Walmart Inc. says its online marketplace had its two most successful sales days to date over the Cyber 5 holiday shopping period. Black Friday and Cyber Monday were the two biggest sales days, the retailer said without revealing specifics. Millions of consumers shopped on the website during those days, it says.
The Cyber 5 sales period (the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) in 2023 surpassed 2022 levels, Walmart announced. Peak orders per minute topped out at four times its previous peak on Black Friday, the retailer said.
Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales. The retailer is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the top 100 online marketplaces.
Walmart Marketplace’s Cyber 5 results
Despite an increase in sales, Walmart’s share of the total U.S. visits to Top 1000 retailers during the Cyber 5 was down 2.2% from the comparable 2022 holiday shopping period. Walmart received 6.8% of U.S. traffic to those retailers over Cyber 5, a decline of 2.2% year over year, according to a Digital Commerce 360 analysis of Similarweb data. Walmart’s website visits declined 10% on Black Friday compared with 2022, according to Similarweb. Similarweb tracks visits, rather than page views.
“Walmart’s marketplace is still relatively embryonic, so it is not surprising it is growing at a fast clip,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail analysis firm GlobalData. “However, much of the growth is deserved as Walmart has made a concerted effort to improve the feel of the site and also to attract more vendors. They have also been working more closely with vendors to improve their success on the site. I can see Walmart becoming a more dominant force in the arena, although it still remains a very long way behind Amazon.”
Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) also recorded milestones. It nearly doubled the number of units shipped on Black Friday from results on the same day in 2022, Walmart stated, recording its four highest-volume days ever. The retailer bulked up its logistics arm earlier this year, announcing sellers would have better ability to ship big and bulky items through WFS. That also applied to products that came in multiple boxes, such as patio sets. Products shipped using WFS get a “Fulfilled by Walmart” tag online. Walmart previously said the tag drives conversion, with sellers seeing an average of 50% growth in GMV (gross merchandise value) when they switch to WFS.
Walmart started its holiday sales for the season in October with the Holiday Kickoff Sale, coinciding with rival Amazon.com Inc.’s Big Deal Days. It then held other holiday sales Nov. 8-14 and Nov. 22-27.
How big is Walmart’s online marketplace?
While Walmart’s online marketplace remains small compared to Amazon’s behemoth, the retailer is pushing for growth. It operates as a hybrid marketplace, selling goods directly from Walmart alongside products from third-party sellers. Walmart had 155,000 third-party sellers in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s a fraction of Amazon’s 1.9 million sellers.
Walmart also recorded $118.6 billion in GMV in 2022, according to Digital Commerce 360 research. Under one-third (27.5%) of GMV came from third-party sellers in 2022.
However, Walmart is courting new sellers to its marketplace and touting the successes of those already on the platform. About 40% of Walmart Marketplace orders over the Cyber 5 included products from small or medium-sized businesses, it says. Thousands of sellers reported their highest sales days ever during the period, while thousands more made their first sales. Walmart also claims more sellers are adopting its services, including WFS, without sharing more.
Walmart makes up a smaller proportion of sales than other channels for online retailer Meble Furniture, said Raf Michalowski, the company’s president. Meble’s highest sales channel is Wayfair Inc., followed by an equal share through Amazon, MebleFurniture.com, and Overstock (now Bed Bath & Beyond). Walmart sales remain “a bit lower” than the other websites, he stated.
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