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How Walmart Sets Suppliers Up for Success: Q&A With Jason Fremstad

Walmart is not just looking to give emerging brands a foot in the door with the largest retailer in the world, it also wants to provide them with the education and resources to succeed once inside, according to Jason Fremstad, Senior Vice President of Supplier Development. 

In this fireside chat with ECRM & RangeMe SVP of Retail Wayne Bennett, Fremstad shares how Walmart has created several tailored pathways for suppliers based on their origin, category, and maturity level and how its innovative programs, including its Growth Summits and Open Call events are designed to support suppliers at different stages of their journey. These initiatives help suppliers understand and navigate Walmart’s processes while ensuring a steady pipeline of new and capable suppliers and products for customers.

Bennett: Tell us a little bit about your journey at Walmart, and your role as the SVP of Supplier Development and how it fits within the Walmart ecosystem.

Fremstad: I started my retail career at Walmart, Inc. My first role in 2006 was a buyer’s assistant at Sam’s Club, a role that doesn’t even exist anymore. But it was an amazing role to have because you had the ability to work directly with merchants, and …

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Winning Pitches: 2 Ways RangeMe is Bringing Brands and Buyers Together In-Person

Most of you are familiar with RangeMe as an online product discovery platform that helps emerging brands boost their exposure with retail and foodservice buyers. But what you may not know is that RangeMe also gives brands the opportunity to pitch their products in-person directly to buyers.

That’s right – RangeMe subscribers can get private, pre-scheduled and distraction-free meetings as part of two unique initiatives: RangeMe Live and RangeMe Discovery Hub, both of which are held at parent company ECRM’s category-specific Sessions. 

RangeMe Live is for Pro subscribers, and offers three free 20-minute face-to-face meetings annually as part of the subscription benefits. RangeMe Discovery Hub is available to RangeMe subscribers of all subscription tiers, and delivers the complete ECRM Session experience with a full schedule of private buyer meetings at special pricing for first-time RangeMe brands. 

Together, these offerings enable RangeMe subscribers to bridge the divide between digital and in-person buyer engagement, and provide a natural progression for brands as they grow their reach from local distribution to regional, national – and eventually – global distribution. 

realsy

“To get in front of buyers at retailers this big is huge, and you literally have a room with them face to face,” …

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Growing your business to a household name is the dream of every entrepreneur. However, achieving this level of recognition requires more than just ambition; it demands strategic planning, resource allocation, and often, significant financial investment. Access to capital isn’t always easy to come by, however. In fact, a study by U.S. Bank found that eighty-two percent of small businesses fail because of cash flow problems, and twenty-nine percent run out of cash.

Without sufficient funds to invest in inventory, marketing, and infrastructure, even the most promising ventures can struggle to gain traction. Meanwhile, the right financing strategy can provide the resources needed to grow and thrive.

Securing the right funding product 

Whether you are growing through retail, wholesale channels, ecommerce marketplaces, or your DTC website, being able to fund your growth is an essential part of being successful. There are many options to finance your production runs but not every one of them is the right option for every business. It’s important to ensure you fully understand the pros and cons of the funding solutions you may be considering.

Inventory Financing

Inventory financing can offer swift funding even for newer businesses or those with less-than-perfect credit, with funds typically available …

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RangeMe Review: How Due Diligence & Custom Offerings Land 2×4 Nutrition On Retail Shelves

Nothing irks a buyer more than a brand that goes into a meeting unprepared. In fact, the most common advice I hear from buyers with regards to supplier meeting prep is, “Do your homework.” You should have an idea about the buyer’s organization, the markets it serves, and – whenever possible – actual boots-on-the-ground experience at its locations. Then, present accordingly.

Some brands take it a step further. They do all of those items recommended above, and then tailor both their pitch and their offerings to that particular buyer. When that happens, it’s gold. 

2×4 Nutrition is a great example of this, and has reaped the benefits with broad placement of its products at national retail chains. In this post, we’re going to show you how they did it for a recent Walmart Open Call.

About 2×4 Nutrition

Michael Lebhar

2×4 was founded on the idea of making nutrition accessible to everyone, everywhere. It offers a line of supplements based on liposomal technology that provides fast absorption into the body. The brand started with the basics such as Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc and magnesium, then added multivitamins and now offer supplements that address specific need states.

Having already seen …

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Spritzal Cookie Company Co-Founder Taylor Elizabeth Walker leaves no stone unturned when it comes to growing her brand. Each morning at 8AM she’s on RangeMe checking out her profile insights to see what’s trending with buyers, and also seeing which retailers are conducting reviews in her category and what immediate retail opportunities are available.

She’s also a huge proponent of submitting products to relevant RangeMe and ECRM Summits, which are available to all Starter, Premium and Pro subscribers (click here to see the benefits of each RangeMe subscription tier). As a certified women-owned brand, these have included approximately a dozen supplier diversity summits, as well.

Watch the full video interview with Spritzal’s Taylor Walker

RangeMe successes

This proactive approach to leveraging RangeMe for connecting with buyers has paid off — she’s landed several deals, including two national retailers, and is in talks with several others.

In the video interview above with Joseph Tarnowski — who met Taylor via the CPG Vibes LinkedIn Live events (of which RangeMe is a sponsor), she shares the origin of the brand from her grandmother’s recipe card to the thriving business it is today, as well as some best practices that have helped her on …

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For Emerging CPG Brands, Collaboration Beats Competition Every Time

Emerging brands have to support each other. 

This is the way we climb mountains. None of us can do it on our own. It takes a collective interest. How can we together move the needle? The key word here is “together.” 

Our founders take on big CPG brands – bringing even bigger ideas and with much smaller bank accounts (we’re often just hoping to make payroll and pay the bills, right?). We are fighting for a seat at the table. This is the magic of the emerging brand. Our founders earn a seat at the table by their nature of being a change agent. By wearing the badge of an impact driver for people and the planet while driving for profit, founders become players.

Founders of emerging brands are in a position to set the stage for what consumers should expect. Consider the ripple effect of impact and innovation from emerging brands:

Brands launch innovative products.  Consumers discover innovation in ingredients, form factors, etc.  Consumers become educated about the benefits of said innovation and show up at the register. Big CPG sees the validation of concept and begins R&D/formulation, heading toward launch.

Don’t think for one minute that younger brands …

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