Online marketplace of Wal-Mart is now open for third party retailers

A largest US retail chain Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has introduced an addition to its online business having allowed outside retailers to sell about 1 million new items through Walmart.com which is believed to help the company to catch up after other leaders in online marketplace.

The online directory of Wal-Mart store offers goods in such categories as home, baby, toys, apparel, sporting goods and sports memorabilia. According to the official statement of Wal-Mart the company invited such retailers as eBags, CSN Stores and Pro Team on the score they have large product assortments and solid customer service track records.

Burt Flickinger III, aretail consultant, sad that online sales is another area for Wal-Mart growth especially considering how the company's stores have saturated much of the U.S. market. He said Wal-Mart can also draw online customers from the European continent and South Korea, where it no longer has stores.

"This gives Wal-Mart a chance to close the widening gap with Amazon.com and Apple," Flickinger said.

"Online is one key growth frontier Wal-mart has yet to conquer," Flickinger said. Bringing in established companies is faster than the company developing such a massive addition itself, he said.