
Walmart’s online marketplace is getting more choosy.
The retailer’s website, where third-party vendors sell their own wares, is adding far fewer sellers a month compared with a year ago, according to data tracker Marketplace Pulse. The site, which Walmart created in 2009 to compete with a similar offering from Amazon, now includes about 18,000 sellers.
The slowdown mirrors a deceleration in growth at Walmart’s e-commerce business last quarter, which spooked shareholders and renewed concerns about the investments Walmart is making to catch up with Amazon, such as its recent expansion of grocery home delivery to 100 markets. It also comes amid a whistle-blower lawsuit from a former marketplace executive. He claims he was fired after raising concerns about the company’s “overly aggressive push to show meteoric growth in its e-commerce business by any means possible — even, illegitimate ones.”
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