Join us for a panel-style conversation with brand leaders, shopper marketing practitioners, and acquisition specialists who are navigating one of the most consequential shifts in Walmart’s history, and have the results to show for it.
The Walmart shopper has changed more in the last eighteen months than the Walmart ecosystem has, and that is saying something. Discovery is no longer linear. Shoppers form opinions and intent long before they reach a search bar, shaped by creators they follow, communities they trust, reviews they read, and content that meets them in the middle of everyday life. By the time they land on a product page, the decision is often already made.
The tools have evolved in response. Social spend is now as measurable as search. Half of Walmart’s app users are already shopping through an AI assistant that rewards content quality over ad spend. The television in a shopper’s living room is now a closed-loop Walmart touchpoint. Walmart Connect is growing six times faster than Walmart’s sales. But the bigger story is not about the tooling. Consumer expectations have outpaced the playbooks most CPG teams are still running, and the Walmart suppliers and sellers pulling ahead are the ones building around how shoppers actually decide today.
That shopper, especially the Gen Z and younger millennial audience driving Walmart’s growth forward, no longer separates price from experience. They still care deeply about value. They also care about how a brand shows up, who is talking about it, and whether it feels honest enough to trust with a tight budget. They lean on creators, communities, and real-life use cases to reduce hesitation, and they move seamlessly between the app, the store, and the living room.
The suppliers and sellers winning this moment are not waiting for a perfect playbook. They are making deliberate bets, learning fast, and rebuilding their go-to-market around trust, relatability, and proof of incrementality. This conversation is about what those bets look like in practice, and what is actually working right now.
This is not a presentation. It is a panel-style conversation with time set aside for audience Q&A, so you can listen, take notes, and jump in with questions if you would like.
On the Panel:
- Remy LeCompte, Walmart
- Mary Callender, Kimberly-Clark
- Ashlee Kimbel, Samsung
- Rebecca Gammon, Clorox
- Collin Morgan, Hip2Save
- Dustin Kuk, InMarket
Cracking the Code is about:
- How consumer spending behavior is shifting, and why traditional playbooks are breaking: today’s shopper is more intentional, more value-driven, and influenced by multiple touchpoints before a single click ever happens. The Walmart suppliers and sellers who are still building acquisition plans around search, end caps, and TPRs alone are watching share quietly leak to brands building around the way shoppers actually decide. We will dig into what that shift looks like inside a real Walmart business, and what to stop doing in 2026.
- Why trust, relatability, and real-life content now drive conversion as much as price: the modern Walmart shopper is not just looking for deals. They are looking for confidence in what they buy, and that confidence is being built by creators, communities, and the people in their feed who feel like them. We will talk about how leading Walmart suppliers are shifting from transactional messaging to experience-led storytelling, and how to bring that story into a line review without it sounding like marketing fluff.
- The new reality of how consumers discover before they ever search: shoppers are forming opinions and intent long before they hit Walmart.com or open the app. First-party Walmart behavioral data, paired with off-Walmart audience signal, reveals that discovery is happening across content, social, and community, and that most CPG brands are spending against the wrong end of the journey. We will look at how the suppliers gaining share are meeting shoppers earlier, and how to translate that into a sharper merchant conversation.
- Why CPG go-to-market strategies must evolve to drive real growth at Walmart: winning today requires more than promotions, more than a stronger MAP, and more than a louder retail media buy. It requires a connected approach across channels, content, and commerce, and a credible story about how you are actually growing your buyer base. We will talk about what that story sounds like in a JBP, what proof of incrementality looks like to a merchant in 2026, and how to make sure your acquisition strategy can stand up to the question every supplier is being asked: “Where is the new growth coming from?”
This is the next Supplier Community EXCHANGE! event in Northwest Arkansas, part of a growing series built by suppliers, for suppliers.
EXCHANGE! events are intentionally different. These meetups are education-forward and conversation-driven, designed to help you learn from the people and teams playing to win in the Walmart ecosystem, compare notes with peers, and walk away with sharper thinking and a clearer path forward.
No vendor pitches. No acquisition hype. Just real conversations about what it takes to grow your buyer base and Win With Walmart.
What to Expect
Panel Discussion and Audience-Driven Conversation: Brand leaders, shopper marketing practitioners, and acquisition specialists will share what they have tried, what they have learned, and where they are investing next, then open the floor to an honest discussion shaped by your questions.
Peer Exchange: Structured conversation with others across the Walmart supplier community to compare where you are, what channels deserve your attention, and what is actually moving the needle on new buyer growth.
Meaningful Networking: Dedicated time to connect, make introductions, and explore collaboration opportunities in a welcoming environment.
Food and Drinks: Complimentary breakfast will be provided. (Interested in sampling your products? Contact us!)
Whether you are preparing for a line review, rethinking where your acquisition budget belongs in 2026, or trying to make sense of how Walmart’s rapidly evolving media ecosystem fits your growth strategy, EXCHANGE! is designed to help you walk away with sharper thinking, stronger connections, and a clearer path to growing your buyer base.
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