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There has been no shortage of headlines involving Walmart and Walmart.com this year. MPS clients have been increasingly interested in the platform and many have found great success. We believe this is partly due to Walmart's initiative to provide its Sellers and Vendors with the tools they need to succeed. Walmart has regularly improved its offering making it simple for brands to understand how to best use the marketplace. In fact, one of the more recent updates to Walmart’s Supplier Center, Item 360, gives brands even more control over their presence. Continue reading to learn more about Item 360 and how brands can use it to their advantage.

What is Item 360?

Found in Supplier Center, Item 360 is a new catalog management tool. Item 360 seemingly takes the place of what used to be the ‘Manage Items’ tab. With this change, it’s now easier for Vendors to make updates to their catalogs. For example, creating variations in the backend and downloading catalog information in bulk. 

In addition, Item 360 makes it possible to download and import editable catalog information. For example, product content, site experience metrics, supply chain details, store attributes, and replenishable data. Now managing larger catalogs can be done more efficiently. And, similar to Seller Center’s Listing Quality Dashboard, the Category Manager now provides a Content Scorecard. With this, brands can easily identify products with missing attributes, low character counts, and more.

Why Does it Matter? 

When looking at the big picture, Item 360 could make a difference in a number of ways in the long run. But, for now, there are two key benefits to consider. Before this update, creating variations was a manual process that is now much easier. However, it’s important to note, variation creation is still a manual process within Seller Center. 

Additionally, brands now have the ability to upload product images in bulk. Before Item 360, this was a manual and individualized process.

Strategic Tip 

Similar to Amazon, variations can be seen within Walmart’s search results. However, only one item will appear in the search results if that product belongs to a variant group. Therefore, it’s important for brands to align advertising strategies with any newly created variations in Item 360. 

The primary variant is usually the best seller, and by default, is shown in all advertising placements. Should campaigns be promoting a specific variation, a shade of paint, for example, brands must adjust in real-time.

Final Thoughts 

As we alluded to above, and in previous blog posts, Walmart seems to be taking a proactive approach to keeping its marketplace clean. After all, customer experience is everything. Walmart has the opportunity to see what a cluttered and inconsistent catalog can do to a marketplace and ensure that doesn’t happen to Walmart.com. 

Walmart.com continues to expand and develop its platform. And, in regard to Item 360, we believe it will continue to improve with new updates. We look forward to what’s next from Walmart and sharing more on them here. 

If you could use the support of a strategic partner, schedule a free consultation. As always, we’re here to answer any questions about your brand’s Walmart strategy.