According to Wal-Mart purchasing personnel, the first step is to go to a Wal-Mart Super Center and figure out where—literally where, on which shelf—your product should be placed. If you think there's a place for your product, proceed to step two.
Go to www.walmartstores.com/ and fill out the required questionnaire. The company wants to make sure you can financially afford to produce mass quantities. You'll also be instructed to pay for two Dun & Bradstreet reports on your company's finances, one for yourself and one for Wal-Mart.
Do not show up at the Wal-Mart Super Center and try to pitch your product to the manager there. Everyone has to go through the new-supplier development division.
If everything checks out, you’ll meet a buyer. Odds are good for a niche business such as a regionally important business.
If all goes well, the buyer will negotiate a price and set up a vendor agreement covering all technicalities, such as shipping point and method and timing of payment. The buyer may decide right then or give you a decision in about a week.
Purchasing personnel agree that the odds aren't in your favor if you're a first-timer because Wal-Mart already has 21,000 suppliers.
