Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) is a third-party logistics (3PL) program that enables eCommerce businesses to outsource inventory management, shipping, refunds and customer care to a Walmart specialized fulfillment team. Businesses pay for these services as well as a space in Walmart’s vast online catalog.
Now let’s understand the entire Walmart WFS program in detail. We’ll discuss how WFS works, its features and advantages, how it compares to Amazon FBA and how Walmart merchants can get started with the program.
How does Walmart Fulfillment Service work?
Just like with Fulfillment by Amazon, Walmart Fulfillment Service offers the ability for sellers to store their inventory at any Walmart Fulfillment Service designated center. At the moment, sellers are responsible for sending and preparing their inventory to Walmart, however, Walmart will soon expand its services to cater to inbound capabilities.
The moment a buyer places an order via walmart.com, Walmart picks, packs and ships the items on the sellers’ behalf and this eliminates logistics headaches.
That said, Walmart also assumes ownership of every post-sale process such as customer service calls and returns on fulfillment service orders. Sellers also have the option of participating in the Free and Easy Returns program, which allows buyers to make returns either by mail or in-store.
Walmart WFS vs Amazon FBA
WFS is fundamentally a competitor to Amazon FBA. The most critical aspect of competing with Amazon is achieving parity in terms of rapid and free delivery. Walmart understands that without quick and free delivery, shoppers would continue to shop on Amazon. The faster Walmart expands WFS and convinces its merchants to join, the greater its two-day delivery coverage will be.
Benefits of Walmart WFS
Here are the top 4 benefits of the Walmart WFS program:
1: Guaranteed 2-day delivery: Amazon FBA has established the bar for expedited delivery, but Walmart is up to the task. Sellers can now provide 2-day delivery across the continental United States using WFS. Additionally, two-day shipping helps your items achieve greater search results and prominence in the Buy Box, which means that more customers will notice your listings. You can learn more about Walmart’s 2-day delivery badge from our Walmart experts.
2: Inventory & Order Management: WFS provides vendors with real-time data dashboards that enable them to monitor orders, inventory levels, and shipments. Walmart Seller Central has a Fulfillment Insights tab that enables merchants to monitor important shipment data by shipping performance, carrier performance and region performance.
3: Customer Service: Walmart is responsible for customer service, refunds and returns for items purchased via WFS. WFS items also have “Free & Easy Returns” and “Fulfilled by Walmart” tags, which boost exposure and conversion. WFS saves you time by managing customer service.
4: Simple Pricing: WFS’s pricing structure is refreshingly simple – stable, straightforward, and transparent to all potential WFS customers. This helps company owners to crunch the numbers on their present sales and make an educated judgment about whether WFS is a worthwhile investment.
Walmart WFS Fees
WFS charges a monthly storage cost depending on the volume of the items it stores and a fulfillment fee based on the weight of the items it fulfills. There are no enrollment, subscription, or inventory costs.
Storage Fee: WFS customers pay for the storage of their merchandise in Walmart’s fulfillment facilities. These fees are determined by the following:
– The product’s volume (length x width x height)
– The period of time during which the vendor will store the item with WFS.
Fulfillment Fee: Additionally, sellers pay for Walmart’s labor and resources used to fulfill orders – removing items from shelves, packing them into boxes, labeling them, scanning them, and delivering them to your customers.
How do I join Walmart WFS?
Sellers must be active on the Walmart Marketplace before applying to ship orders via WFS.
Once vendors are allowed to use WFS, the process of getting started with WFS is as follows:
1. Agree to the terms of the WFS contract.
2. Configure or convert items in Seller Central to be Fulfilled by Walmart.
3. Distribute merchandise to a Walmart fulfillment facility.
Overall, the WFS program is a compelling alternative for Walmart Marketplace merchants seeking to improve customer experience, enhance product exposure, and provide two-day delivery through an established supply chain infrastructure. We’re excited to watch how Walmart continues to expand the capabilities and advantages of WFS over time. However, to make things simpler for you, get in touch with Optiwise.ai for further information on the WFS program, suggestions, and tactics about everything Walmart Marketplace, how to increase sales on Walmart and the updated Walmart Marketplace Advertising Guide.
Image Reference: – Walmart Marketplace
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