What's Inside

Walmart’s new third-party vendor service (WFS) looks a lot like Amazon’s ecosystem: When a customer places an order on Walmart.com, WFS picks, packs and ships to the customer on the third-party seller’s behalf. WFS also handles customer support and returns. 

This report looks at Walmart’s new program and what it means for the business: 

• The company has said it needs to scale its online business to make it profitable: Supporting third-party vendors helps it do that. 
• Walmart’s new offering also helps it compete more effectively with Amazon. 
• Walmart’s third-party offering may not be as robust as Amazon’s, but it is supported by a fleet of brick and mortar locations across the country that Amazon lacks.