Attention Walmart Shoppers, B2B Ocean Shipping is Now Available
Retailing giant Walmart is offering a new service, container shipping. It will not be found in the aisles which feature everything from housewares to clothing and groceries, but it follows a trend of other large retailers leveraging their shipping and logistics expertise and contract freight rates to partners.
“About two weeks ago, we released a number of key improvements to the Walmart Cross Border (WCB) B2B ocean shipping solution,” announced Scott Humanek, Logi-Tech Product & Tech Executive for Walmart in a posting on LinkedIn. “This allows Walmart Marketplace sellers to ship to the U.S. WalmartFulfillmentServices (WFS) network, starting with China origins.”
Walmart operates more than 10,500 stores and club stores in 19 countries and eCommerce websites that include places for partners to sell goods directly to consumers. Walmart offers fulfillment for its partners, and now they can also take advantage of the company’s shipping and logistics operations.
The shipping option Humanek reports became discoverable and generally available to its WFS network as part of the recent upgrades. Promoting the service online, Walmart writes it offers partners the opportunity to “take advantage of Walmart’s cost-effective negotiated rates to grow your assortment and sales potential.”
Walmart quietly registered with the Federal Maritime Commission nearly two years ago and has a subsidiary company registered as a non-vessel operating common carrier and freight forwarder. The online presence explains the service provides port-to-door full-container-load ocean freight service moving partners' goods from China to the U.S. and taking the products directly to Walmart’s fulfillment network.
“Our pilot exceeded our expectations in terms of feedback and volumes, and we are excited to let the world know that WCB is ready to help all WFS eCommerce sellers grow,” writes Humanek.
Currently, the service is only available for partners which manufacture their goods in China and can deliver filled containers to designated ports. Walmart offers the service from Yantian, Shanghai, and Ningbo. Once the container is handed over in China, they are loaded on containerships under Walmart’s contract rates. When the box reaches the United States, Walmart’s logistics operations arrange the transport directly to its fulfillment centers. Walmart points to the added advantage that items can more quickly become available to customers.
Other major shippers have also looked to expand and leverage their contracts and expertise. The approach grew in popularity during the surge in shipping volumes starting in 2020 during the pandemic when many smaller companies struggled to get space from the carriers even when they had contracts.
Some large retailers turned to chartering vessels to move their boxes including Walmart which confirmed the move to investors in 2021. Others ranged from Amazon to Cosco and HomeDepot while some such as FedEx offered extra space to customers.
German retailing giant Lidl took it one step further launching a niche shipping line called Tailwind. The operation started in July 2022, and originally the Hamburg-based shipping company planned to exclusively move non-food sector cargoes for Lidl from Asia to Europe. Tailwind however expanded to offer capacity to other customers and reports it has a growing number of third-party customers in addition to continuing to service its parent company.
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