What: after announcing a partnership with Shopify last June, Walmart.com opens to more third-party sellers

Why is it important: this partnership signals a heavy push towards growing its online presence

After reporting a 79% growth in e-commerce sale in the past year, Walmart's partnership with BigCommerce signals a heavy push towards growing its online presence and crowd of third-party sellers. Walmart's head-on competition with Amazon means that it is increasingly making moves beyond brick-and-mortar retail.

Walmart also teamed up with Shopify last June to bring 1 200 third-party sellers to its marketplace by the end of the year. Shopify merchants won't pay to list their products on Walmart.com, but once they make a sale, the retailer will charge a "referral fee."

While Walmart doesn't outline how much it makes from its other business ventures, Amazon's net sales through third-party commission, fulfilment and shipping fees nearly doubled since 2018. Amazon's third-party seller services account for 20.8% or USD 80.5 billion of its net sales in the fiscal year 2020.

Walmart opens its marketplace to BigCommerce merchants