In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Ashley Chiaradio and Kristina Stidham discuss Walmart’s recent announcement of a partnership with e-commerce shopping platform Shopify. This is big news in the industry, as the deal will open Walmart’s Marketplace to Shopify’s small business sellers, with the goal of bringing 1,200 Shopify sellers to the marketplace this year. The partnership will greatly expand the reach of the participating brands by placing them in front of Walmart Marketplace’s 120 million monthly visitors.

Total Retail’s Joe Keenan connected with a Walmart spokesperson in an exclusive email interview this week to learn more about the company's partnership with Shopify. The Walmart spokesperson shared that the retail chain is looking to expand its Marketplace to more small and midsize businesses to increase the number of items for sale, as well as reinforce Walmart as the primary shopping destination for groceries and general merchandise. Partnering with Shopify will help accomplish that goal by adding Shopify’s portfolio of third-party sellers to the Walmart.com site. To read Total Retail’s coverage of this news, click here.