by Affiliate marketing is quickly becoming the lifeblood of many bloggers, content creators, publishers, and marketers. This is due to the shift in consumer behavior towards online purchases. It’s no wonder Walmart and Amazon – two major players in the retail industry – have the most popular affiliate programs out there.
Their growing popularity has sparked a hot discussion: Walmart affiliate vs Amazon affiliate program, which one is better?
In our opinion, the Walmart affiliate and Amazon associates programs offer something different depending on your niche, level of experience, and target audience. Perhaps, the right question would be: Which of the two options – Amazon and Walmart affiliate programs – is better for you?
In this article, we at AMZ Watcher, developers of Amazon’s affiliate link checker will review both programs in great detail below to help you figure this out.
You’ll also learn what constitutes a great affiliate program. This will ensure you can always make informed decisions when selecting other affiliate programs or networks to join.
Contents
What is the Difference Between Walmart Affiliate vs Amazon Affiliate Program?
Below we’ve summarized the difference between the two programs based on different aspects:
| Amazon | Walmart | |
| Service Provider | In-house | Impact Radius |
| Inventory | Amazon offers over 350 million products to promote. | About 75 million products to promote. |
| Commission rates | Higher than Walmart – between 1% to 20% on some categories like Amazon Games.
Very few zero-commission products. |
Low – with a rate of between 1% and 4% for most items.
Has more zero-commission products like tires, food, and baby consumables. |
| Conversion rates | Higher – all stores are online. So people click links and visit the store to buy items.
Plus, Amazon’s websites are designed to encourage users to purchase something before leaving. Therefore, the chances of converting leads into sales are higher. |
Low – most people prefer purchasing items from their local Walmart store to avoid shipping costs.
Their website does not encourage users to buy as strategically as Amazon does. |
| Cookie Duration | Short – cookie lasts 24 hours. | Longer – Cookie lasts three days. |
| Tools | Provides easy-to-use tools for affiliates to promote products and services successfully. | Also provides tools, but it takes time to know how to use some of them, like the WordPress plugin. |
| Payout | Amazon takes less time to process payments. But only accepts direct bank deposits, check transfers, and gift cards. No PayPal. | Takes longer to process payments. But the company uses PayPal or bank deposit. |
What is Affiliate Marketing?
In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is a performance partnership based on a revenue-sharing mechanism.
The idea behind the entire marketing model is that you promote products or services and make a profit from your efforts.
There are two ways to look at the mechanism behind this marketing model:
- From the perspective of the retailer
In this case, merchants design a program to offer financial incentives for third parties to promote their products or services. As a result, they reach a bigger audience and increase their sales. These third parties are often called affiliates or associates.
- From the perspective of the promoter
As a promoter, you endorse another person’s products or services. Then, you earn a commission whenever a consumer purchases products from the merchant’s store based on your marketing. In this way, you become an affiliate marketer.
Most retail companies, like Amazon and Walmart, use affiliate marketing to increase their revenue and total market value. As it is, Amazon is the largest retailer. The company has an annual revenue of about $470 billion and a market cap of over a trillion. Walmart is the second-largest retailer, with $573 billion in revenue and a market cap of $400 billion.
We’ll discuss what the Amazon and Walmart affiliate programs have in store for you as an affiliate marketer.
What is the Walmart Affiliate Program?
Despite being a brick-and-mortar company with about 10,500 stores worldwide, Walmart has one of the best online affiliate programs.
The platform allows you to grow your income by promoting products under specific categories on its online store.
When you join the affiliate program, you’ll get several product curation tools to facilitate your promotion efforts. Some include text links, banners, advertising widgets, etc.
You can then use these tools to send customers to Walmart.com and get paid every time they make qualifying purchases on the site.
A third party, Impact Radius, runs the Walmart affiliate platform.
Impact Radius is an affiliate network service provider that automates the partnership platforms of several companies. They are responsible for tracking all the impressions, clicks, sales, and commissions.
Joining the platform is simple. You can do it within a few clicks if you meet all the requirements.
Walmart Affiliate Program Requirements
To become an affiliate with Walmart, you must meet the following criteria:
- Have an active website – this is the bare minimum requirement for the program. Your website must be relevant to advertising Walmart’s products or services.
You ought to demonstrate how relevant your site is – openly. Otherwise, you won’t be approved to join. We recommend linking directly to the company’s products or service pages.
