Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and a NAWBO corporate partner, is looking for entrepreneurs to pitch their made in the USA products to the company’s buyers in a daylong event at Walmart’s global headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, on June 28, 2017. Registration has begun at www.walmart-jump.com and the deadline is May 18.
“We are excited to once again invite businesses from all 50 states to meet with Walmart buyers who have one goal in mind: to buy more American products for our stores, clubs and Walmart.com,” says Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart’s vice president of U.S. Manufacturing. “By investing in products that support American jobs, we are able to bring new products to our shelves that our customers want and new jobs to our communities. Increasing domestic manufacturing will help create additional jobs in the U.S., and that’s good for American businesses.”
Walmart buyers will be looking to make deals of varying sizes, ranging from supplying product to a handful of stores in a local market, to supplying hundreds or thousands of stores as well as to Sam’s Club locations and Walmart.com. Here are just two of the many examples of successful deals from previous Open Call events:
- Carhart Products of Saranac, MI, a 15-person company, signed a deal for its kids’ T-ball set made from recycled automotive plastic to be on the shelves of 72 Walmart stores and Walmart.com.
- Trident Case, a minority-owned, small business in Chino, CA, landed a deal for its cell phone case to be sold in more than 3,800 Walmart stores across the country.
“Our deal with Walmart gives us the potential to reach a national audience and take our company to the next level,” says Carhart Products Founder Dave Hartman. “We have a lot of items we are working on now and hope to have in the stores and on Walmart.com soon. Our deal with Walmart was a game changer.”
In January 2013, Walmart committed to American renewal by announcing it intends to help boost job creation and U.S. manufacturing through buying an additional $250 billion in products that support American jobs over 10 years. Based on data from Boston Consulting Group, it’s estimated that 1 million new U.S. jobs will be created through this initiative.