What is the benefit of Simplified Shipping Settings (SSS)?

Overview

Simplified Shipping Settings (SSS) is a feature designed to automate shipping operations and enhance shipping performance for Walmart Marketplace sellers. Simplified Shipping Settings helps sellers create more accurate delivery promises, improve operational control, and confidently offer faster shipping speeds. Sellers who optimize their shipping configuration with this API can improve visibility, buy box competitiveness, customer trust, and conversion, while reducing manual effort and operational risk.

Key Benefits of Simplified Shipping Settings automation

1. Simplified setup and management
   SSS automation eliminates the complexity of configuring shipping rules manually. By utilizing Walmart's predefined shipping templates, sellers can set up their shipping settings faster and with minimal effort. This reduces errors and ensures a seamless shipping process.
2. Improved compliance with Walmart standards
   The automated settings help sellers stay compliant with Walmart's shipping speed and delivery time standards, which can positively influence performance and customer trust on the platform.
3. Faster order fulfillment
   Automated shipping configurations allow sellers to provide faster and more accurate shipping options. By aligning shipping promises with fulfillment capabilities, sellers can reduce delivery times and improve fulfillment metrics.
4. Enhanced customer satisfaction
   SSS automation helps ensure that customers receive accurate shipping estimates, faster deliveries, and a consistent shopping experience. This leads to higher customer satisfaction, which can result in better reviews and repeat sales.
5. Flexibility and customization
   While the process is automated, sellers have the flexibility to choose from various templates that align with their business needs. These templates are designed to accommodate a wide range of fulfillment capabilities, including standard, expedited, and freight shipping.
6. Increased competitiveness
   By utilizing efficient shipping configurations and reduced delivery times, sellers can remain competitive in the marketplace, attracting more customers and increasing sales.
7. Reduced operational overheads
   Automation reduces the need for constant monitoring and manual intervention, allowing sellers to focus on other aspects of their business. This streamlined approach minimizes administrative workload and operational costs.
8. Foundation for faster growth
   Simplified Shipping Settings helps sellers achieve faster growth through improved delivery promise accuracy and operational risk reduction. Simplified Shipping Settings helps sellers obtain faster shipping speeds, qualify to offer programs like Expedited Delivery or Walmart+, and unlock greater visibility and conversion.

Can I set up multiple warehouses and carrier services in my Simplified Shipping Settings templates?

Yes, you can enable multiple warehouses and multiple carrier services with Simplified Shipping Settings. This flexibility helps you to optimize for both growth and profitability by tailoring shipping strategies across fulfillment centers, inventory locations, item groups, and customer regions.

Optimized fulfillment logic

When you enable multiple warehouses in Simplified Shipping Settings, you can configure one or more carrier services for each fulfillment center.

For items managed under Simplified Shipping Settings, Walmart evaluates all enabled fulfillment centers and carrier service combinations where inventory is available for each item. The evaluation considers which combinations can serve the customer’s location to deliver most efficiently.

The fulfillment center and carrier service Walmart provides are the most optimized delivery promise for the customer. This selected combination is then used to generate the delivery promise shown to the customer and is surfaced in the order details after purchase.

What are the order fulfillment requirements for Simplified Shipping Settings orders?

Order Fulfillment Requirements for Simplified Shipping Settings Orders

1. On-time shipment

• Sellers are required to ship orders on, or before, the expected ship date (ESD) displayed on the order.
• Ensure you provide accurate ship-from locations and use appropriate shipping carriers to meet expected timelines.
• Consistently meet fulfillment requirements to help sellers remain eligible for programs and benefits that reward fast, reliable fulfillment.

2. Delivery timeframes

• You must ship on time from your fulfillment center location, using a carrier service approved by Walmart.

3. Shipping carrier selection

• Use reliable shipping carriers that can fulfill the delivery speed promised at checkout. If you use unsupported or slower carriers, it may negatively impact your performance metrics and lead to penalties.

What if my carrier doesn’t deliver my order on time? What will Simplified Shipping Settings do to protect me so I won’t get negatively affected?

Simplified Shipping Settings has protections designed to help sellers confidently offer faster promises without being unfairly impacted by carrier-caused delays. Order details for an item on surface the carrier service and fulfillment center location Walmart provided as the most optimal promise to the customer location (both on UX and via API's).

If the seller ships on time, using the service and fulfillment center location that Walmart has provided, the shipment will remain protected even if the carrier is late delivering the order.

Note: Sellers buying labels through Ship With Walmart are exempted from being charged for late delivery and remain protected, even when they choose to ship through another service.

