Walmart wants to expand its marketplace offerings—and it plans to leverage sellers in Europe to do so.
The company announced late last week that it has “begun a major push” to onboard United Kingdom and European Union-based sellers onto its platform, Walmart Marketplace. It intends to allow those sellers to ship goods into the United States, Canada, Mexico and Chile.
The company plans to host a UK Seller Summit Sept. 9 in an effort to entice prospective merchants and to share information about cross-border growth. The retailer has also opened a London office it said is devoted solely to UK and EU seller experience.
While Walmart did not directly cite tariffs as a motivation for the expansion, the move comes as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to negotiate tariffs with myriad countries. Final rates for some countries have yet to be decided, but the EU and the U.S. have agreed to a duty rate of 15 percent on goods inbound from the bloc. Trump also applied a blanket tariff of 10 percent on goods imported from the UK.
While the EU’s rate in particular is higher than what the bloc’s politicians had hoped to negotiate with Trump, its rate remains lower than other key import economies, like China. Though reports have stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump are inching toward a trade deal, the current tariff rate on China sits at 30 percent. Last week, Trump threatened to place duties of up to 200 percent on the Asian nation.
Sellers on a slew of marketplace platforms—including Shein, Temu and AliExpress—import goods from China. Constantly fluctuating tariff rates and the closure of the de minimis provision in the U.S. could provide a less stable experience for Walmart Marketplace buyers if goods are coming from China. While it’s not expressly clear what percentage of Walmart Marketplace sellers hawk goods originating from China, research firm Marketplace Pulse estimated earlier this year that about 28 percent of Walmart Marketplace sellers were based in China, up eight percentage points from 2023.
Adding new sellers from lower-tariff markets could help keep prices competitive. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said earlier this year that Walmart would have to increase prices on certain goods in line with tariff increases; while those increases may not apply directly to Walmart Marketplace sellers’ goods, it still likely benefits the retailer’s reputation when customers come across lower prices on its marketplace, especially as consumer sentiment continues to struggle in the U.S.
Walmart’s interest in European sellers also comes at a time when Shein and Temu have been expanding the number of markets they serve, potentially in part because of the disruptions they face with the collapse of de minimis. Keeping prices on goods low could help third-party sellers on Walmart Marketplace compete with those on China-founded e-commerce platforms or those on Amazon, which a major competitor impacting Walmart’s market share.
Increasingly, experts said, consumers continue to seek out value—for some consumers, that means the lowest price, but for others it takes into account quality and durability. Walmart seems to be banking on the quality of products that could come from European sellers with this move; Andrea Albright, executive vice president and chief growth officer, Walmart International, said the expansion will allow Walmart to offer a broader variety of products to consumers and emphasized quality standards as an important piece of the company’s decision to recruit European sellers more aggressively.
“UK and European businesses have a well-earned reputation for quality, innovation and exceptional design. By partnering with Walmart, sellers can bring those strengths to millions of customers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Chile—all with the speed, scale and support that only Walmart can provide,” Albright said in a statement. “We’re excited to work side-by-side with these sellers to unlock new opportunities and help them grow faster than ever before.”