Are you a seller looking to increase your visibility, attract more buyers, and boost sales on Walmart’s online marketplace?
Well, here’s a statistic that might catch your attention – Walmart offers various promotions categorized under special offers, such as clearance, reduced prices, and rollback, to help increase product visibility and attract customers with lower prices.
In this article, we’ll show you how to run promotions on Walmart as a seller, providing you with strategies, step-by-step guides, and best practices to ensure your success.
So, let’s dive in and start maximizing your sales potential!
Understanding Promotional Pricing on Walmart
Walmart’s brand has been built on the promise of “everyday low prices.” As a seller on the Walmart marketplace, how can you make the most out of this promise? By utilizing promotional pricing!
This allows you to draw attention to certain products, highlighting discounts, and special clearance prices.
These discounted prices are then highlighted with either a “Reduced Price” or “Clearance” flag, and more importantly, they show the original or MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price) with a strikethrough.
Did you know that shoppers on the Walmart marketplace often filter their searches to view only products on promotion?
Thus, having your items flagged with promotional pricing can significantly boost their visibility, especially for those competitively priced products in your catalog.
Types of Walmart Promotional Pricing
If you want to run a successful promotion on Walmart, you should be aware of the different types of promotions available and the restrictions that come with running them.
1. Reduced Price
This is perhaps the most common type of promotional pricing you’ll encounter on Walmart’s product catalog.
Whenever a product is temporarily discounted, it gets labeled with a “Reduced Price” flag. It signals to shoppers that there’s a limited-time offer they might want to capitalize on.
The reduced price stands out, often accompanied by the original or MSRP with a strikethrough, emphasizing the discount.
Suppose you’ve just rolled out a new version of a product, and you want to clear out the older version’s stock. Implementing a “Reduced Price” for the older version can help accelerate sales.
2. Clearance Price
The “Clearance” flag is utilized when sellers aim to clear out stock, typically from the previous season, or when a product is being discontinued.
Products marked for clearance are usually priced significantly lower than their original price, offering customers a compelling reason to purchase.
Such products are highlighted prominently, making them more visible to those scouring the platform for deals.
At the end of winter, if you have surplus stock of winter coats, marking them as “Clearance” can help in quick inventory rotation, making space for the upcoming summer collection.
3. Rollback Price
Walmart’s “Rollback” pricing signifies a temporary price reduction on certain items.
Unlike the clearance flag, which is generally applied to products the store wishes to move out of inventory, or the reduced price tag, which often indicates short-term promotions, the “Rollback” is a distinctive Walmart branding intended to show customers they are getting a special deal.
Shoppers encountering a “Rollback” label can infer that Walmart has actively sought ways to offer them better value, often negotiating with suppliers or optimizing their supply chain to pass the savings onto consumers.
In essence, while the immediate effect is similar to other promotional pricings – attracting budget-conscious consumers – the underlying message reinforces Walmart’s commitment to consistently providing value to its shoppers.
This strategy ensures customers feel they are receiving consistent savings rather than just sporadic promotional deals.
4. Promo Placement Options
Walmart provides sellers with an interesting twist on traditional promotional pricing through its promo placement options.
Here, the promotional price isn’t immediately displayed on the product’s page. Instead, the price is revealed either when a product is added to the shopping cart (“Map Cart” option) or during the final checkout stage (“Map Checkout” option).
It’s a more discreet way of offering discounts and can pique the curiosity of shoppers, encouraging them to proceed further in their purchase journey.
If you’re selling luxury items where overt discounts might dilute the brand’s perceived value, using the “Map Checkout” option can be a strategic move. It offers a discount without immediately broadcasting it.
Step-by-Step Guide for Running Product Promotions on Walmart
As a seller, it’s important to understand the step-by-step guide for running product promotions on Walmart. These promotions are a great way to increase visibility and attract more buyers to your products.
1. Log Into Seller Center: Once logged in, move to ‘items’ under the ‘Product Catalog’ heading. Click on ‘Update Items in Bulk’.
2. Select Update Method: Choose the ‘By Template’ option.
3. Download the Template: Click on ‘Price’ to download a blank ‘Price and Promotions Bulk Update Spec’. Then fill in the details. There are fields specific for basic price updates, and there are ones dedicated to promotional prices. Make sure you provide details for ‘Promo Price’, ‘Promo Type’, ‘Promo Start Date’, and ‘Promo End Date’.
4. Submit the File: Once you’ve filled out the details, head back to the ‘Update Items in Bulk’ page. Here, you can upload the completed file. Make sure to select the right spec type and update type before submitting.
