Episode Number:

85

August 17, 2026

In this episode of The eCom Growth Show, Danan Coleman talks with longtime Walmart marketplace expert Michal Chapnick about what Amazon sellers need to know before expanding into Walmart and other sales channels.

Michal explains why simply copying your Amazon strategy rarely works, how Walmart evaluates listings, where sellers can find Walmart-specific keyword data, and why the marketplace still offers significant opportunities in categories with relatively little competition. She also shares practical ways brands can reduce the operational burden of going multichannel using automation and software like Crazy Vendor.

Meet Michal: The Multichannel Expert Helping Sellers Win Beyond Amazon

Michal Chapnick has been selling online since 2011 and has spent years helping eCommerce sellers expand beyond a single marketplace. Her experience spans Amazon, Amazon Canada, Walmart, Walmart Canada, Shopify, and other emerging sales channels.

With deep expertise in Walmart Marketplace, Michal has helped brands launch, optimize their presence, improve rankings, and increase sales on Walmart.com. Today, she also works closely with Crazy Vendor, a multichannel software platform designed to help sellers manage listings, profitability, fulfillment, automation, and marketplace operations from one place.

Amazon Success Doesn’t Automatically Translate to Walmart

One of the biggest mistakes Amazon sellers make is assuming their existing Amazon strategy can simply be duplicated on Walmart.

According to Michal, Walmart operates differently from Amazon in several important ways:

  • Walmart has its own listing rules and marketplace guidelines.
  • Product content should be created specifically for Walmart rather than copied directly from Amazon.
  • Titles, descriptions, and keyword strategies need to reflect how Walmart customers search.
  • Sellers should understand Walmart’s ecosystem before uploading their entire Amazon catalog.

Michal emphasizes that even a highly successful Amazon listing may need significant adjustments before it performs well on Walmart.

Key Takeaway: Treat Walmart as its own marketplace, not simply another place to upload your Amazon listings.

Do Walmart Keyword Research Inside Walmart Connect

Amazon keyword data should not automatically determine your Walmart SEO strategy.

Michal points sellers toward a resource already available inside Walmart’s ecosystem: Walmart Connect’s Keyword Planner.

Sellers can use their product SKU to uncover:

  • Relevant Walmart search terms.
  • Search-volume information.
  • High-, medium-, and lower-volume keywords.
  • Additional phrases customers are using to discover similar products.

Michal recommends identifying roughly 10–20 relevant keywords and prioritizing them based on both search volume and actual product relevance.

Not every keyword Walmart suggests belongs in the product title. Some longer or more contextual phrases may work better naturally within the description.

SEO Insight: Marketplace keyword research should reflect how customers search on that specific platform, not how they search somewhere else.

Walmart Can Still Be a Blue Ocean

Despite Walmart Marketplace having existed for years, Michal says many categories remain surprisingly underdeveloped.

That creates an opportunity for established eCommerce brands.

In some niches:

  • Search volume may be lower than Amazon.
  • Competition may also be dramatically lower.
  • Early sellers can establish authority before more competitors arrive.
  • Brands can help develop categories that barely exist on Walmart today.

Michal has worked with brands that discovered relatively little Walmart competition in their product category even though similar products were already highly competitive on Amazon.

That can give sellers an opportunity to establish ranking, visibility, and category authority much earlier.

Opportunity: You don't always need the marketplace with the most traffic. Sometimes the best opportunity is where qualified traffic exists but competition has not caught up.

Walmart Gives Brands More Ways to Build Awareness

Beyond organic rankings, Michal highlights Walmart’s growing advertising ecosystem.

Brands can access options including:

  • Sponsored advertising.
  • Large display placements.
  • Video advertising.
  • Promotional opportunities.
  • Advertising credits for qualifying sellers.

Michal notes that some of these placements can still be relatively affordable compared with more mature advertising ecosystems.

That gives sellers another reason to test Walmart before competition and advertising costs increase.

Strategic Move: Entering an underdeveloped marketplace early can allow brands to build awareness while acquisition costs are still manageable.

Which Marketplaces Should eCommerce Brands Prioritize?

Being multichannel does not mean blindly launching everywhere.

