Launched in 2000, today, Walmart is amongst the largest multi-channel retailers. The platform offers a great opportunity for third-party marketplace sellers to list their products on Walmart and reach new customers. This indeed is a great and one of the easiest ways for business owners to promote their products, popularize their brand and generate revenue. However, it is important to know that simply getting your products listed on Walmart isn’t enough. The important question is – how to rank products on Walmart? Well, the answer is by optimizing Walmart listings with the right practices!
This blog elaborates on how to do Walmart listing optimization and why marketplace sellers should use Walmart listing optimization services to drive more sales on Walmart in 2021.
Why should you consider getting listed on the Walmart marketplace?
As an online retailer, your primary goal is to attract a new customer and increase your product sales. This is why many sellers list their products on various marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Shopify, etc. However merely listing the products on these platforms is not enough, as these marketplaces are filled with fierce competition. The best thing about listing products on Walmart offers the same benefits as these big eCommerce platforms, but with less competition. This way, the platform gives you a huge opportunity to attract your target customers and boost your sales.
Other perks why you should sell on the Walmart marketplace are:
- No monthly fees, instead you pay a referral fee
- Low competition as compared to Amazon & eBay
- Helps you gain more brand exposure
- No inventory limitations
- Get more leads and conversions
- Earn brand trust and authority in the market
- Easy store management
Key stats on Walmart
- In 2021, Walmart was valued at approximately 93.2 billion U.S. dollars, which was an increase in the last year’s valuation of 77.5 billion U.S. dollars.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, Walmart’s e-commerce went up by 74%.
- In retail eCommerce sales, Walmart surpasses eBay by 0.6%.
- Walmart’s commercial center gets 240 million customer visits per week.
- Walmart eCommerce sales to grow by 21% in 2021 to $65 billion
Why is it important to optimize your listings on Walmart?
eCommerce SEO decides the ranking of the products in the search results on the online marketplaces. As each of the marketplaces has its own algorithms for determining the ranking of the products, the position of your products is managed by the online marketplaces. To make sure that your products rank on the top results, the need for following the best listing optimization practices becomes essential.
You should keep in mind that Walmart keeps scoring your listings, and if your listing quality score goes down, your products’ search rank will also fall. When you consistently get high listing quality scores, you can earn a “Pro Seller badge”, which is a mark of excellence given to top sellers. This badge can also help you win the Buy Box and outrank competing listings. Furthermore, quality listings also improve customer experience, leading to higher conversions & sales.
As a multichannel seller, if you wish to see your product on the top of search results when a potential buyer searches for your item, optimizing your Walmart product listings is imperative. Just like any other online marketplace, Walmart Marketplace also relies on effective SEO practices to determine which products will be shown at the top of search results. However, to attain the top rankings in the search results is not a cakewalk. To climb up to the top results, you need to carefully plan and implement an efficient Walmart product listing optimization strategy.
How to optimize listings to rank on Walmart?
To help your products attain better rank and make the most of your listings, here are the top optimization practices you should follow:
1. Keep your product name concise & clear: As Walmart is particular about its product information, you must pay attention when writing the title of your product. Your product title must be appealing, concise, and should convey accurate details of the product. An ideal title should be at least up to 50 characters but not more than 75 characters. If your product title exceeds this character count, there is quite a possibility that you might lose out in ranking higher on the search results.
Things to consider:
- Follow this formula while writing product title: Brand name + size + features +item number + style +pack count
- Do not make use of special characters +, @, #, etc
- Highlight product attributes
- Avoid using marketing phrases such as “top-selling,” “best” or “affordable”
2. Upload the right images: To get your potential customers interested in your product, it is important that you upload enticing and high-quality product images while listing. It is only after watching your product images, customers make a buying decision. And so, your images must be attractive to evoke interest in buyers and encourage them to make a purchase.
Here are few things to consider while uploading images to make potential customers want to click on your product listing:
- Show your product at different angles
- Highlight the core features in the images
- Use at least 4-5 images of your product
- If your listing comes up with different variations like colors, ensure to add the image of all the variants
- Use photo editing services to ensure that your images are flawless and striking
- Make sure that your image background is white
3. Highlight product key features with descriptions: Since you cannot give many details about your product in the product title, you can add important product details in the product description. You must pay attention to:
Shelf Description:
This section enables you to highlight the benefits of your product. As a seller, you must chalk out the most important advantages of your product and highlight them in this section.
- Incorporate 3-5 benefits of your product
- If possible, try adding 1-2 important keywords
- Give short and precise bullet points
- Avoid keyword stuffing
- Do not use duplicate or copied descriptions
Short description: Right below the shelf description, you will find a short description section. The word limit for short descriptions is 500-1000 characters. This can be written in a paragraph, describing your product in a better way.
