3 min read
Did you know that more than 50% of every dollar spent online in the US is spent at either Amazon or Walmart? Yes, Amazon continues to consume the lion’s share of that spending, but Walmart’s online market share has more than doubled in the last seven years, as you can see from the chart below. With such impressive growth comes heightened competition and, combined with lower fees and less strenuous intellectual property enforcement, lots of unauthorized sellers.
Given the massive influx of sellers to Walmart, IPSecure is proud to announce that we have extended our Buy Box Protection technology to integrate with all three Walmart marketplaces in North America. With this expansion, IPSecure can protect more than 50 cents of every dollar spent online in the US and give our customers transparent, integrated visibility into their two most important ecommerce channels.
The Case for Walmart
Walmart’s ecommerce business is estimated at $100 billion annually, most of which is earned in the United States. While Walmart’s online market share is just over 10 percent of US ecommerce sales, its growth rate exceeds that of Amazon. And, Walmart is growing its seller community substantially, too. In a September 2024 article, Marketplace Pulse reported Walmart had more than 150,000 active sellers in its online marketplace, doubling the amount of active sellers on the platform in just one year.
In the same article, Marketplace Pulse reported that Walmart.com offers more than 420 million products so shoppers have plenty of reasons to shop at Walmart.com. In an interview with Stratechery in April 2024, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon described its overarching goal as “Customers and associates pick us first and love us.”
And plenty of shoppers are doing just that. According to a November 2024 report from Contimod, Walmart attracts more than 120 million unique monthly visitors. It’s no surprise then that brands see Walmart as an important channel and the Walmart Buy Box as valuable online real estate.
The Need for IPSecure
Hundreds of millions of shoppers each month and hundreds of millions of products make the Walmart Buy Box highly-valued and highly-competitive. Healthy competition leads to better deals and better value for consumers. But what happens when unauthorized sellers try to win the Buy Box?
Legitimate brands and sellers are forced to compete with unauthorized sellers who may undercut prices, precipitating a “race to the bottom” on price and margins. ROI and ROAS rates decline. Even worse, consumers may have a negative brand experience. This is especially true in highly-regulated market segments like health, wellness or medical devices.
“Competition for the Walmart Buy Box is fierce and, despite Walmart’s best efforts, unauthorized sellers will try to win the buy box from legitimate sellers,” commented David Cooper, CEO and founder of IPSecure. “That’s the impetus for the IPSecure Buy Box Protection platform, which is purpose-built to protect and expand wall share for ecommerce professionals and marketplace managers on Amazon and Walmart.”
The IPSecure Buy Box Protection platform tracks unauthorized sellers hourly, prioritizing those who are siphoning away the most sales and putting your customers at risk. Enforcement options are integrated in the platform so you can take action to stop unauthorized sellers - from customizable notices to anonymous product test purchases. Not only that, the competitive insights you gain from the IPSecure Analytics help you boost your own Walmart Buy Box win rate.
Growing your sales on Walmart.com hinges on controlling your distribution. The results?
Shield your customers from fakes, grey market goods and negative brand experiences. Protect your channel relationships and authorized sellers. Improve your Walmart Buy Box Win Rates, your revenue and your wallet share. Find out how IPSecure can help you with a Buy Box protection strategy.
