Walmart bets on collectible sneakers to grow marketplace service

Walmart Inc. has its sights set on sneakerheads. 

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer is teaming up with sneaker marketplace StockX to offer dozens of pre-verified shoes ranging from Nike Inc.’s Air Jordans and collaborations with Travis Scott to those from New Balance Athletics Inc. and Asics Corp. 

Hundreds of items will be available on Walmart’s website next week, and StockX will fulfill and verify the products. The partnership could expand to tens of thousands of products, Michael Mosser, vice president and category lead at Walmart Marketplace, said in an interview.

Shoppers “are looking for this full spectrum of products from Walmart,” whether that’s staples or collectible items, Mosser said, adding that Walmart is experiencing healthy demand for coveted sneakers. 

The partnership — the first between Walmart and StockX — is part of the retailer’s efforts to beef up its online business to grab more spending from Amazon.com Inc. and other retail giants. Walmart said last week that it will expand the assortment on its marketplace of third-party vendors to include pre-owned and collectible products, building on its offering of refurbished electronics. 

For StockX, it marks its first third-party platform deal, Chief Executive Officer Scott Cutler said in an interview. The Walmart deal will help StockX reach a new consumer base, including customers who may be unfamiliar with the brand, he said. 

The secondary market for sneakers has cooled since a boom began in 2021, when the sector became a hot alternate asset that attracted investors and speculators. Resale sites have since flooded with limited-edition sneakers released to the public by brands like Nike, Adidas and New Balance. 

Both companies expect to expand into other categories such as streetwear. They declined to disclose financial details of the partnership.

Walmart’s online marketplace has emerged as a growth engine. It is helping the company to broaden its assortment and price points, and offers brands such as Cartier that aren’t sold in the company’s physical stores. Marketplace also adds income for Walmart through related services such as advertising and fulfillment. 

Walmart’s online marketplace business, which began in 2009, is still smaller than that of Amazon.com Inc., which started nine years earlier. In 2022, Amazon’s had 2 million merchants selling on its platform. Walmart doesn’t disclose the number of sellers and offers hundreds of millions of items. Both companies offer a vast array of goods, in contrast with Target Corp., which has taken a curated approach to expand its marketplace business.