Danan and Michal discuss a rapidly expanding list of sales channels, including Amazon, Walmart, Shopify, eBay, Etsy, TikTok Shop, and Whatnot.

Michal’s priority for most established sellers is clear:

  • Amazon remains one of the most important marketplaces.
  • Walmart should be near the top of the expansion list for many established brands.
  • Every legitimate brand should maintain its own website.
  • TikTok Shop, Whatnot, eBay, and Etsy can make sense depending on the product and audience.
  • New commerce formats, especially livestream selling, deserve attention as consumer behavior evolves.

The right channel mix depends heavily on the product.

A handmade or personalized product may fit Etsy. A highly demonstrable consumer product might perform well on TikTok Shop or livestream marketplaces. An established Amazon brand may find Walmart the most logical next step.

Multichannel Principle: Expand where your customers already shop, not simply wherever another marketplace exists.

Your Own Website Matters More Than You Think

Michal also explains that sellers applying to Walmart need to demonstrate that they operate a legitimate eCommerce business.

For newer sellers, having experience selling elsewhere, or operating a brand website, can help establish that credibility.

A standalone website also gives brands something marketplaces cannot provide: an asset they control.

Your own website can support:

  • Brand credibility.
  • Customer acquisition.
  • Review generation.
  • Email and SMS marketing.
  • Retargeting.
  • Marketplace applications.
  • Long-term brand equity.
Important Reminder: Marketplaces are valuable distribution channels, but your website remains the piece of digital real estate you actually own.

Walmart’s Listing Score Can Make or Break Visibility

Winning on Walmart is heavily influenced by the quality of your listing.

Michal explains that Walmart assigns sellers a listing score based on several factors, including:

  • Content quality.
  • Product images.
  • Shipping speed.
  • Reviews.
  • Fulfillment setup.
  • Overall listing completeness and compliance.

Higher-quality listings are more likely to receive stronger marketplace visibility.

Michal recommends sellers focus on fundamentals such as:

  • Following Walmart’s content guidelines.
  • Using at least six strong product images.
  • Offering fast shipping.
  • Using Walmart Fulfillment Services when appropriate.
  • Building an initial foundation of customer reviews.
Ranking Insight: Walmart gives sellers a relatively clear roadmap, build the kind of listing Walmart wants to show customers.

WFS Can Strengthen Your Walmart Offer

Walmart Fulfillment Services, or WFS, plays a role similar to FBA on Amazon.

Using WFS can help sellers provide faster fulfillment and improve the overall customer experience, which can contribute to stronger listing performance.

For brands already comfortable with FBA, this makes Walmart expansion more familiar operationally.

The challenge is managing both systems without creating another major workload for your team.

That is where multichannel operations and automation become especially important.

Operational Takeaway: Adding channels only works when fulfillment and management systems scale alongside them.

You Don’t Need Thousands of Walmart Reviews to Start

Reviews matter, but Michal says sellers do not necessarily need enormous review counts before gaining traction.

Even a small foundation, such as five or six reviews, can help improve credibility and listing performance.

Walmart also offers sellers several ways to accelerate review collection.

Michal discusses:

  • Walmart programs that encourage verified buyers to leave reviews.
  • Incentivized review requests managed through Walmart.
  • Third-party review programs such as Bazaarvoice.
  • The ability for eligible brands to syndicate existing reviews from their own website or Shopify store onto Walmart listings.

That last option can be especially valuable for established brands.

A company with thousands of legitimate reviews on its own site may be able to bring that existing social proof into Walmart instead of starting entirely from zero.

Growth Shortcut: Your existing brand assets can give you a head start when entering a new marketplace.

Walmart Is Actively Looking for Strong Brands

One theme that surprised Danan throughout the conversation is how much Walmart appears to want established brands to succeed on its platform.

Michal says qualifying brands may receive support such as:

  • Dedicated account managers.
  • Advertising account managers.
  • Promotional incentives.
  • Advertising credits.
  • Marketplace onboarding assistance.

For Amazon sellers accustomed to navigating increasingly complex marketplace systems, that support can make Walmart expansion more attractive.

Michal also encourages legitimate brands that have experienced Walmart account approval issues to seek support rather than simply abandoning the platform.

