Walmart brings third-party selling to Canadian website as competition grows

TORONTO -- Walmart Canada is looking to strengthen its online presence by adding third-party sellers to its website.

The company says it's starting with 27 sellers, who will be offering products ranging from diapers to sporting goods in an effort to quadruple the products available on the site by year end.

The move follows a similar effort by Best Buy Canada in 2015 to be a go-between for online sales when it launched its Marketplace platform, with the promise of boosting choice and of making shipping easier by allowing people to pick up products in its stores.

The efforts by retailers to improve their online offerings comes as they face increasing competition from the likes of online giant Amazon.com, which officially closed its US$13.7 billion takeover of Whole Foods Market on Monday.

Amazon has already started cutting prices at the grocery chain, while it also plans to allow customers to pick up online orders at some of the physical stores.

The online juggernaut's expansion comes as traditional department stores in Canada struggle, including Target's short-lived expansion into the country and Sears Canada's significant cutbacks while restructuring.