Walmart Marketplace is not small potatoes in the world of ecommerce: it’s the second largest online marketplace in the U.S. (with Amazon leading the pack), and it continues to grow rapidly. Walmart’s sales have grown 103% in the past two years, and in August, the company said they anticipate global ecommerce sales will hit $75 billion by the end of the year. Walmart has become an increasingly valuable platform for ecommerces sellers, and as of last year, there’s one more incentive for brands looking to grow on the platform: the Pro Seller Badge.

What is the Pro Seller Badge on Walmart?

The Pro Seller Badge, introduced on the Walmart platform in October 2020, is a “mark of excellence given to top-performing Marketplace sellers,” according to Walmart. It’s essentially Walmart’s version of the Amazon Best Seller Badge, which appears on the Amazon listings of best selling products and bumps them higher in search results.

However, Amazon’s badge is a byproduct of ranking factors, while Walmart’s Pro Seller Badge is applied at the seller account level. Walmart’s Pro Seller Badge appears next to the name of every qualifying seller on the Walmart Marketplace and also appears throughout the customer’s journey across the entire site. That means that a shopper will see a qualifying seller’s Pro Seller Badge whether they’re looking at that seller’s storefront, seeing that seller’s product in search results, viewing that product on a Product Listing, viewing additional sellers pages, or viewing that product in their cart.

What are the benefits to having a Pro Seller Badge?

Having a Pro Seller Badge is a great way to establish yourself as a leader on the Walmart platform, build buyer confidence and get more visibility for your products. Offers with a Pro Seller Badge are inherently designed to grab consumers’ attention as they search the site, and Walmart will promote Pro Seller accounts in search. That means that having a Pro Seller Badge will boost your impressions and help increase conversion.

Beyond increased exposure and conversion, Pro Seller status tells customers that you can be trusted to provide them with an exceptional experience on the Walmart platform based on your proven record, whether they’re making a purchase or returning one. Your Pro Seller Badge will help them feel comfortable buying from you and confident that their experience with your brand will meet their expectations.

What are the cons of being a Pro Seller?

There are almost no drawbacks to having a Pro Seller Badge, if you’re willing to put in the work to maintain it. While the Pro Seller program is still a work-in-progress for Walmart and subject to change, it has a lot to offer brands even just a year out of conception and is a great way for a Walmart Marketplace seller to help differentiate themselves from other sellers.

How to get the Pro Seller Badge

There are no applications or fees required to get the Pro Seller Badge. If you’re set up as a seller on Walmart Seller Center and actively selling on the Walmart Marketplace, you can start earning your badge. To earn a Pro Seller Badge, you’ll need to optimize your listings on Walmart.com and follow Walmart Marketplace’s best practices so your brand can meet Pro Seller requirements. Walmart conducts monthly reviews of all seller accounts, and once you’ve met Pro Seller requirements, Walmart will automatically grant badges to your entire catalog.

What are the Pro Seller requirements?

There are several requirements you’ll need to meet in order to qualify for a Pro Seller Badge. Current requirements include:

• Your overall 90-day Delivery Defects rate needs to be less than or equal to 10%
• Your seller-related 90-day Cancellation Defects rate needs to be less than or equal to 2%
• At least 70% of your trending catalog (or top-moving SKUs) must have a listing quality score greater than or equal to 60% (your listing quality score is a standard by which Walmart judges how well you’re building and maintaining your items in the Walmart Marketplace, (i.e. listing content and discoverability, how compelling your offer is in the marketplace as well as your ratings/reviews)
• You must have had at least 100 orders or more in a rolling 90-day timeframe
• You must have no Trust and Safety or Performance Standard violations
• Your account needs to have been active for at least 90 days

Note that, according to Walmart’s Seller Help, the 90-day on-time delivery and cancellation rates include a 30-day lag to account for shipping, delivery, cancellations, and returns delays. Requirements for the Pro Seller Badge are subject to change (you can look for updates in the Marketplace Newsletter) as Walmart continues to refine what criteria they’re measuring to drive the best customer experience. Changes to policies will often be accompanied with a~~ ~~grace period so sellers can adjust accordingly. There are two consistent things you can look at as you work towards your badge:

• Your listing quality: is your product description clear, concise, and clean? Are your images high quality? Are there enough images? Is your product listed under the right category? Is your pricing competitive? Is your title optimized for search?
• Your post-purchase quality: are you delivering products on time, or are you failing to get customers’ purchases to them by the guaranteed delivery date? Is your returns process seamless or a little rocky? What are customers saying about you in their reviews and how might that be impacting your Pro Seller status? Focusing on your customer experience will help your brand across the board.

How do you maintain your Pro Seller status?

To maintain your Pro Seller status and badge, you’ll need to comply with Walmart Marketplace policies. It’s that simple. The exciting part is you can tell if you’re meeting the Pro Seller criteria or if you need to improve any of your metrics at any time by checking out your Analytics: Growth Opportunities tab on Seller Center. That will take you to your Listing Quality Dashboard, where you’ll see one of five statuses that shows you where your account stands:

• Locked: this means you cannot currently access the Pro Seller Badge program because your account has not been active for 90 days after onboarding.
• Become a Pro Seller: this status means you’re on your way to getting the badge and shows you the criteria you have met thus far and when the next refresh cycle is.
• You are a Pro Seller: once you’ve met Pro Seller qualifications, you’ll receive that you’ve been badged as well as the date that you received the badge.
• Pro Seller Badge at risk: this means that though you may have received the Pro Seller badge during a previous cycle, you’re falling below Walmart’s criteria and may no longer qualify during the next cycle.
• You’re Ineligible: this means you are no longer eligible to participate in the Pro Seller program.

From there, you can clearly identify where you need to focus to improve performance

Get the benefits of Pro Seller with Pattern

Pattern is an invaluable partner to have by your side when it comes to getting the benefits of Pro Seller status on Walmart. By selling with us, you get access to the benefits of Walmart Pro and the support and resources of our global team. Not only are we a Pro 3P Seller on Walmart, but we worked directly with Walmart to help design and test the Pro Seller Badge program before it became publicly available.

We know the ins and outs of the Pro Seller program, and we know what it takes to help your brand show up higher in search results, and drive higher buyer confidence and conversion. More than just selling successfully on Walmart Marketplace, Pattern can assist you on every step of making your omnichannel offering clean and competitive. We’ll optimize your listings across channels, provide you with high quality image stacks, copy, and marketing, weed out obstacles and unauthorized sellers getting in the way of your success, and work hand-in-hand as a partner, not just a seller, to help your brand thrive in the marketplace. To learn more or talk Pro Seller strategies, contact us today.