Big Opportunity: Established Amazon brands may already possess exactly the sales history and credibility Walmart wants to attract.

The Real Multichannel Problem Is Operational Complexity

For many sellers, the question is not whether Walmart represents an opportunity.

The question is whether they have the bandwidth to manage another marketplace.

Every additional sales channel creates new work:

  • Listings.
  • Inventory.
  • Fulfillment.
  • Advertising.
  • Profit tracking.
  • Reimbursements.
  • Customer service.
  • Reporting.
  • Marketplace-specific rules.

Danan describes this as one of the biggest reasons sellers remain Amazon-only even when they know diversification would benefit the business.

Michal argues that the solution is not necessarily hiring more people, it is building better systems.

Scale Principle: Multichannel growth should increase revenue without creating an equal increase in operational workload.

Crazy Vendor Is Built to Simplify Multichannel Selling

Michal highlights Crazy Vendor as one solution designed to centralize marketplace operations.

The software allows sellers to manage multiple aspects of their eCommerce business from one place, including:

  • Marketplace performance.
  • Daily profitability.
  • Walmart and Amazon listings.
  • Automation.
  • WFS shipments.
  • FBA shipments.
  • Multichannel operations.

For Walmart specifically, Michal says Crazy Vendor’s AI listing functionality has been trained around Walmart’s marketplace guidelines.

Instead of manually rebuilding an Amazon listing for Walmart, sellers can provide basic product information and an image, then use the platform to generate Walmart-specific content before pushing it into their account.

Efficiency Win: The easier it becomes to launch and manage another marketplace, the easier it becomes for sellers to justify diversification.

Automation Is the Key to Sustainable Multichannel Growth

For sellers already stretched thin, automation changes the economics of expansion.

Rather than adding another marketplace and another employee to manage it, Michal recommends automating repetitive operational processes wherever possible.

That can include:

  • Listing creation.
  • Marketplace synchronization.
  • Inventory workflows.
  • Shipment creation.
  • Performance monitoring.
  • Financial reporting.
  • Reimbursement tracking.

The goal is not simply to be present on more marketplaces.

The goal is to operate them without allowing complexity to consume your time or margins.

Core Idea: A multichannel strategy only becomes scalable when the systems behind it are centralized and automated.

Don’t Ignore Marketplace Reimbursements

Another Crazy Vendor feature discussed during the episode is reimbursement recovery across FBA and WFS.

Reimbursement platforms commonly charge sellers a percentage of recovered funds. Michal explains that Crazy Vendor currently includes its reimbursement functionality without taking a percentage of the recovery.

During testing, she says the system recovered significant amounts for participating accounts.

For sellers processing substantial inventory through Amazon or Walmart fulfillment networks, reimbursements can potentially offset part, or even all, of the software’s cost.

Margin Insight: Growth is not only about generating more sales. Recovering money already owed to your business matters too.

🎁 Special Offer for The eCom Growth Show Audience

Listeners of The eCom Growth Show can try Crazy Vendor free for 21 days.

Use code:

DANAN

Crazy Vendor: https://crazyvendor.io

The trial gives sellers an opportunity to explore Crazy Vendor’s multichannel management, Walmart listing creation, automation, fulfillment, profitability tracking, and reimbursement tools before committing.

Connect with Michal Chapnick

Final Thoughts

For Amazon sellers, multichannel expansion is becoming less of an optional experiment and more of a strategic way to protect and grow the business.

But success on Walmart requires more than copying an Amazon listing and hoping the same formula works.

Brands need marketplace-specific keywords, Walmart-compliant listings, strong fulfillment, reviews, and systems that prevent another sales channel from becoming another operational burden.

The opportunity is especially compelling because many Walmart categories still have significantly less competition than Amazon, and Walmart is actively investing in tools, incentives, and support designed to bring established brands onto the platform.

The brands that win multichannel will not necessarily be the ones selling everywhere. They’ll be the ones that choose the right channels and build systems capable of operating them efficiently.

Stay tuned for more episodes of The eCom Growth Show, where eCommerce sellers learn how to move beyond single-channel dependence, build smarter systems, and scale into new marketplaces without scaling the workload.