Exclusive: Walmart cracks down on Marketplace fakes
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Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Walmart is publicly revealing for the first time how it's policing its third-party Marketplace — sharing exclusively with Axios the efforts it takes to block counterfeit goods and keep consumers safe.
Why it matters: With more than 500 million items listed on Walmart's site, the retail giant is leaning into transparency as lawmakers and regulators ramp up scrutiny of online marketplaces.
- Earlier this month the Federal Trade Commission called on Walmart and Amazon to crack down on sellers making false "Made in USA" claims.
The big picture: The world's largest retailer says its rapidly growing digital Marketplace is backed by an enforcement system designed to block fake goods and root out bad actors before customers ever see them.
- "You have to be proactive because bad actors learn fast — and they can learn Gen AI," Manish Joneja, senior vice president of Walmart U.S. Marketplace, told Axios. "We continue evolving our proactive and reactive defenses."
- "The future of e-commerce does depend on customer trust and integrity," Joneja, who also leads Walmart Fulfillment Services. said in an interview with Axios Tuesday. "It's difficult to get trust, but it's easier to lose it."
Walmart Marketplace efforts
Zoom in: Joneja outlined some of the work Walmart is doing, including:
- Seller vetting and pre-listing protections, such as restricting who can sell certain categories.
- AI-driven, real-time monitoring of product listings for policy compliance — overseen by machine learning, automation and human management.
State of play: Walmart acknowledges that counterfeit items make up a "tiny minority" of goods sold on marketplaces, but their impact can be significant — hurting both shoppers and honest sellers.
- The company is collaborating broadly to combat the industrywide issue, Joneja said, working with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Retail Industry Leaders Association and the National Retail Federation.
