San Bruno, CA… Walmart has kicked off a new installment of Get on the Shelf, a social, crowdsourcing competition developed by @WalmartLabs that gives entrepreneurs a chance to get noticed and sell their products on Walmart.com and potentially in select Walmart stores. Entrepreneurs, business owners and inventors can enter now through July 31 by submitting a video featuring their product at https://getontheshelf.walmart.com.
The contest is open to a wide range of products, and any entrepreneur in America with a big dream and great product is encouraged to enter. For this year’s contest, Walmart has special interest in seeing products made in the U.S. as part of its domestic sourcing commitment – in addition to reviewing other items from multiple categories.
“We’re calling on entrepreneurs and inventors from across the country to help us discover the next big thing. In return, Walmart is giving them exposure to millions of potential customers,” said Joel Anderson, President and CEO of Walmart.com. “Get on the Shelf taps into the spirit of American innovation and gives our customers a voice in selecting the products that will help them live better.”
Businesses and product developers can submit entries for products that complement the assortment of items sold on Walmart.com, such as electronics, home, toys and apparel. All entries will be screened by Walmart merchants, and then the public will be asked to vote on their favorite products later this summer.
Walmart’s second Get on the Shelf contest offers inventors and entrepreneurs more chances to win and broad exposure to millions of potential customers. Informed by the first round of public voting, Walmart merchants will select up to 20 product finalists that will be featured in an original web series produced by VIMBY, The Mark Burnett Digital Studio. The weekly web series will be available at https://getontheshelf.walmart.com and the public vote will determine each week’s winning item. Through this process, up to five winning products will be chosen to be sold on Walmart.com. One or more of these winners will be selected as a grand prize winner based on the number of online pre-orders from customers, and could potentially be sold in select Walmart stores.
The Get on the Shelf platform was created by @WalmartLabs, the technology arm of Walmart Global eCommerce, which designed it to be scalable and robust enough to process a high level of product entries, votes and traffic. Since the initial U.S. Get on the Shelf contest in 2012, the platform was used to source greeting card designs, which were submitted and voted upon by customers. One of the winning designs was among the top-selling greeting cards last holiday on Walmart.com.
About Walmart Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, more than 245 million customers and members visit our more than 10,800 stores under 69 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal year 2013 sales of approximately $466 billion, Walmart employs more than 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting corporate.walmart.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at twitter.com/walmartnewsroom. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com.
