Retail Channels
20 January 2023
Walmart launches ecommerce site for SMBs, with membership
Walmart Business underscores the retailer's recent B2B expansion.
Walmart Business underscores the retailer's recent B2B expansion.
Walmart has a new ecommerce tool for businesses and organizations that buy supplies from the retailer.
The news: Walmart is launching a new ecommerce site and customer experience designed for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as nonprofits. Called Walmart Business, it helps smaller outfits tap Walmart’s ecommerce network, including fulfillment and delivery, to save money and keep supplies stocked.
What’s available on the platform? Walmart Business has an assortment of 10,000 items. These include products for:
What are some of the other features? Walmart said it wants to enable the following:
Subscription power: Just like Walmart+ for consumers, this ecommerce platform has a membership element. Walmart Business+ offers perks such as free shipping, free pickup and delivery, rewards and a 5% discount on certain items. Membership is $98/year.
Key quote from Ashley Hubka, SVP & General Manager of Walmart Business: “[SMBs and nonprofits] are under more pressure than ever due to inflation and supply chain issues, adapting to a hybrid workforce and post-pandemic behavioral shifts. For months, we’ve been working with SMBs and nonprofits to build solutions just for them, with tools tailored to help teams run smoother, have the right items on hand and easily find products to meet their needs.”
What it says about ecommerce:
B2B: This launch comes a week after Walmart debuted retail tech tools on Salesforce’s app marketplace. That means Walmart’s two biggest announcements of 2023 have been focused on providing products and services for other businesses. It’s clear that Walmart sees potential to put its ecommerce tools to work for others, and reap the benefits of big orders that are paid on the company card. Amazon has sold to other businesses for years, so it’s not totally new. But given Walmart’s scale, it’s worth watching because it could become a big business, quickly.
Plus up: The addition of a membership element indicates that Walmart sees its B2B arm as being interconnected with the rest of its business. Executives talk on most Walmart earnings calls about how the consumer version of Walmart+ has run-on benefits that not only help drive ecommerce, but also lead to more in-store shopping. Coupled with a wider assortment of items, high-frequency Walmart+ users are also helping to grow advertising. Business customers are shopping on the same website, so it makes sense that they will be part of the flywheel, as well.
Buy it again: Across many of Walmart’s recent digital releases, there has been a common theme: Restocking is getting easier. Walmart’s direct-to-fridge delivery was in part positioned around reordering staples. Its Text to Shop feature learns preferences, making it easy to buy favorites again. Now, Walmart Business is organizing items in a way that makes them easy to reorder. It makes sense that Walmart would want to encourage repeats. Easier restocking essentially builds in recurring revenue. Walmart is known for its “big basket” weekly trips to the store. Now, its ecommerce tools are equipped to have many of those stock-up staples delivered.
Building for tougher times: Adding new customers from businesses. Encouraging them to commit to Walmart by becoming members. Making it easy to replenish. These are all things that can help Walmart at a time when the general consumer environment is signaling pullback, and the company is seeing less discretionary spending on non-consumable items. It’s clear Walmart executives have reviewed the assets the company has, and identified where they can be tuned for new opportunities that align with the moment we’re in. That’s what successful businesses do during tough times.
Applications are open for startups interested in the 12-week Store Nº8 dCommerce Base Camp.
Walmart incubation arm Store Nº8 and Web3 accelerator Outlier Ventures are teaming up to support retail startups.
The organizations opened applications this week for the Store Nº8 dCommerce Base Camp accelerator. The virtual program will offer education, funding and mentorship to startups building solutions in Web3 that are designed for the retail and commerce experience.
Focus areas for selected startups will include decentralized infrastructure, data and growth solutions, immersive experiences and the metaverse and the intersection of AI and blockchain technology.
“We think dCommerce represents a huge opportunity to unbundle ecommerce into its constituent parts, and into a more decentralized and composable stack of protocols to create a more efficient, equitable and improved experience for retailers and consumers from CRM to last-mile delivery," said Outlier Ventures CEO Jamie Burke, in a statement. "There is clearly no better partner than Store Nº8, as Walmart's incubation arm, so we are thrilled to launch this accelerator program together.”
Beginning in mid-August, founders will take part in a 12-week program. The cohort members will receive funding and access to subject matter experts from Store Nº8 and Outlier Ventures. They will also receive support from industry mentors in areas such as product roadmap development, the token economy and fundraising.
“Decentralized commerce has the potential to unlock new value in the global commerce ecosystem, so we are excited to partner with Outlier Ventures to support and engage with entrepreneurs building at the forefront of this technology on their path to scale," said Store Nº8 VP Thomas Kang, in a statement.
The new program arrives in the year after Web3 and the metaverse saw a spike in interest from brands and retailers, as the arrival of immersive platforms opened up new digital environments where consumers gathered. Walmart entered the metaverse through an activation on Roblox, and also introduced a platform for digital collectibles. But it remains a nascent space, so there’s room for startups bringing fresh ideas to help larger enterprises develop capabilities. Alongside connections that help startups move forward, such learning is one potential outcome of the accelerator could last beyond the 12 weeks.
Applications for the accelerator are available here.