Don’t forget to continuously refine and optimize your promotions based on performance metrics to ensure long-term success.
Enhancing Promotional Pricing with Walmart Advertising
Promotional pricing, when paired with the power of Walmart advertising, can be a potent tool for sellers.
By leveraging Walmart SEO, diving deep into the insights provided by the Walmart seller center, and tailoring campaigns to the most relevant products, you can ensure your discounted offers reach the right audience, driving both sales and customer satisfaction.
Walmart advertising provides sellers with a suite of tools to strategically place their products in front of potential buyers.
So, when a customer is searching for products relevant to yours, your discounted items – thanks to your apt promotional pricing strategy – get the limelight, making them more likely to convert.
Best Practices for Promoting Your Products on Walmart Marketplace
As one of the largest online marketplaces, Walmart Marketplace offers a wide range of opportunities for marketplace sellers to increase their brand visibility and attract more buyers using promotional
Use Promotional Pricing Options The Right Way
As we mentioned above, Walmart provides you with a couple of promotional pricing options to take advantage of. Here is our advice on the best ways to utilize them:
- Use the “Reduced Price” flag for temporary discounts.
- The “Clearance” flag should ideally be reserved for items from last season or products you wish to move quickly. For both these categories, the savings should be at least 10% or more off the original price.
Promotional Set-Up Best Practice
Always ensure that the start and end time of your promotions align with the Universal Time Zone (UTC) and not your local time.
Also, avoid overlapping dates for different promotions on the same product, as this will cause the entire specification to be rejected.
For example, let’s say you’re selling a high-end blender on Walmart’s marketplace, and you’ve decided to offer two different promotional discounts on it during the month of August. Here’s an example of how overlapping promotions can lead to issues:
Promotion 1:
Discount: 15% off
Start Date: August 1
End Date: August 15
Promotion 2:
Discount: 10% off with a free extra blade
Start Date: August 10
End Date: August 20
Now, if you look at the dates, there’s an overlap from August 10 to August 15, where both promotions are supposed to be active.
This overlap can create confusion for both the system and potential buyers. Which discount applies during those overlapping dates? Do customers get 15% off, 10% off, both, or some combination of the two offers?
Because of this ambiguity, Walmart’s system will reject the promotional setup entirely to prevent potential misrepresentations and customer complaints.
Lastly, avoid using formulas in your pricing specifications on the Excel sheet provided as this can cause data errors. Simply input your data manually.
So instead of writing something like this: =A1*0.90 to calculate 10% off of your selling price, make the calculations manually and add the number to the cell. Because when uploading this data to Walmart’s system, the platform expects to receive solid numbers for pricing, not formulas.
Use Relevant Keywords
When promoting your products on Walmart Marketplace, it’s crucial to analyze market trends and competitors to optimize your product keywords for better search visibility.
By incorporating relevant keywords in your product titles, descriptions, and backend search terms, you can improve your search visibility and increase the chances of your products being discovered by potential customers.
How to Measure the Success of Your Walmart Promotions
To measure the success of your Walmart promotions, you can monitor the sales performance during the promotion period. This will give you insights into how well your promotions are driving sales volume and revenue.
Tracking customer engagement and conversion rates is another important metric to consider. By doing so, you can determine how effective your promotions are in attracting and converting customers.
Analyzing customer feedback and reviews will provide valuable insights into customer satisfaction and the impact of your promotions on their purchasing decisions.
In addition, comparing the results of your current promotions with previous campaigns will help you gauge the effectiveness of your strategies and identify areas for improvement.
By analyzing the data from these different metrics, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of your promotions on your product category and retail business.
Furthermore, it is important to consider the performance of your sponsored products during the promotion period.
By evaluating the advertising performance, you can assess the effectiveness of your promotions in increasing visibility and attracting customer inquiries.
When you measure the success of your Walmart promotions, you can make informed decisions about future strategies and optimize your promotional efforts to achieve better results.
Understanding the impact of your promotions will allow you to tailor your approach and maximize the benefits for your business.
With a clear understanding of how to measure the success of your Walmart promotions, let’s now explore the different types of promotions and the restrictions for running Walmart promotions.
Conclusion
In the competitive landscape of online retail, effectively utilizing promotional strategies such as the reduced price promotion can significantly enhance a product’s appeal.
By offering attractive prices, sellers not only boost the perceived value of their listings but also encourage more sales.
Price reductions, when applied judiciously, can lead to an optimal sales price that balances profit with customer attraction, ensuring a win-win for both the seller and the buyer.
