn’t offer with the same flexibility, like Google search campaigns that pull external traffic straight to your listings.
- Convert the click. Build product detail pages with clear, compelling content focused on value and credibility, and work strong reviews into your creative. Shoppers trust other shoppers more than they trust your copy.
- Amplify what’s working. Layer advertising on top of organic performance, and use flash deals and seasonal events to control your promotional timing.
- Retail media is a growing part of that last stage. Walmart Connect grew 44% in early 2026, and third-party seller ad spend rose more than 50% as sellers competed for visibility. Content, reviews, retail media, and Seller Center insights working together are what turn traffic into sales.
4. Protect your brand presence and own the buy box
Without the proper setup, unauthorized third-party sellers can list your items on Walmart Marketplace, creating inconsistent listings, mismatched product pages, and reviews that erode shopper trust.
Moving to Walmart Marketplace is your opportunity to control your brand story and catalog, own the buy box, and deliver the experience shoppers expect from you. That consistency protects brand equity and profitability, and it builds long-term confidence with shoppers who encounter your products across in-store and online touch points.
5. Win with a Hybrid 1P+3P Model
Moving to Walmart Marketplace rarely means leaving 1P behind entirely. Many brands run a hybrid model, using each channel for what it does best: 1P for high-velocity hero SKUs where Walmart’s fulfillment economics are strong, and Walmart Marketplace for new products, specialty items, or SKUs where price and content control matter most.
A well-run hybrid approach ties Walmart Marketplace, in-store, retail media, supply chain, and inventory planning into one strategy, helping brands increase digital penetration while growing their Walmart business. It also keeps your relationship with your buyer strong. Consistent Walmart Marketplace performance feeds your buyer’s metrics and reinforces your relevance heading into future negotiations.
Why Harvest Group, and what comes next?
For nearly 20 years, we’ve guided brands through every major Walmart evolution, and the move toward Walmart Marketplace is just one of the latest.
As a Walmart Connect Premium+ partner and an Approved Walmart Solution Provider, we manage full retail media portfolios across 1P and 3P. That means helping brands avoid common pitfalls, like self-competing across retail media campaigns, while building a coordinated strategy that maximizes performance across their total Walmart business.
As an integrated commerce agency, we also connect your Walmart strategy to the bigger picture, aligning in-store execution, digital commerce, and retail media to drive results across every touchpoint.
Visit our Walmart Marketplace Services page to learn more, and fill out our Contact Us form to start the conversation.