Walmart invited more than 600 potential suppliers to its 10th annual public offering event Tuesday (October 24) at its Bentonville headquarters. This included several suppliers that had previously struck deals, including Proud Source Water and Beyond Green’s compostable cutlery.
Walmart remains the largest retail importer in the United States by volume, even though two-thirds of the products it sells in its stores are manufactured, grown, and assembled in the United States. As a major grocery retailer, most of its food and consumables are manufactured or grown in the United States, and Walmart said it continues to seek U.S. suppliers for general merchandise such as linens, bicycles, televisions and furniture.
Founder Harry Moser Reshoring Initiativelauds Walmart’s latest $350 billion commitment to buy products made or assembled in the United States through 2030. He said he estimates that over the past 10 years, Walmart has had more than 150 purchase orders that have created new U.S. manufacturing jobs through public offering and open placements. Other initiatives. The Reshoring Initiative estimates that Walmart’s efforts support approximately 300,000 direct manufacturing jobs in the United States, up to 1 million total.
Walmart has been pushing ahead with its reshoring efforts, but the company has also been criticized for pushing jobs overseas, particularly China, by focusing on cutting costs in all parts of its supply chain. U.S. suppliers have been unable to compete with significantly lower wages in countries such as China, Vietnam and Mexico.
Walmart US CEO John Farner highlighted San Antonio-based Beyond Green, which last year contracted to make Great Value compostable cutlery. Beyond Green founder Rudy Patel told Talk Business & Politics that he pitched the product in June 2022 and collaborated with Walmart to produce his own brand of cutlery, which is a sustainable product. Told.
According to the company, the knife hit store shelves in August. Mr Patel said his father ran a plastics business with disposable polymers. After their father retired, Rudy and his brother Ashut used leftover polymer to make biodegradable products such as dog waste bags and compostable shopping bags, which they sold to Walmart last year. Although no deal was reached during an open call last year, the company was approached about making biodegradable cutlery for Walmart’s private label brand, and the company was able to have it in stores in just four months.
dirty work, whiskey
“Dirty Jobs” creator and host Mike Rowe was a guest and a former supplier who will be pitching his Noble Whiskey to a team of buyers on Wednesday.
Lowe said the whiskey was created after he came across a distillery in Columbia, Tennessee, and liked the flavor, and thought it would be possible to market it through the reboot of Dirty Jobs during the pandemic. He said he thought about it and decided to buy the stock. His goal was to share drinks with the hard-working people he met.
“I bought all the inventory he had and thought it would last six months, but I started selling it online and it sold out in four days,” Lowe said. “I had to get more. It sold so well that I’m putting the proceeds toward his foundation’s scholarships, which fund college based on work ethic and willingness to work in the industry.”
Lowe said he named the whiskey Noble after his grandfather, Carl Noble, a MacGyver-type instructor who could take a watch apart and put it back together blindfolded. He also said that just before Pops turned 90, his mother called him and told him that one day he would see his grandfather on TV doing a real job, which inspired “Dirty Jobs.” He said it became. At the time, Lowe was unable to perform at the Baltimore Opera as a singer and was rejected as a host on the shopping channel QVC. Mr. Lowe worked as a host for CBS and occasionally acted, he said.
“I love pop music and wanted to please him, so I contacted the San Francisco Sewerage Department and asked if I could film a video of them doing a day’s work. Somehow the Discovery Channel ended up filming that video. I saw it and thought I wanted to turn it into a series,” Lowe said.
Lowe said she realized she was a better guest than a host. Throughout the series, he had 350 different missions, and each time, it was his first day on the job. He said the show opened his eyes to everyday people who find passion and joy in their work, following their passions and sometimes chasing opportunities.
words of advice
Lowe said he brought Dirty Jobs cleaning products to Walmart stores 13 years ago, but they didn’t make it to the shelves because he didn’t have a passion for the business. The real work, he said, begins “when it hits the shelf.” He warned the room of entrepreneurs to show passion but not to go overboard.
“Tell the truth, but make sure the plans are fungible and changeable,” Lowe said. “Don’t get ahead of yourself and make sure you contribute to the business you get. I’m not a big believer in cookie-cutter advice. That could be the enemy of this country today. This is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. Even if people say our chances are gone, I want to say America’s chances are not dead. This room is proof of that.”
Lowe said he didn’t know if he would meet him when he entered the room, but he did meet Frieda’s Lucas Levin, who was there to insert a catheter to help the baby vent gas. Lowe said with a laugh that Levine and his team saw an opportunity to solve a problem for parents and set out to solve it, which he said was American ingenuity at its finest. Frieda already has some products at Walmart, including nasal aspirators for infants.
Frida CEO Chelsea Hirschhon asked attendees to lead presentations on the problem they were trying to solve, and said it was an insight they had learned over the past 10 years selling in retail stores.
Educational session, governor welcome
Walmart held a supplier education session in the afternoon after lunch, provided time for networking within its facilities, and wished everyone in attendance the best of luck ahead of Wednesday’s pitch meeting with buyer teams.
“It’s enthusiasm for your product that will seal the merchant meeting. Make sure it’s the product your customers want right now, and know the actual cost and components that make it up. We have an obligation to offer low prices to our customers,” said Latrice Watkins, chief merchandising officer at Walmart US, who oversees the team of buyers distributing Golden Tickets on Wednesday.
Megan Crozier, chief merchandising officer at Sam’s Club, told attendees to think about what a good product is that is offered at a disruptive price and solves a customer need. Sherry Lee Shin, Senior Director of Supplier Inclusion, reminded attendees that Walmart is committed to diversifying its supplier base and working to ensure success with the products it selects tomorrow. .
“If you win, we win and our customers win,” she said.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders opened the event by welcoming attendees to the Natural State. He said he is proud that Arkansas is home to one of the largest retailers, and that all of the company’s efforts are being made to support jobs while serving millions of customers each day. He praised his contribution.
“Walmart is looking for the next product that will change the face of retail. This is a great event that challenges us to think outside the box,” said Sanders.