MARKETS

Walmart Marketplace Crosses 200,000 Sellers: Is America's Retail Giant Finally a Credible Amazon Alternative?

Walmart added 44,000 marketplace sellers in five months while third-party sales rose 17% in fiscal Q2 2026, as zero monthly fees and thinner competition draw operators away from rising Amazon FBA costs.

Daniel Whitaker · Senior Editor

May 20, 202610 min read

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Walmart's third-party marketplace has spent years in Amazon's shadow, dismissed by many sellers as an afterthought — a secondary channel worth testing but not worth prioritizing. The data from 2025 and early 2026 suggest that characterization needs updating.

Walmart Marketplace crossed 200,000 active sellers for the first time in 2025, adding 44,000 new merchants in just the first five months of the year — nearly matching the 59,000 added across all of 2024. That growth rate, roughly 30% in the year's opening months, indicates that something has changed in how sellers evaluate the platform. Third-party marketplace sales at Walmart rose 17% in fiscal Q2 2026, according to the retailer's earnings report. Walmart Connect advertising sales, the platform's promoted listings product, grew 24% — aided by a 50% increase in marketplace seller advertiser counts.

Those are not the numbers of an afterthought.

The Fee Advantage

The most immediate reason sellers are looking at Walmart more seriously is the fee structure. It is straightforward and significantly more favorable than Amazon's at the entry level.

Walmart Marketplace charges no monthly subscription fee, no listing fees, and no item setup fees. Sellers pay referral fees ranging from 6% to 15% per sale, depending on category, and optional Walmart Fulfillment Services fees if they choose to use WFS for storage and delivery.

Amazon, by contrast, charges sellers $39.99 per month for Professional Seller account access, plus referral fees of 8% to 15% depending on category, plus FBA fulfillment fees that have increased every year since 2022. In 2026, those FBA fees include inbound placement charges, low-inventory penalties, aged inventory surcharges, and defect fees that have risen significantly.

The practical implication is that Walmart's zero-monthly-fee model eliminates the pressure to sell enough volume to "cover your monthly" — a common early-stage challenge for Amazon FBA sellers. A seller testing a new product category can list on Walmart without incurring fixed costs before a single sale.

Walmart also launched a New-Seller Savings program in 2026 offering up to $75,000 in total value to marketplace sellers who go live after February 1, 2026. The program includes advertising credits, fulfillment discounts, and storage incentives that meaningfully reduce the cost of the first 90 days on the platform.

The Competition Advantage

Marketplace saturation is the defining challenge for Amazon sellers in 2026. With more than 2 million active sellers on Amazon's U.S. marketplace, competition in most consumer categories is intense enough that new entrants face significant advertising spend requirements simply to gain product visibility.

Walmart's 200,000 sellers represents a fraction of Amazon's scale — and that scarcity is a genuine advantage. In many categories, search result pages on Walmart.com carry fewer sponsored listings and less algorithmic noise. Sellers report that organic product placement is achievable with lower advertising investment, particularly in categories where Amazon is saturated.

The Walmart customer base — primarily value-oriented, household-name-brand buyers — skews toward products that benefit from Walmart's brand trust. Everyday consumables, home goods, apparel, and electronics are strong categories. Premium or niche brands targeting specific demographics may find Amazon's more diverse buyer base better suited to their positioning.

Walmart Fulfillment Services: The Logistics Infrastructure

Walmart Fulfillment Services has matured considerably since its initial rollout. WFS now offers two-day delivery to a substantial portion of the U.S. population, and products using WFS are eligible for the "2-Day Delivery" badge that significantly improves search placement on Walmart.com — the platform's equivalent of Amazon Prime eligibility.

The program operates on a storage-and-fulfillment fee model comparable in structure to Amazon FBA, though specifics vary by product weight and category. Sellers who have used both WFS and FBA report that WFS storage fees are generally lower, though Amazon's logistics network remains faster in terms of delivery reach and speed in high-density urban areas.

Walmart also made a significant platform commitment in 2025 by debuting a Sellers Summit — a dedicated annual event for marketplace sellers — along with new tools for seller analytics and expanded in-store pickup options that create a cross-channel dimension most pure e-commerce platforms cannot match.

By the numbers

The Honest Picture

Walmart Marketplace's growth trajectory is genuine and the structural advantages over Amazon — particularly on fees and competition density — are real. For sellers running viable products in mainstream consumer categories, the case for dedicating meaningful resources to Walmart's platform has strengthened considerably.

Some context is worth noting. International seller participation has grown rapidly — nearly 60% of sellers joining in 2025 came from China, raising total Chinese seller representation to 34% of all active sellers. Walmart has been expanding its international seller program deliberately, which adds inventory breadth to the marketplace but also means domestic sellers face competition from overseas suppliers on price-sensitive products.

The platform's approval process is also more selective than Amazon's open marketplace model. Walmart reviews seller applications and does not accept all applicants, which has the effect of maintaining quality standards but can create delays for sellers eager to launch.

Those are manageable considerations within a platform that has earned serious attention. Walmart Marketplace is not Amazon. It has different strengths, a different buyer profile, and a different competitive environment. For sellers in 2026 who are looking for a lower-fee, lower-competition channel with real consumer traffic — Walmart's marketplace is the most credible answer to that question.

Seller count and marketplace growth data sourced from Marketplace Pulse, Teikametrics, and Walmart's Q2 FY2026 earnings release. Fee structure data from Walmart's published seller rate cards and Seller Labs comparative analysis.

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