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The Walmart Marketplace is no longer just a secondary thought for e-commerce brands; it has evolved into a high-growth frontier where data-driven sellers are carving out significant market share. While many sellers still rely on guesswork, industry experts are proving that the same rigorous competitive research used on Amazon can now be applied to Walmart. By leveraging specialized tools like Helium 10, sellers can peel back the curtain on their competitors’ revenue, traffic sources, and advertising strategies.
Validate Market Demand Using the X-Ray Extension
The first step in any successful Walmart expansion is confirming that a niche has enough “meat on the bone” to justify the investment. Helium 10’s X-Ray tool, which officially integrated with Walmart in 2020, allows sellers to see estimated monthly sales and revenue for any product listing on Walmart.com.
For instance, top-performing items in popular categories, such as licensed kids’ luggage, can generate upwards of $119,000 per month. By running X-Ray on search result pages, you can immediately identify which products are the “category kings” and whether the total market volume meets your brand’s requirements. This data is pulled via Walmart’s API and, while it remains a high-level estimate rather than a peek at a private ledger, it provides a statistically significant baseline for market potential.
Reverse-Engineer Keyword Success with Cerebro
Knowing a product makes money is one thing; knowing how it makes money is another. Using Cerebro for Walmart, sellers can perform a “reverse ID lookup” (using the product’s unique identifier) to see exactly which keywords are driving traffic to a listing. By utilizing advanced research tools, you can gain a competitive edge over those manually guessing their SEO strategy.
This strategy allows you to see the specific phrases where a competitor ranks in the top ten organically. If a Disney-themed suitcase is dominating the “kids travel gear” search term, Cerebro will reveal that ranking. This allows you to build a master keyword list based on proven winners rather than starting from scratch. By analyzing the keyword’s search volume alongside the competitor’s rank, you can prioritize which terms to target in your own titles and descriptions to capture the highest amount of “ready-to-buy” traffic.
Identify Gaps in Sponsored Advertising
One of the most valuable insights provided by competitive research tools is the ability to see which sellers are, and are not, investing in Walmart Connect (Walmart’s ad platform). In Cerebro, you can filter for “sponsored keywords” to see if a competitor is actively bidding on specific terms.
A significant opportunity exists when you find a high-revenue product that has “zero sponsored keywords.” This suggests the seller is relying entirely on organic rank and legacy momentum. For a new seller, this is a clear signal: you can potentially leapfrog a high-earner by running aggressive sponsored ads on those exact keywords where the incumbent is vulnerable. While Walmart’s marketplace is becoming more sophisticated, it remains far less saturated than Amazon, meaning these “advertising gaps” are still common even in high-volume niches.
Navigate Data Estimates and Technical Nuances
While the data provided by third-party tools is incredibly powerful, a professional strategist must understand its limitations. Tools like Helium 10 or DataHawk use proprietary algorithms to estimate sales based on Best Sellers Rank (BSR) and available API data points. As Hackett notes, the tools are “not perfect,” but they offer the most accurate proxy available for external research.
It is also important to recognize that a “zero sponsored keyword” report may not capture every single ad. Some sellers utilize “Auto” campaigns or “Display” ads that may not trigger during a tool’s specific crawl of the search results. However, as a macro-trend analysis, seeing a lack of sponsored activity across a wide range of core keywords is a reliable indicator of a low-competition pocket within the Walmart ecosystem.
Scale via the Walmart Platform Partnership
The ability to perform this level of research is made possible by the fact that Helium 10 is an official Walmart Platform Partner. This partnership ensures that the data being pulled is compliant with Walmart’s terms of service and is as synchronized as possible with the platform’s actual backend changes. For those looking to master these nuances, exploring specialized e-commerce courses can accelerate the learning curve.
By treating Walmart with the same level of analytical scrutiny as Amazon, brands can capitalize on the fact that there are still only roughly 100,000+ active sellers on Walmart compared to the millions on Amazon. Using X-Ray and Cerebro to identify high-revenue, low-ad-competition products allows you to enter the market with an “unfair advantage.” If you are ready to scale, consider contacting a professional strategist to audit your potential.
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Written By: Janine Alaban
Email: info@ehpconsultinggroup.com
Website: http://www.ehpconsultinggroup.com
Number: 925-293-3313
Date Written: September 16, 2026