Walmart is one of the biggest retail businesses in the world. Established in 1962, the company now boasts more than 11,200 stores in 28 different countries. As someone that is looking to sell their outdoor products online, one of the primary e-commerce sites that you should take a look at is Walmart.com. Walmart's e-commerce site was listed as third in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 guide after experiencing substantial growth over the fiscal years of 2014 and 2015. Selling your products to Walmart as a supplier is almost certainly a guaranteed way to expose your business to new customers and to boost sales - but doing so is not as easy as it is on other sites. You can't just sign up to Walmart.com and begin selling your products. You have to apply in order to become a third party supplier, and Walmart doesn't just accept any company. There have strict standards in place in order to maintain their standard of quality and to limit their liability.
There are thousands of companies around the world that act as suppliers to Walmart. Considering the fact that Walmart has hundreds of millions of customers to serve on a weekly basis, signing up as a supplier in order to sell your outdoor products can be hugely beneficial. However, Walmart doesn't just allow any business to become a supplier. The following are the requirements you'll need to meet in order to apply as a supplier, whether it's on a local, national or global level.
If your products are found to be faulty or dangerous, you will be liable for any lawsuits that occur as a result. Walmart requires that its suppliers carry product liability insurance exactly for this reason. Product liability insurance will help protect your company by covering legal costs and any liabilities resulting from potential claims or lawsuits that are related to your products. You not only need to provide documentation that proves to Walmart that you have product liability insurance, but you must agree to maintain it as long as you remain a supplier for Walmart.
While product liability insurance will help to limit financial damage in case your products are found to be faulty or dangerous, Walmart's reputation can still be damaged if any of their third party products are found to be faulty or dangerous. Because of this, you need to meet these merchandising requirements:
Walmart has high standards for its suppliers. Their brand's reputation is at stake, after all. And it's not just the level of quality of the products that they are selling either. The reputation of the suppliers they are working with will affect Walmart's reputation as well. This means that your business standards, such as how you treat your employees, is something that Walmart takes into serious consideration on your supplier application. The following are the basic supplier standards that you will have to meet in order to be considered as a supplier:
As you can see, there are a lot of requirements that you will need to meet in order to sell your outdoor products on Walmart.com as a supplier. However, this ensures that only the best products are sold on Walmart, which means that being accepted as a supplier will not only help sales, it will help with your brand's reputation. To apply as a supplier to Walmart, you'll need to make sure you meet these requirements before filling out their online product submission form and supplier questionnaire. It will take roughly four weeks for your application to be reviewed.