Lunr Goes to Bentonville: Our Exclusive Look Inside the Walmart Ecosystem

In early September, we hosted our second annual Emerging Brands Collective in Bentonville, Arkansas, bringing together leading consumer investors and Walmart leadership to explore the future of retail for emerging brands. We spent a day touring Walmart's impressive new home office, hearing from merchandising experts on turning ideas into on-shelf success, and learning directly from the people shaping retail's future. The conversations were candid and full of actionable insight. 

Here are the insights we’re bringing back for the brands we support:

Sam's Club: Pallets, Packs, and Member-First Strategy

Sam’s Club operates with a clear hierarchy: values first, price second, quality third. They see themselves as a member-based organization building local loyalty across mind, heart, and wallet. The goal is to make every visit feel like a “treasure hunt,” with rotational newness that keeps members excited.

At Sam’s, two levers drive sales more than anything else:

1. In-club pallet displays. Pallet design dictates trial. From tray height to packaging visibility, every detail matters. The math is critical: sell-through calculations determine pallet fillers, and selling out too quickly is considered as much of a failure as over-forecasting.

2. Online product pages. PDPs are as critical as the pallet itself. Clear value callouts and differentiation are required to convert browsers into buyers.

Sam’s recently hired retail’s first Chief Experience Officer to champion convenience. Scan-and-Go is central to that vision, and digital touchpoints are growing more influential every quarter.

What brands should know about Sam's Club:

• Pack architecture drives trial. Pack size and format (how products are sized and bundled for sale) determine when customers return and how accessible the cash outlay feels. You only get one chance to land the “buying because” statement.

• Rotational launches fuel excitement. Seasonal flavors and limited-time offerings create the “treasure hunt” feeling that keeps members coming back.

• Inventory responsibility falls on brands. Sam’s does not cross-dock between facilities. You own your purchase orders in club, which means safety stock and inventory health must be managed directly.

• Resets require long lead times. Sam’s runs resets on a 6–12 month schedule, so planning far in advance is non-negotiable.

• Exclusivity can be flexible. Agreements may apply to a flavor, pack size, or seasonal variant rather than a brand’s entire line. Knowing this prevents overcommitting.

• Markdowns are part of the reality. Even strong items can be marked down. Smart brands plan for this financially instead of treating it as a surprise.

• Speed is possible for the prepared. Under the right conditions, Sam’s can move a brand from concept to in-club placement in as little as three months. That pace surprised many founders and highlighted the need for financial and operational readiness from the start.

Timeline reality: Executives pointed to Bloom as an example of authentic founder storytelling paired with operational discipline. Bloom began conversations with Sam’s just six months after launch, but it took 2.5 years to appear in stores. The founder’s story carried weight throughout, proving that narrative matters, but only when paired with patience and operational readiness.

Walmart: Scale, Speed, and the Value Revolution

With 5,200 doors, Walmart is the most powerful retail launchpad in America. Executives emphasized that scale alone is not enough. They are redefining “value” to include speed, accessibility, and credibility in categories like premium beauty. For emerging brands, the message was clear: Walmart can be the fastest and broadest path to market, but only if you can match their pace.

What’s Changing at Walmart

Beauty is booming. Walmart wants to be the most trusted beauty retailer for every life stage. They've onboarded 90+ premium brands, remodeled stores, and built Walmart Start, a beauty accelerator giving emerging brands more runway to prove themselves beyond the standard 13-week window. Executives pointed to La Roche-Posay's launch as proof that "value" isn't always about low price but rather trusted quality with unmatched accessibility.

Private label is reshaping categories. BetterGoods marked Walmart's first new food private label in 20 years. Private label penetration increases across categories while grocery rollbacks are up 30% year-over-year, intensifying price pressure. Executives pointed to examples like $1 mini Poppi cans and hot sauces as signals of how Walmart is pushing innovation into affordable, everyday formats that reinforce its value promise.

