Tomorrow, founders from all over the country sit down across from a Walmart buyer for thirty minutes. Here's what the buyer is actually deciding in the first fifteen.
I spent over a decade on the founder side of that table, at Walmart, Target, and Babies R Us. The meeting is never about what you think it's about.
You think it's about the product. You've rehearsed the story, you've packed the samples, you know your ingredients or materials cold. The buyer already looked at your product before you walked in. That's why you're in the room. The product got you the meeting. It doesn't get you the PO.
What the buyer is deciding, quietly, while you're talking:
Does this person understand my shelf? Not their product. My shelf. What's on it now, what's turning, what isn't, and where this fits. If you walk in with the category, the buyer relaxes. If you walk in with just your product, they start doing your homework for you, and they don't have time for that.
Can they ship it? A buyer has been burned before by a founder who got the PO and then couldn't fund the run, couldn't get the packaging approved, or couldn't get product to the DC on time. Every question about your factory, your warehouse, your cash, is really that one question.
Is this going to sell, and how do they know? Numbers. Velocity somewhere else, even a small chain or a regional grocer. Marketplace data if you have it. Reviews are nice. Units per store per week is what they can take to their boss.
Will this person be easy to work with for the next year? Retail is a relationship with a lot of paperwork in it. They're deciding whether they want your emails in their inbox.
Your founder's story matters more than you think it does, but keep it short and to the point. They already know why you are there.
So tomorrow: lead with their shelf, not your product. Answer the operational questions before they ask. Bring the numbers on one page. Then let the product do what it already did to get you in the room.
Good luck to everyone in Bentonville. I mean that.
Retail is my superpower.