Got your Walmart Open Call invitation this week? Congratulations. Now you have three weeks.
I took Better Than Clean through Open Call last year. Before that, I sat across from Walmart buyers for twelve years as a supplier. Here's what I'd be asking myself right now if I were you.
Can you tell your founder's story in two minutes, in a way that makes a merchant lean in? Open Call is built around the people behind the product. That story is a bigger part of the meeting than most founders expect.
Do you know your category, or just your product? What's selling online, what Target and Amazon carry that Walmart doesn't, where the price gaps are, and what you'd add to their shelf that they don't have today.
Can you prove it sells? Walmart wants a product that has already moved somewhere else. Do you have those numbers, and do you know them cold?
Are you on Walmart Marketplace yet? If not, get set up and selling before you walk in. It's the easiest credibility you'll bring into that room.
Can you fund the first order? A yes in Bentonville can turn into a PO bigger than anything you've filled, on their payment terms.
Have you rehearsed the questions you're hoping they don't ask?
That's the prep that got Better Than Clean an invitation to Walmart's next line review.
If you're headed to Open Call and any of those questions made you pause, send me a message. I'm happy to talk it through.
Retail is my superpower.