Walmart Logistics
Amazon has some competition.
Walmart Shipping is here!
Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) is new and finally upon us!
Just like Amazon FBA, Walmart fulfilment centres will store and ship your goods as a 3PL service for Walmart orders.
Walmart has joined the logistics party a little later than most anticipated. It has had a huge physical presence and name recognition to leverage for years, so it’s been surprising to see the massive entity move so slow on the point for many, especially us…
Walmart WFS Benefits… according to them.
With the world’s largest supply chain infrastructure, Walmart Fulfilment Services should be able to hit the ground running with its reach, rates and service offering. However being a new system, it remains to be seen how well these infrastructure advantages translate into a great service for seller and buyer alike.
According to Walmart, the benefits of participating in the WFS include:
- Exceptional service. Delight customers with fast delivery, easy returns, and quality customer service.
- Cost-effective solution. Save on fulfilment with simple pricing and no hidden fees.
- Full transparency. Track inventory, orders, and shipments with easy-to-read dashboards.
- Increased site visibility. Gain higher search rankings and Buy Box prominence with Walmart Two-Day delivery tags.
- Omnichannel success. Optimize your returns with our omnichannel Free & Easy Returns program.
- Personal support.
All managed via a new ‘WFS Portal’.
|
Less than or = 1 lb |
$3.45 |
|
Less than or = 2 lb |
$4.95 |
|
Less than or = 3 lb |
$5.45 |
|
Less than or = 4 lb |
$5.75 + $0.40/additional lb |
|
Greater than 20 lb |
Add $3.00 to the fee listed above |
Shipping Fees
Walmart is going off a simple weight system for most items, with dimensional weight being the main factor for items over 1/2 a kilo (1 lbs).
Dimensional weight is L x W x H divided by 139 for Walmart. (We had to Google this too).
Anything ‘HAZMAT’ (Google that yourself) has a 0.50 USD additional charge.
Example
Maciej sells Unicorn canned meat. A single can unit weight is 6 lbs (we’re going to keep this in lbs to keep their examples clear). The can dimensions are 12.0 x 10.0 x 10.0
- Unit Weight: 6 lbs
- Dimensional Weight: (12.0 x 10.0 x 10.0)/139 = 8.63lb
- Shipment Weight: 8.63 weight + 0.25 packing = 8.88lb
- Rounded up to the nearest pound is 9lb
- Calculate Fulfilment Fee: $5.75 + $2.00*
- *$0.40/additional lb over 4lb
- Fulfilment Fee: $7.75
If you sell on Walmart, we suggest keeping an eye on this page for the most up to date rates.
Storage Fees
Walmart handles this fee by calculating the cubic footage of your product and the duration it is stored. The unit fee is L x W x H, divided by 1728. We’re going to keep things in ‘feet’ and ‘inches’ so this complements Walmart pages, but be sure to convert these into metric system equivalents when you calculate.
Example
Dan stores his Unicorn meat cans with unit dimensions of 10.0 x 5.9 x 5.9. Dan begins storing his inventory in March.
Unit Cubic Feet: (10.0 x 5.9 x 5.9)/1728 = 0.201
Storage Period: 90 days
Daily Storage Cost: $0.75/30=$0.025
Storage Cost per Unit: 0.201 x 90 x $0.025=$0.45
|
Length of Time |
Cost |
|---|---|
|
January – September |
$0.75/cubic foot per month. |
| October – December | $0.75/cubic foot per month for items stored for less than or up to 30 days. Add $1.50 per cubic foot per month for items stored for more than 30 days. |
More Than 365 Days
|
Length of Time |
Cost |
|---|---|
|
More than 12 months |
$7.50/cubic foot per month. |
Ready to sign up?
Assuming all this sounds like a good idea, Walmart Seller central should be advertising this new feature upon log in.
You can’t really avoid it – it’s in the menu – so we encourage any Walmart seller to check out the rates and consider the options.
In our opinion, until Walmart clarifies its ‘omnichannel’ support more clearly, you may want to hold fire until the service matures a bit. Although the shipping rates are competitive, they are not as low as we anticipate they could be this time next year.
If you are seeing success and growth on Walmart however, a trial run to see what boost this offers would be advantageous to measure while adoption is early. The more sellers who start using this service, the more watered down the impact over time.
