Walmart is gearing up for a busy online shopping season by hiring 20,000 seasonal workers. Yahoo Finance correspondent Julia La Roche joins The First Trade with Alexis Christoforous and Brian Sozzi to discuss that and more.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: Walmart is gearing up for the holiday shopping season. The retail giant will hire 20,000 seasonal workers specifically in anticipation of a busier online shopping season. Yahoo Finance correspondent Julia La Roche is here with the details. Julia?

JULIA LA ROCHE: That's right, Brian. When you think about what's happening because of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot more online shopping, just look at the most recent quarter for Walmart, 97% year-over-year growth on those online sales. Of course, we're not sure how the third quarter is playing out. But if there's any indication, it's doing quite well, especially as we head into the busy holiday shopping season, which will be a lot different as consumers seek more contactless experiences. So Walmart has in the last, I don't know, six, seven months, going back to March, it's hired 500,000 workers to keep up with demand. But now, in their fulfillment centers, specifically looking for 20,000 seasonal workers to fill roles such as order fillers and power equipment operators.

These new hires can get a starting hourly rate of $15.75 to $23.75 depending on location, the role, and of course, the duration of time. These jobs are expected to start-- shifts will start within 48 hours of applying. They're expected to go through January 1. And of course, the retailer has pointed out that some of these might actually turn into actual employment offers. So it's definitely an indication here that this season, really going to be about the online sales.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And Julia, I know that Walmart also tied up a deal with Goldman Sachs. What can you tell us about that?

JULIA LA ROCHE: That's right. So going back to the online sales, if you look at Walmart's Marketplace, which is where third-party sellers-- they recently did a deal with Shopify back in the summer to bring on more small and medium-sized businesses on that platform. While we don't know the exact numbers there, there's also some indication that that business has certainly been growing triple digits in the most recent quarter.

They did a tie-up with Goldman Sachs' Marcus by Goldman Sachs. Keep in mind, that's that 4-year-old digital-only consumer bank. And what they're doing is offering businesses lines of credit through Marcus. And sellers on Walmart.com can access lines of credit between $10,000 and $75,000 with plans to go up to a million, that's what I'm told, over time. And the rates for these loans-- interest rates, rather-- are 6.99% percent to 20.99%, depending on the credit worthiness here. But another interesting tie-up.

And I think the story is really about Goldman here. They've seen a boon on their consumer banking business in this kind of digital, remote-only world. So it's interesting to see how they are embedding themselves within some bigger retail ecosystems. They did a deal with Amazon back in the summer. JetBlue is another-- of course, the Apple Card. So just an interesting partnership.

BRIAN SOZZI: Walmart making those #MoneyMoves. Julia La Roche, thanks so much.