For instance, if your website is in the food and beverage niche, you can link to Walmart’s grocery delivery service page.
- Target traffic mainly from the U.S – your site must cater to an audience from the U.S., preferably from North America.
- Create family-friendly content – the content you share must be informative and family-friendly.
Some factors can disqualify you from joining the platform. Knowing what these factors are and avoiding them will increase your chances of getting accepted into the program.
Who is Not Eligible for Walmart Affiliate Program?
You’ll not be allowed into the program if your site contains one or more of the following:
- Hate or violence towards another person or groups
- Sexually explicit material and illegal activities
- Content that promotes tobacco, alcohol, gambling, or using pyramid schemes
- Discriminatory or defamatory content that harasses Walmart or any other third party
- Material that violates the company’s intellectual property rights, among many others, as listed in their operating agreement below.
How to Join the Walmart Affiliate Program?
Follow these steps to join the program through the Walmart.com website:
- Visit their affiliate sign-up page at https://affiliates.walmart.com/#!/
- Click on the Sign-up button.
- Fill in your user information, including your name and email address. Then create a username and a password for your account. After you finish, click next to proceed to step four.
- Fill in your company information. Enter your account display name, website, zip code, country, phone number, time zone, currency, etc. Everything is straightforward. Then, click next.
- Fill in the preferred promotion and media you’ll use for the program. You’ll have to select your primary promotional method and a secondary one.
You’ll also have to commit to specific promoting countries as demonstrated below:
Under the main promotional method tab, choose your advertising method from the drop-down menu. You have a few options, from content/ reviews to cross-audience monetization.
Afterward, pick your secondary promotional method from the several options given. 
- The final step is submitting your application by clicking the blue submit button on the lower left.
You’ll then have to wait for the approval message before gaining access to the promotional materials needed to start advertising Walmart’s products. It’ll take approximately 24 hours.
Alternatively, you can join the program through their affiliate service provider, Impact Radius, by visiting:
https://app.impact.com/campaign-promo-signup/Walmart-Program.brand?execution=e1s1
Then, fill in all the information required on the sign-up page and check the small box before submitting your application.
What is Walmart’s Affiliate Commission Rate?
The company’s payout threshold for most items is 4%. This means you’re likely to earn a commission of 1%-4% on the products you promote.
Their commission rates are low compared to other platforms like Amazon.
Here is a summary of the company’s current payout structure:
Cookie Length on the Walmart Affiliate Program
Walmart’s average cookie length is three days. You’ll earn a commission if someone visits the site through your referral link and buys something within that time.
They also employ a last-click credit policy. This means you can miss out on getting a commission before the end of the 3-day cookie duration.
How? Say a customer gets to the Walmart site through your link but fails to purchase the product instantly.
Then they come across another review of a similar product, click the link, and purchase the item. The commission goes out to the second affiliate even if the 3-day cookie period has not elapsed since the customer clicked your link.
What are Walmart’s Payment Terms?
You will receive your commissions on the total monthly net sales minus any product returns, sales taxes, and shipping charges. But it might take some time before you get your pay.
Following Impact Radius’ terms, they lock customers’ actions for payment two months after the month they were tracking ends.
Then invoicing takes place on day three of the following month. That is the month after locking customers’ actions. After that, all approved transactions get paid via PayPal or direct deposit. 
Walmart Affiliate Tools on Offer
To help you get the most out of the program, Walmart provides several tools, such as:
- Walmart Chrome Extension – there are two chrome extensions to use – the Walmart deals and Walmart for chrome extensions.
The Walmart deals extension will help you find the latest deals, top-selling products, and ongoing promotions you can offer your audience.
On the other hand, Walmart for chrome provides links and banners with your unique affiliate I.D as you browse the website.
- Walmart SDK – this tool makes it easy to include a call-to-action, like a buy now button, directly to your posts and pages.
- Walmart WordPress plugin – with this plugin, you can generate Walmart Ads when typing articles on WordPress. You can also create text links and banners to link to the most relevant items on the site as you write.
What is Amazon Affiliate Program?
The Amazon associates program is the largest affiliate network worldwide. It has been around since 1996.
Because Amazon operates online, your chances of making money as an Amazon affiliate are higher than a Walmart affiliate. You can make money by directing customers to their network of e-commerce sites.
It’s different from Walmart, where customers can visit their local store to purchase an item after reading your review online. Walmart tries to counter this issue through online-only deals and promotions.
