Members of Walmart's food merchandising team spoke about the retailer's mission, customer types, omnichannel capabilities and the ways they're innovating, during the session Walmart: Your Path to Omni Growth at the Summer Fancy Food Show, Sunday.
Mary Walker, senior merchant at Walmart, revealed that 89 percent of U.S. households have shopped at the retailer in the past year, and during the past month, customers have spent $4.4 billion in online sales at Walmart. Both indicate the likelihood that specialty food maker customers are also shopping there, she said.
Among the brands catering to specialty food consumers via Walmart's ecommerce marketplace is JD's Vegan Ice Cream, said André Crawford, merchandising director for frozen foods at Walmart. Crawford found the brand online and Instagram messaged the company to talk about a potential partnership, which later became an exclusive deal with Walmart. The retailer supplied the co-packer, which accelerated the product to market. It quickly became Walmart’s #1 ship-to-home product in its category.
Crawford’s story embodied how partnerships are evolving at Walmart. The retailer has traditionally been most focused on creating national brand equivalents, lowering costs, and simply fostering a transactional relationship with food makers; however, it hopes to become a company that leads innovation, treating each brand as a partnership opportunity that is both strategic and transparent.
Laura Kon, senior director of site operations for food and beverage at Walmart, talked about Walmart Connect’s omni item promotion strategies and about how the retailer both pulls customers already searching for a product type through optimized organized lists and search bar functions, and targets customers with display ads. Kriste Stamatis, merchant of pasta and pasta sauce at Walmart, explained Walmart's focus on omnichannel expansions through the Walmart Marketplace, the company’s next step in ecommerce growth. The expanded marketplace provides another way for food makers to sell their products through the company’s website without having to stock the items in physical store locations. The plaform allows the vendor to present a larger selection of items.
“We encourage all of you to look it up and post your entire portfolio. We want to have everything up there and available for our customers online,” Stamatis said.
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