In a year when Walmart Inc. is showing robust growth in ecommerce sales, it is building on that momentum by stepping up the online customer experience of Walmart Business.
The world’s largest retailer by revenue announced Walmart Business in January as a new ecommerce channel primarily for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. With more than 100,000 items available across more than a dozen categories ranging from office furniture and laptops to health care and automotive products, Walmart Business is encroaching on a market dominated by such rivals as Staples Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. It also provides such B2B purchasing features as letting up to five buyers share the same account.
Amazon, Costco, Staples and Walmart each rank in the Top 500. Furthermore, they’re all among the Top 20.
Ashley Hubka, senior vice president and general manager, Walmart Business
Walmart recently upped its B2B foray with a mobile app and new tools and services designed to help small businesses and nonprofit organizations improve their procurement operations, according to Ashley Hubka, senior vice president and general manager, Walmart Business. The changes followed a May 2023 survey of 501 small business owners. They identified ordering supplies and managing customers as among their biggest challenges. Research firm Morning Consult conducted the Walmart-commissioned poll.
The Walmart Business upgrades include:
- Walmart Business App. It lets buyers access and purchase items among all product categories. And it lets them choose how to receive orders, including via scheduled delivery service or curbside pickup at more than 4,700 U.S. locations. Up to five purchasing team members can share a single account from the app.
- An upgraded add-to-cart feature, which is designed to quicken high-volume orders.
- Hire Angi. It lets customers click from the Walmart Business website or app to connect with the Angi contractor-hiring service.
- Spend Analytics. This enables Walmart Business+ members to track their organization’s spend by user and by product categories. It also allows them to identify spending patterns. Walmart Business+ is a membership program that, for a $98 annual fee, offers perks like free shipping on all orders.
More on Walmart’s online sales
Walmart doesn’t break out ecommerce sales. But for the company’s most recently reported financial period, the fiscal first quarter ended April 30, it said ecommerce sales grew 27% over the prior-year quarter. Total sales grew 7.6% to $151.0 billion.
Walmart ranks No. 2 in the Top 1000 database for online sales, behind only Amazon. We cover Walmart ecommerce sales quarterly with year-to-date earnings summaries. Check back in for updates on the page below.
Paul Demery is a freelance writer specializing in ecommerce trends. He is based in Savannah, Georgia. Follow him on Twitter @pdemery.
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