Amazon Affiliate Program Requirements
To become an Amazon affiliate, you have to meet the following requirements:
- Have a website, mobile app, or social network account with a considerable organic following
- Your site should be in English and follow the program’s content guidelines. Like Walmart, Amazon will not accept any website that contains:
- Obscene material
- Violent content or content that promotes harmful acts
- Illegal activities and a lot more defined clearly in their Associate’s program participation requirements shown below:
- You must agree with the Associate’s Program Operating Agreement requirements.
How to Join the Amazon Affiliate Program?
To join the program, follow these steps:
- Visit their affiliate sign-up page at https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/ and click the sign-up button.
- Create your account by following the prompts provided.
Generally, there are three parts to the account creation process. You’ll fill in your account information in the first part. Then, list your website or mobile apps in part two before creating your profile in part three.
Once all parts are completed, you’ll gain access to the Associates central, which has all the tools you need to start earning.
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to join the program, follow our Amazon associates guide.
What is Amazon’s Affiliate Commission Rate?
On commission rates, Amazon wins the Walmart vs amazon affiliate program debate. Look at the summary of Amazon’s fixed standard commission rates below and compare it with Walmart’s rates above:
Have you noticed Amazon offers a better commission rate than Walmart on a range of products?
Specifically, most categories that pay 1% at Walmart pay 3% at Amazon. A good example is toys.
To put things into perspective, if a Walmart affiliate vs Amazon Associate promotes the same toys and makes the same number of sales, the amazon associate is likely to earn more.
Cookie Length on the Amazon Affiliate Program
The company offers a one-day cookie duration. In other words, customers who visit the Amazon store have to buy an item within 24 hours for you to earn a commission.
Often, 24 hours is enough for someone to make a purchase, although a longer cookie duration increases your chances of earning. So Walmart takes the day with their three-day cookie length.
Also, note that if your customer places an item in their cart, you’ll have about 90 days to earn a commission from their purchase.
What are Amazon’s Payment Terms?
Amazon’s payout is relatively faster than the Walmart affiliate program payout. You’ll get your commissions approximately 60 days after the end of the month you earned them in.
You must reach the minimum amount specified in their payment minimum chart to get paid through direct deposit, check transfer, or gift card. 
Which Affiliate Network is Better for You?
Ideally, a great affiliate network should offer high commission and conversion rates with a longer cookie duration. Always pay attention to these aspects when choosing an affiliate network.
Looking at the differences above, it may seem that neither program perfectly fits the bill. However, the Amazon affiliate program comes close. It offers higher commissions and better conversion rates that compensate for the short cookie length.
We recommend Amazon if you’re a beginner. The company provides all the resources you need to make money online while learning what affiliate marketing entails. At AMZ Watcher, we also offer guidance and free tools you can use to succeed as an associate.
If you already have a site with lots of traffic from the U.S, the Walmart affiliate platform will be worth it.
How to Make Money With Affiliate Marketing
Making money with affiliate marketing is simple. All you have to do is place your affiliate links in front of a relevant audience and encourage them to perform a specific action (generate amazon affiliate link).
You can do this using the following platforms:
- Niche websites – this is a website that focuses on a specific topic. With this site, you can only promote products related to the niche. Learn more about building niche websites in our other articles on niche ideas and how to create good content for such websites.
- General website –a general website gives you room to promote a wide selection of products from different categories.
- Social media sites – you can use platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You have to be keen not to break the regulations of the platform you’re using or the operating agreement of the affiliate program.
A general guiding rule is to not place your affiliate links directly on social media platforms.
Final Thoughts – Walmart Affiliate Program vs Amazon Affiliate Program
Each program has its pros and cons. But we find the Amazon affiliate program better than Walmart.
You’re likely to make more money with less effort on Amazon. All you have to do is direct people to the website, and the company will take over to convert them into buyers. As for Walmart, you need more effort to persuade customers to buy items online.
Also, you’ll have a great affiliate support system you can rely on with Amazon. The system caters to everyone – beginners and professionals alike – to help you get the most out of the program.
FAQs
How many types of affiliate programs are there?
There are several types of affiliate programs. Some include incentive programs, coupon-site programs, and loyalty portals.
Who is the number 1 affiliate in the world?
The number 1 affiliate in the world is Robby Blanchard, as declared by Clickbank – one of the best information products affiliate networks. It’s a good Walmart and Amazon alternative.
