Dive Brief:
- Walmart has negotiated additional FedEx rate discounts for third-party sellers using Ship with Walmart, the retailer announced in its February "Seller Digest."
- Ship with Walmart allows sellers self-fulfilling their orders on Walmart Marketplace, the retailer's e-commerce platform, to purchase discounted shipping labels. Besides FedEx, it also offers discounts for U.S. Postal Service and UPS labels.
- The new discounts apply to FedEx Ground and FedEx Ground Economy services, which are suited for non-urgent, day-definite deliveries. Walmart did not specify the extent of the FedEx discounts, but final label costs vary based on the weight and dimensions of an item.
Dive Insight:
Platforms like Walmart Marketplace often negotiate with delivery providers for heftier discounts that their users — who would have less bargaining power on their own — can take advantage of. The soft demand environment has made carriers more amenable to reduced rates.
It didn't take long for Walmart to land further rate discounts with FedEx after it announced in November that rival UPS became a supported carrier for Ship with Walmart.
"We’ll continue to share opportunities for shipping cost savings, whether it’s finding a better price or enabling easy rate comparisons across carriers," Walmart said in its Seller Digest.
The company is offering up additional perks and building out more services for Walmart Marketplace to draw in more third-party sellers and snag e-commerce market share from competitors like Amazon, a giant in the space.
For example, Walmart has rolled out various savings for new marketplace sellers to take advantage of, including for Walmart Fulfillment Services. New sellers using the end-to-end fulfillment offering will see 50% off storage fees and 25% off fulfillment fees for 90 days if their first shipment is received by July 31.
"Our New Year’s resolution is simple: To be our customers’ number-one shopping destination and the preferred easy-to-use, low cost and profitable platform for sellers of all sizes," said Manish Joneja, SVP of Walmart U.S. Marketplace and Walmart Fulfillment Services, in a January post announcing the savings.
