Walmart Gives Entrepreneurs the Chance to ‘Get on the Shelf’

Walmart has kicked off a new installment of Get on the Shelf, a social, crowdsourcing competition developed by its San Bruno, Calif.-based @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 the Get on the Shelf website. The contest is open to a wide range of products, and any entrepreneur in America 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 the public will be asked to vote on their favorite products later this summer.

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 the Get on the Shelf website, 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.

Last year’s Get on the Shelf contest attracted more than 5,000 entries, and more than one million votes from across the country. Voters chose last year’s grand prize winner Humankind Water and runners-up PlateTopper and SnapIt Eyeglass Repair Kit.

WalMart operates more than 10,800 stores under 69 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries.