Product Type Taxonomy: Overview

Walmart's product taxonomy is the system Walmart uses to organize, classify, and group like items.

The taxonomy now extends to the product type level. Based on the product type, each item will have distinct required attributes and values. Suppliers must understand and use the established taxonomy, as suppliers must define the product type of the item they are managing (setting up or maintaining).

What is Walmart's Product Taxonomy Structure?

Walmart's product taxonomy is a method of product classification arranged to aid retrieval (search and filter) and help Walmart customers find items on Walmart.com.

Walmart's product taxonomy is segmented into three distinct classifications, listed in order from broadest to most refined:

• Category
• Product Type Group (PTG)
• Product Type (PT)

One category contains multiple product type groups, and one group contains multiple product types. Drilling down to the product type name allows suppliers to understand which product types are available, their definitions, and what to include in item setup and maintenance by product type specs.

The Walmart product taxonomy also includes the Walmart departments associated with each product type group and all product types within that product type group. Suppliers and merchants use Walmart departments to define the types of items that suppliers can sell to Walmart.

How is Product Taxonomy Used in Item Setup and Maintenance?

Suppliers must always indicate the item's product type when setting up an item or maintaining item content. As such, the list retrieved from the GET Product Taxonomy call allows suppliers to understand the product types available for use and their meaning. The different relationship levels allow suppliers to group and organize the product types to navigate the taxonomy.

A supplier must have a valid, signed agreement with Walmart for each department in which they are attempting to set up an item. If the supplier does not have an agreement for that product type, the item setup will result in an error.

The nine-digit supplier ID provided during item setup must be mapped to one of the department numbers for the product type group. The structure of the nine-digit supplier ID is shown in the following diagram.

If the supplier does not have a valid supplier ID and agreement for the department trying to set up an item, they will receive an error.

Example:

• Item Ingestion Status: DATA_ERROR
• Error Description: The 9-digit Supplier ID provided is not active. Verify that you entered the correct Supplier ID for this item and try again.