Does Simplified Shipping Settings consider changes in carrier delivery performance to calculate delivery time?

Yes, Walmart Marketplace’s Simplified Shipping Settings are designed to dynamically adjust delivery times to reflect carrier performance changes. Here’s how it works:

1. Monitoring carrier performance: Walmart actively monitors the performance of shipping carriers, including the historical and real-time delivery speed, reliability, and other performance metrics.
2. Dynamic delivery time calculation: When a carrier's delivery performance fluctuates, Walmart's system automatically updates the delivery time estimates. This ensures that delivery promises made to customers reflect that a carrier has the ability to fulfill the order on time.
3. No manual adjustments required: Simplified Shipping Settings eliminate the need for sellers to manually update transit times, reducing the operational burden. Changes in transit times are calculated seamlessly and automatically within Walmart’s system.
4. Customer satisfaction: By incorporating carrier performance data, Simplified Shipping Settings helps provide accurate and realistic delivery timelines that are faster for customers, improving the overall shopping experience.

What does this mean for sellers?

• Sellers can rely on Walmart Marketplace to handle delivery time adjustments caused by carrier shipping delays or improvements.
• The automation helps reduce inaccuracies, missed delivery expectations, and the risk of poor customer reviews due to delayed shipping.
• This ensures that seller performance metrics remain aligned with realistic carrier capabilities.

Important Note: While Simplified Shipping Settings account for carrier performance, sellers should still work closely with their chosen carriers to address service issues to ensure the best possible delivery outcomes for customers.

Can I opt out of Simplified Shipping Settings after I’ve set it up?

Yes, if you prefer to manage your shipping settings manually and calculate transit times yourself by reaching out to the Seller Support team. But most sellers prefer the improved promise accuracy, operational simplicity, and performance protections available through Simplified Shipping Settings.

Will I lose control over my shipping setup using Simplified Shipping Settings?

No, Simplified Shipping Settings automates transit time calculation and optimization but it doesn't make your business decisions for you. Simplified Shipping Settings can assist you with:

• Which carrier services to offer your customers.
• The shipping speeds (for example, standard or expedited shipping).
• Where and how you ship orders.

Will Simplified Shipping Settings increase shipping costs?

Enabling Simplified Shipping Settings doesn't inherently increase shipping costs, but costs may vary depending on the specific configurations you select and align with the shipping methods. You can choose free or paid shipping in each region.

Note: Ensure your new configuration is reflected in your fulfillment center set up to can maintain an on-time delivery schedule.

How to Optimize SSS to avoid increasing costs

To minimize shipping costs, you can use Simplified Shipping Settings to:

• Select the right services: Only enable shipping services that align with your operational capabilities and cost structure. If you prefer using standard shipping, avoid expedited or 2-day options, unless necessary.
• Audit carrier rates: Review your carrier contracts to ensure you're always getting the best rates for your SSS shipping services
• Use regional exceptions: For regions with higher shipping costs, regional exceptions offer more affordable services but with longer delivery times.

Benefits that offset costs

SSS can help offset any potential cost increases with:

• Improved delivery promises that boost customer satisfaction and conversion rates.
• Flexibility to configure settings to suit your business needs, allowing you to control costs effectively.
• Increased visibility and competitiveness on the Walmart Marketplace, due to optimized delivery promises.
• Discounts with Ship with Walmart labels and expedited delivery incentives where applicable.

Conclusion

Simplified Shipping Settings provides you control over your shipping strategy with flexibility to manage costs. Any increase or decrease in your shipping costs depends on the shipping services, handling times, and regional coverage you select in your SSS templates. With careful planning and optimization, you can leverage SSS to improve delivery performance and grow sales, without compromising profitability.

How can I create shipping charges for assortments with only offer paid shipping?

The Simplified Shipping Settings model uses the carrier services you’ve chosen to make customer-facing delivery promises to ensure your delivery predictions are accurate. You decide the shipping speeds and services you’ll offer. The system works within your configurations to dynamically generate accurate transit times, so you can stay in control every step of the way.

Tips

• Choose only options that align with your operational capabilities and cost strategy.
• Transit times are automatically generated to reduce manual effort.
• When multiple services are configured as free, the SSS system chooses the one that gives the fastest delivery promise to your customer’s location.

Expedited shipping

You can use faster shipping to drive growth and customer satisfaction, without increasing your fulfillment costs.

Benefits

• Lead with your most competitive speed as a free shipping option to attract customers.
• Provide faster speed for paid upgrades to offset higher fulfillment costs.
• Target regions with high demand with expedited services to balance speed and cost.