If you’re new to selling at Walmart, one of the first things you’ll hear is that you need to get into Retail Link®. If you’ve been a Walmart supplier for years, you’ve probably watched Retail Link® change around you, sometimes dramatically. Either way, the honest answer to “what is Retail Link®?” looks different today than it did even three years ago.
Walmart has spent the last several years evolving its supplier tools, and the platform looks meaningfully different today than it did even three years ago. Retail Link® remains the operational hub, housing applications like Supplier One for item and order management, and connecting suppliers to Scintilla™, Walmart’s dedicated analytics platform. High Radius, a separate portal for accounts receivable, rounds out the ecosystem. Understanding how these tools fit together is one of the most practical things a supplier team can know.
This guide covers what Retail Link® is right now, what you can do in it, how it fits with Walmart’s other platforms, and why every active Walmart supplier still uses it every week.
What is Retail Link®?
Retail Link® is Walmart’s online portal where approved suppliers manage the operational side of their Walmart business. Think compliance scorecards, purchase orders, accounts payable disputes, store and distribution center information, supplier agreements, and single sign-on access to Walmart’s other supplier tools.
It lives at retaillink.login.wal-mart.com and is gated to suppliers with an approved 9-digit Vendor Number. If you’re doing business with Walmart, you’re in Retail Link®. There’s no alternative.
One important reframe for suppliers coming in fresh: Retail Link® is the operational core of the supplier relationship, not the analytics hub it once was. Point-of-sale data, sales reporting, and demand forecasting have moved to Scintilla. Many item and order management workflows now live in Supplier One. What remains in Retail Link® is everything related to compliance, performance, orders, and agreements, the foundational mechanics of how suppliers execute their Walmart business day to day.
A Brief History of Retail Link®
Retail Link® traces its roots to the early 1990s, when Walmart began sharing point-of-sale data electronically with key suppliers. It was one of the earliest large-scale retail data-sharing programs of its kind, and it gave Walmart suppliers a meaningful advantage in managing their business.
In 1997, Walmart moved Retail Link® to a web-based extranet, making it accessible via the internet to a much broader supplier base. Through the 2000s and 2010s, the platform expanded steadily, adding apps, scorecards, dashboards, and analytics tools that made it the central hub of the Walmart supplier relationship.
That began to shift in the early 2020s. Walmart launched Scintilla (originally called Walmart Luminate) in 2022 to house analytics and point-of-sale data, and launched Supplier One in early 2024 to unify item and order management workflows. On March 1, 2024, Walmart sunset the Decision Support System (DSS) features inside Retail Link®, completing the migration of analytics to Scintilla. Retail Link® didn’t go away. It refocused on what it does best.
What You Can Do in Retail Link® Today
Retail Link® is best understood today as the operational core. Here’s what lives there:
Purchase Order Management
Most purchase order management has moved to Supplier One, Walmart’s item and order management application within Retail Link®. Suppliers use Supplier One to track PO status, fill rates, shortages, and Must Arrive By Dates (MABD). NOVA, Walmart’s original PO application, remains in use for PO maintenance. Staying on top of both is essential for OTIF performance.
AP Disputes
The Accounts Payable Disputes Portal (APDP) lives within Retail Link® and is where suppliers dispute deductions withheld from invoice payments — chargebacks, claims, and other amounts Walmart has held back. If you’re not actively working your disputes in APDP, you’re almost certainly leaving money uncollected.
For accounts receivable, money owed from suppliers to Walmart, Walmart uses a separate tool called High Radius, accessed at walmart.highradius.com with its own login credentials. New suppliers need to request access by emailing [email protected]. The two tools are complementary but distinct, and it’s worth making sure your team knows which one handles which side of the ledger.
Store and Distribution Center Alignment
Retail Link® maintains the most current list of Walmart stores, divisions, and DC alignment, including future stores with grand opening dates. This is the reference suppliers use when mapping distribution and planning new item rollouts.
Distribution Channel and Agreements
Supplier agreements, onboarding workflows, and access to the Walmart Supplier Academy all live within Retail Link®’s Distribution Channel section.
The SSO Hub
Perhaps the most underappreciated function: Retail Link® is the single sign-on point for Supplier One and Scintilla. One login, three tools. Your Retail Link® credentials are your key to Walmart’s full supplier ecosystem.
Retail Link® vs. Supplier One vs. Scintilla™: How They Fit Together
Walmart’s supplier ecosystem is three tools working together, not one platform trying to do everything. Suppliers don’t choose between them; they use all three. Here’s how they divide the work:
- Retail Link®: Are we executing correctly? OTIF and SQEP scorecards, NOVA (PO management), AP Disputes Portal, store and DC alignment, supplier agreements, SSO hub.
- Supplier One: What needs action right now? Launched 2024. Item management (replaced Item 360), order management, ship point management (replaced Aspen), growth programs.
- Scintilla™: What’s happening and why? Formerly Walmart Luminate, launched 2022. Point-of-sale data, inventory analytics, sales reporting, and demand forecasting. Replaced DSS on March 1, 2024. Available in a free Basic tier and paid Charter tier. Note: Market Basket analysis is available in the Charter tier only.