- Write catchy descriptions with relevant keywords
- Make good use of character count and highlight all important details of the product
- Make sure that your description is original & not copied from other websites or sellers
- Mention the key terms that shoppers use
- Keep the language simple & understandable
Long description: When writing descriptions, this is the longest section given, where you can describe your product in depth. Here you can write a paragraph up to 250-300 words.
- List all the important benefits and features of the product
- Write unique descriptions & make sure that the content is not copied
- Take help from eCommerce copywriters to write compelling & SEO-friendly descriptions.
- Make use of conversational tone
- Make sure not to make grammatical errors
4. Add relevant product attributes for your listing: The product attributes show up on the left side of the Walmart listings. It is very important to complete all the attributes of the products as it helps to show your product when the filters are applied or in narrowed search. When you add all the attributes of your product for eg. color, size, fabric, style, etc. it helps shoppers to quickly find your products, leading to more sales and conversions.
While completing product attributes, here are few things to keep in mind:
- While listing products, do not select “other” in the categories as it results in low visibility
- The more accurate your product attributes are, the higher will be the rank of your products
- Fill in all the relevant product attributes
5. Pay close attention to “buy box”: Though Walmart provides customers the option to check postings from different vendors, the thin page will show only one merchant’s posting in the Buy Box. To win the “Buy Box”, pricing plays a crucial role. As Walmart presents all the seller listings on a single page, these listings show up all the products from different sellers, with varying prices. Your price decides if your product will be shown on the top results or not.
To maximize sales and win the Buy Box, here are some simple tips:
- Keep your pricing competitive as Walmart usually shows the least expensive products in its Buy Box.
- Keep a check on your inventory levels
- Keep a close eye on competitor’s prices and products
- Get a Buy Box report from the Seller Center
- Encourage your customers to write a positive product review
6. Earn positive customer reviews: Customer reviews play a vital role in product listings. Positive feedback from the customers can build your credibility and also helps improve your rankings. If you get any negative reviews, make sure to reach that customer and solve their problem.
To get positive reviews, here’s what you can do:
- Respond to all customer queries and concerns
- Make sure that your products get delivered on time
- Provide easy and accurate product tracking information
Why should you outsource Walmart listing optimization services?
If you are wondering if it is worth outsourcing Walmart listing optimization services, then the answer is YES! Walmart listing optimization services from a reliable and experienced outsourcing company come with a bundle of benefits such as:
- Get Walmart experts doing your job: Outsourcing companies have a pool of Walmart experts who are proficient in doing their job. Since these professionals are well-aware of the marketplace, they have a skill set that can help you quickly optimize your Walmart listings and get the desired results.
- Cost-effective solutions: Selling your products on Walmart is not limited to simply listing the products but involves consistent effort to ensure that your products are ranking on the top results. For this, hiring an in-house team can be expensive, while outsourcing to Walmart listing optimization companies can be a cost-effective solution.
- Accurate and up-to-date listings: When you hire Walmart listing optimization experts, they ensure that your product descriptions, content, inventory, pricing details, etc are maintained accurately and have up-to-date information.
- Use of latest practices: Walmart listing experts are up-to-date with the latest trends, new updates, and effective optimization practices, which helps you to gain better product discovery, greater visibility, and more sales opportunities.
- Saves your valuable time: As an eCommerce business owner, you have a lot of responsibilities to take care of. Outsourcing your services to a Walmart listing optimization company will help you take this burden off your shoulders so that you can focus on your core business activities
How to find the best company for Walmart listing?
When finding a reliable Walmart listing optimization outsourcing company, keep the following things in mind:
- Experience: Make sure that the outsourcing company has relevant industry experience. A company with rich experience is more reliable and trusted.
- Client reviews: Before finalizing the company, make sure that you go through the client reviews. If the reviews are positive, it means that the company is reliable.
- Location: Countries like India are the best place to outsource your Walmart listing needs. You can get services at affordable prices, without compromising on the quality.
- Communication: Make sure that your outsourcing company responds to all your questions and queries. Also, ensure that you are well updated about the progress of your project at regular intervals.
Final words
The way you list your products ultimately decides your product rankings and success on Walmart. Merely listing your products is not enough, what is more important is that your potential customers should be able to find your product listing. This can only happen when you optimize your Walmart product listings and follow the best practices to gain a competitive edge. The better you optimize your Walmart product listings, the higher your sales and profits!
Looking for professional help?
SunTec India is your best bet to get reliable, quality, and efficient Walmart product listing optimization services. With more than 20 years in the industry, we have a dedicated team of Walmart product listing experts who can create SKUs, write compelling descriptions, optimize product images, etc. Our world-class infrastructure and a proven track record of serving a global clientele make us one of the most sought-after names in Walmart support services.
So what are you waiting for? Contact us today!
Write to us at info@suntecindia.com
