Diversifying off Amazon-only and looking at Walmart Marketplace. First question everyone asks: do I reuse my existing UPCs or do I need new ones?
Reuse them - your GTIN identifies the PRODUCT, not the channel. The same UPC represents the same product whether it’s on Amazon, Walmart, eBay, your Shopify, or a shelf. You do NOT buy new barcodes per marketplace.
The main thing is to enter the exact same GTIN you used on Amazon so the two catalogs line up to one product. Walmart can be picky about the listing matching, so double-check the number matches character for character. They also have a GTIN exemption path for genuine no-barcode cases, similar concept to Amazon’s.
yeah just match the exact same UPC across both channels and youre fine. honestly the bigger walmart headache for me wasnt the barcodes at all - it was their content and listing requirements being pickier than amazon. the codes themselves carried straight over.
From the ops side, the bigger challenge in multichannel isn’t the barcode - it’s inventory sync. Same UPC across channels is easy; not overselling the same units across Amazon + Walmart + your site is the hard part. This is where a multichannel inventory tool earns its keep (see the inventory software thread). Reuse the GTIN, but get your stock sync sorted before you turn on a second channel.
That all tracks. Good news that the codes travel. And yeah Lena, the sync is the real work - I oversold across marketplaces exactly once and it was a painful lesson in cancellations and metrics. Tooling before second channel, noted for anyone reading.