A useful way to think about it: Retail Link® tells you whether you’re meeting Walmart’s operational requirements. Supplier One is where you manage the work of being a supplier. Scintilla is where you understand your business performance and make strategic decisions.
If you want to go deeper on either of the connected platforms, our Walmart Supplier One guide and Scintilla Hub are good places to start.
Is Retail Link® Going Away?
No. Retail Link® is not sunsetting.
This misconception gained traction around March 2024, when Walmart sunset the DSS features inside Retail Link® and migrated analytics to Scintilla. Several industry publications characterized this as “Retail Link® is going away,” which led to real confusion among suppliers.
What actually happened is more precise: the analytics layer of Retail Link® moved to a dedicated platform. The operational core, covering compliance, scorecards, purchase orders, disputes, and agreements, stayed in Retail Link® and remains there today.
Suppliers should expect to spend more time in Supplier One and Scintilla as those platforms mature. But Retail Link® isn’t going anywhere. If you’re doing business with Walmart, you’re using Retail Link®.
Why Every Walmart Supplier Uses Retail Link®
There’s a short answer and a longer one.
The short answer: because Walmart requires it. Retail Link® is the entry point to the supplier relationship. There’s no workaround and no alternative.
The longer answer: because the data in Retail Link® directly affects your business outcomes. Your OTIF score determines whether Walmart fines you for late or short deliveries. Your SQEP score signals to buyers whether you’re a reliable partner. Your AP disputes, if left unworked, become permanent deductions. The store and DC alignment data shapes how you distribute and plan.
Suppliers who treat Retail Link® as a passive reporting tool, somewhere to check occasionally, tend to be reactive. Suppliers who treat it as an active management tool tend to catch problems early, dispute chargebacks successfully, and show up to buyer conversations with data that builds credibility.
Mastering Retail Link® and knowing how it connects to Supplier One and Scintilla™ is one of the highest-leverage things a supplier team can invest time in. It’s also one of the most common gaps we see, even among suppliers who have been at Walmart for years.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Retail Link®?
Retail Link® is Walmart’s supplier portal, where approved vendors manage the operational side of their Walmart business, including compliance scorecards, purchase orders, accounts payable disputes, store and DC information, and supplier agreements. It also serves as the single sign-on hub for Supplier One and Scintilla™.
Who owns Retail Link®?
Retail Link® is owned and operated by Walmart. It is not a third-party platform.
When was Retail Link® launched?
Walmart began sharing point-of-sale data electronically with suppliers in the early 1990s. The web-based version of Retail Link® launched in 1997.
Is Retail Link® free for suppliers?
Yes. Access to Retail Link® is provided to approved Walmart suppliers at no cost.
Is Retail Link® going away?
No. Retail Link® remains active and is the operational core of the Walmart supplier relationship. The analytics features (DSS) moved to Scintilla™ in March 2024, but Retail Link® itself continues to house compliance, scorecards, orders, disputes, and agreements.
What’s the difference between Retail Link® and Supplier One?
Retail Link® handles compliance, scorecards, purchase orders, and disputes, the operational mechanics of the supplier relationship. Supplier One handles item management, order workflows, ship point management, and payments. Both evolved from Retail Link®’s infrastructure, but they serve distinct purposes.
What’s the difference between Retail Link® and Scintilla™?
Retail Link® is where suppliers manage operational compliance. Scintilla™ is where suppliers analyze business performance, covering point-of-sale data, inventory, sales trends, demand forecasting, and Market Basket analysis. Think of Retail Link® as execution and Scintilla™ as insight.
Can I access Retail Link® without being a Walmart supplier?
No. Retail Link® is gated to suppliers with an approved 9-digit Vendor Number. Access requires going through Walmart’s supplier onboarding process.
¿Qué es Retail Link®?
Retail Link® es el portal en línea de Walmart para proveedores aprobados. Es la plataforma donde los proveedores gestionan el lado operativo de su relación comercial con Walmart: órdenes de compra, cumplimiento de métricas, disputas de cuentas por pagar, información de tiendas y centros de distribución, y acuerdos con proveedores. También funciona como el punto de acceso único para Supplier One y Scintilla, las otras dos plataformas del ecosistema de proveedores de Walmart.
How do I learn to use Retail Link®?
8th & Walton offers hands-on training in Retail Link® and the full Walmart supplier ecosystem, including Supplier One and Scintilla. Our Walmart Systems training is designed for supplier teams at every level, from first-time users to experienced operators looking to go deeper.
Learning Retail Link® Well: Where to Go From Here
Knowing what Retail Link® is matters. Using it well and understanding how it connects to Supplier One and Scintilla is what actually moves the business.
Most supplier teams we work with know their way around Retail Link® well enough to get by. Fewer have built the kind of fluency that lets them catch a compliance issue before it becomes a chargeback, work their AP disputes systematically, or use the platform’s data to show up to a buyer conversation with something worth saying.
That gap is closeable. 8th & Walton offers customized training across Walmart Systems, Supply Chain, Accounting, and Item Management, built for supplier teams who want to operate with confidence across the full Walmart ecosystem.
