Open Call 2023: Highlights
Open Call 2023: Celebrating a Decade of Opportunities
Our tenth annual Open Call marked a decade of providing opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses with products made, grown or assembled in the U.S. to grow. More than 700 businesses from around the country flocked to Bentonville in October to pitch over 1,000 shelf-ready products to Walmart and Sam's Club merchants.
At Open Call 2023, more than 180 pitches resulted in over 130 "golden tickets" representing deals for suppliers to sell their products on Walmart or Sam’s Club shelves or online at Walmart.com. In addition, more than 470 products earned further consideration for deals in the future. We’re excited for all the new businesses that will be joining the Walmart family of suppliers!
Check out our video recap of the event below and our Corporate News post for more information on the event.
Open Call General Session
This year's Open Call featured opportunities for supplier development, helping all finalists develop the skills to further grow their businesses. Walmart also offers resources to golden ticket winners to help them succeed as Walmart suppliers.
When finalists weren't pitching, they attended breakout meetings, including sessions with Walmart executives, to learn about pitching best practices and the resources Walmart offers to business owners. Finalists got to hear from speakers including Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Walmart U.S. President and CEO John Furner, and television host and entrepreneur Mike Rowe. All three speakers highlighted the importance of investing in U.S. manufacturing and urged Open Call finalists to continue pursuing their dreams.
A Commitment to American jobs
In March of 2021, Walmart announced a 10-year, $350 billion commitment to sourcing goods made, grown or assembled in the U.S., which is expected to support more than 750,000 new American jobs and grow U.S. manufacturing1. This investment is on top of Walmart's previous $250 billion commitment, which we met in FY2023.
Already, more than two-thirds of Walmart's annual product spend is on goods made, grown or assembled in the U.S.
1Per Boston Consulting Group using data from the Economic Policy Institute and Bureau of Labor statistics.
