American supermarket chain Walmart has launched its own business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce website in order to compete with Amazon’s dominance in the sector.
‘Walmart Business’ will enable small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and nonprofit customers to shop and sell more than 100,000 items to support their day-to-day operations.
The ecommerce site was launched last Friday via a company announcement which focuses on helping customers and businesses during a time of economic pressures due to rising inflation and “post-pandemic behavioural shifts”.
Walmart Business’s key aims are to save money and spend less time on business purchases, stay in control of stock with more time to focus on manual operations, and create efficiencies to operate and grow.
“Our focus is to remove complexity in purchasing, lower costs and give our customers more opportunities to serve their customers and communities,” Ashley Hubka, the service’s General Manager, said in the company announcement.
“As we’ve spoken with customers, they have identified key products for their operations,” Hubka said. “These areas include office supplies and furniture, food and beverage, restroom, electronics, classroom and facility needs.
“Walmart Business simplifies restocking by grouping various items together in a way that makes sense to organisations.”
Furthermore, Walmart Business offers multi-user accounts to enable businesses to add up to five users to a single account, whilst also sharing payment information, and order history.
Walmart aims to “evolve the shopping experience” and state they are committed to listening to SMEs to help address their challenges.
SMEs and other businesses can also opt into the ‘Walmart Business+’ membership programme at $98 per month. This provides benefits such as free shipping, pickup and delivery, as well as 2% rewards and savings of 5% on eligible purchases.
