In the modern world, more and more people are dreaming about a job near the seaside. A good solution is a dropshipping business, one of the safest legal ways to earn money without massive investment and possibly loss. A dropshipper (the name of the person working in the dropshipping business) creates a connection between Manufacturer or Third-Party Supplier. A customer orders the goods on the dropshipper’s website, then the dropshipper places the order with the Manufacturer or Third-Party Supplier that organizes materials delivery in most cases. Typically, a dropshipper takes care of the catching website and proper preliminary distribution of the order among Suppliers. The dropshipper’s income comes from the difference between the Manufacturer or Third-Party Supplier and the price on the dropshipper’s website.
The dropshipping market shows sustainable growth and promises to reach 600 bln dollars in 2027. The most famous platforms for dropshipping are Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, and Shopify. Shopify even provides a marketing application to make the dropshipping business almost automatic. One of the new platforms for dropshipping businesses is Walmart.
Why is Walmart One of the Best Options for Dropshipping Businesses?
Walmart is an American famous retail corporation working internationally. Currently, markets are located in North and South Americas, South Africa, Asia, and Great Britain. Only in California, there are 310 stores, and in Texas, the number is even higher – 593. In Walmart, all categories of goods are available, from toys to tires and bananas.
Walmart reached the world’s second place as an online marketplace, and it seems like soon it will reach the size of Amazon (the first place). However, like any other platform, Walmart has its own rules that it is essential to follow. Below there are several pieces of advice presented to simplify your first steps with dropshipping on Walmart.
Top 5 Pieces of Advice for Starting a Dropshipping Business on Walmart
Walmart does not allow the typical dropshipping business model: The customer makes the order to Dropshipper, Dropshipper buys the goods at Walmart, and delivers them without temporary storage directly to the Customer. This is because company policy prohibits resellers and dealers. Moreover, with this scheme, the Customer can see that the goods were bought from Walmart, receiving a negative review. So, dropshipping from Walmart is not allowed, but on Walmart, it works fine.
1. The first step for every Dropshipper is to find a supplier of the goods to sell on Walmart, considering the quality of Supplier warehouse updates and location of the Manufacturer’s workshop. Walmart is interested in fast deliveries. The communication should be quick and straightforward as well. Do not forget the possible popularity of the goods among Consumers, the number of competitors and their prices.
2. To start a dropshipping business, you need to register as a Dropshipping Vendor (DSV) on Walmart; for Walmart, you will be in the role of Manufacturer. Your goods will be placed on the Walmart website as on any other marketplace platform. As Walmart likes big scale Suppliers, different apps are a good help with that. Such programs have additional features like making the process work by itself – Walmart dropshipping automation.
3. DSV ships goods directly to Customers, regular Vendors ship to Walmart's warehouses. So, the Walmart dropshipping business is a hybrid model. You do not need to have many advertisements; Walmart Customers already trust their marketplace, a dropshipper needs only to find an excellent Manufacturer.
4. As there are many competitors in the dropshipping business, it is crucial to keep the scorecards with the highest rank. It is essential to have good reviews, which mainly depends on delivery speed, quality of the packing and the goods itself. Some opposing sides can be improved with a small gift from the Supplier. A clear return policy should also meet service expectations.
5. Suppose the whole delivery process is organized perfectly; in that case, the goods are popular among customers. It is better to find another marketplace platform to increase the diversity of the income channels. This advice hopefully will help the beginner in dropshipping business to start smoothly.
Pros and Cons of A Dropshipping Business on Walmart
The dropshipping business on any platform may look easy, but it has cons as well.
Pros:
1. It’s very easy to start after a dropshipper finds the product for sale and promotion.
2. It does not require significant investments only for the advertisement of your website or social networks where the products will be placed. A dropshipper does not require even a website; your goods will be placed on the market with more than 5000 stores only in the USA.
3. No worries regarding warehouses, returns, packing, delivery. Walmart is taking care of all of them.
4. It’s very easy to scale the business.
5. Absolutely remote business, any location for work can be chosen. Only stable access to the Internet is required.
6. There are many apps for automation of work.
Cons:
1. Product and packing quality delivery terms are not in the scope of influence of a dropshipper. If something does not work, the reputation of a dropshipper will be impacted, and the rating on the Walmart website will be low.
2. Delivery costs can be too high as each Manufacturer or Third-Party Supplier ships separately. Mainly, it becomes more complicated if delivery is executed from different sources for one order. But if you sell the products via the Walmart marketplace, all such minor things will be paid for and cared for by Walmart.
3. Powerful marketing can be a challenge.
4. A dropshipper’s margin per the DSV Walmart program is not very high.
5. The lengthy registration process for applying to the DSV program. Creating a dropshipping business on Walmart is not complicated. Following simple advice and being cautious in the beginning leads to good income without significant investments. Using different applications, the work day of a dropshipper can be effortless and pleasant.