Walmart has announced the winners of its Get On The Shelf competition, an “American Idol”-like contest that attracted products from inventors, entrepreneurs and small businesses across the nation.
Decided by fan votes, three unique products, including grand prize winner HumanKind Water, took the top spots and will now be featured on Walmart.com and in stores.
It greatly exceeded expectations, with over 4,000 entries and massive engagement on social media. There was also a great deal of traditional media coverage of contestants and the contest by large media and by local outlets across the country, both broadcast and print. Contestants and the public both had fun. This first-of-its-kind initiative couldn’t have succeeded without active participation across the whole organization, including @WalmartLabs, GEC Merchant teams, PR, Walmart.com, Legal, Ethical Sourcing, and more.
“This competition was crowd sourcing at its best,” Walmart spokesman Ravi Jariwala said. According to Jariwala, Walmart will work closely with all three winners to help them manage and meet production needs and increase the visibility of their products to Walmart’s 200 million weekly customers.
Due to the wild success of this “test” do you think other retailers will attempt something similar? If so, who?
About Kelly Tirman
Kelly Tirman is Natural Connector, Crowdsourcer and Change Management Business Professional specializing in eCommerce & Social Business. She currently works as a Senior Business Operations Manager for Walmart’s Global eCommerce Business however in her “free-time” Kelly blogs on several topics including Urban Living, Raising Multilingual Children, Organic Beauty. She happily resides in San Francisco with her husband and two children.