Operational details drive results. Collect versus prepay shipping terms can swing sales. With collect, Walmart manages freight and instocks hover around 92–99%. With prepay, brands cover freight costs but often see a 10% sales lift. Walmart also applies the “pack-and-a-half rule,” which means case packs must be small enough to fit fully on the shelf. Larger packs slow down velocities and risk being cut from the set.

How Walmart Judges Success

Walmart looks at more than sales when deciding if a brand deserves long-term placement. Key metrics include:

• New customer acquisition. One in four customers of a Walmart-exclusive brand were entirely new to Walmart.

• Repeat purchase. Trial must turn into habit.

• Basket size. Winning products make the overall basket larger by pulling in complementary purchases.

• App-to-cart conversion. With more digital discovery, Walmart tracks how often browsing translates to buying.

• Brand heat. Search interest, social buzz, and word of mouth all factor into momentum.

Partnership and Performance Expectations

• Co-creation earns commitment. Brands like Hello Bello, Jinx, and Smash Kitchen traded exclusivity for deeper partnership, and Walmart responded with stronger support and broader exposure. The CeraVe back-to-school endcap showed how operator-friendly packaging (cases designed for quick, easy stocking in stores) helped accelerate rollout across 2,000 doors.

• Velocity sets the clock. Brands have 13 weeks to prove sell-through, leaving no margin for missed forecasts or weak safety stock. Walmart’s Open Call and the Walmart Start accelerator give earlier-stage brands more time to show performance before scaling nationally.

For more on this topic, check out our 2025 Retail Accelerator update 

The Operations Reality Check

Innovation opens doors, but operational discipline keeps you on the shelf. Success requires mastering both the relationship and execution sides.

Standards are non-negotiable. Sam's updates its extensive packaged goods manual every spring. Not knowing it inside and out costs time, money, and credibility.

Financial readiness is baseline. Beyond the product itself, retailers expect a Dunn & Bradstreet credit approval, the ability to fund trade spend, and reliable safety stock. Many buyers also recommend refreshing packaging every 18 months to stay competitive on quality and shelf appeal.

Partnership differentiates winners. Merchants value brands that treat them as collaborators. Share consumer research early, get approvals in writing, and bring proactive solutions. Transparency and data-sharing build the trust that gets you invited back.

Poor compliance has serious consequences. One buyer described “MOD violators,” brands whose products pile up in the back instead of reaching shelves because their case packs or pallet designs don’t fit Walmart’s modular (MOD) system for store layouts. The result is products shoppers never see and reputations that are hard to repair. It was a sharp reminder that flawless execution in-store is just as important as brand storytelling.

Consumer Trends Reshaping Retail

Health and wellness are reshaping entire assortments. Five themes stood out:

1. Women's health growth accelerates across supplements, functional foods, and personal care designed specifically for female consumers.
2. Metabolic health gains momentum as GLP-1 adoption reframes weight management and fuels demand for inflammation and autoimmune solutions.
3. Protein replaces "diet" as consumers abandon restriction for protein-forward lifestyles spanning multiple aisles.
4. "Better-for-you" becomes baseline. Consumers assume wellness standards across categories. Winning brands add value through taste, experience, or authenticity.

Scalp care exemplifies this shift. Once niche, it is now mainstream as consumers integrate scalp health into broader wellness routines.

What This Means for Emerging Brands

Breaking into Walmart or Sam's Club is high-stakes. Retailers demand financial strength for production, safety stock, and trade spend; execution precision in pallet design, pack sizing, and compliance; proof of incremental value through new households, bigger baskets, and data insights; and authentic storytelling paired with operational discipline.

The world's largest retailers are moving faster and demanding more. Walmart's 5,200 doors dwarf Target's 1,900, providing unmatched accessibility to rural markets where premium retailers like Sephora, Ulta, or Whole Foods don't exist. For emerging brands, the opportunity is enormous—but only for those properly prepared.

At Lunr Capital, we believe founders shouldn't choose between chasing growth and managing cash flow. With the right financing partner, you can do both and be ready when these retailers say yes.

Ready to scale into national retail? Connect with us to see how Lunr can bridge the gap between ambition and execution.