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Retail Strategies & Supplier Insights
Discover the strategies and insights you need to thrive in the competitive retail landscape. Retail Strategies & Supplier Insights delivers expert advice, actionable tips, and the latest industry trends tailored specifically for retail suppliers. Whether you’re looking to boost sales, recover profits, or navigate retailer relationships, our blog is your go-to resource for success.


Food Broker Insights: A Playbook for Emerging Brands
You’ve got a fantastic product—the DTC store hums. Reviews are glowing. Now you want a spot on a national shelf. Good—know the bar keeps rising. Retailers are fielding more pitches while private label grabs a record share, making differentiation and execution non-negotiable. (In the first half of 2024, store brands hit 20.4% dollar share and 22.9% unit share in the U.S.) And competition for buyer attention is real. Walmart’s 2025 Open Call alone welcomed 500+ entrepreneurs

Jon Allen
14 hours ago3 min read


Walmart’s Next Play: Trends Suppliers Must Ride
Walmart’s Next Play: Trends Suppliers Must Ride Walmart isn’t just remodeling stores—it’s rebuilding the operating system of U.S. retail. From a “store of the future” blueprint in Texas to AI-powered shopping and exit tech, the world’s largest retailer is wiring digital into every aisle, endcap, and app screen. If you sell to Walmart (or want to), here’s what’s changing—and how to line up your game plan now. What Walmart is building (and why it matters) A flagship “store of t

Jon Allen
Oct 234 min read


Private Label: How Suppliers Can Ride the Wave
Let’s be blunt: private label isn’t a “recession play” anymore. It’s a structural shift in how baskets are built.

Jon Allen
Oct 224 min read


Navigating Walmart Readiness with Expert Guidance
Entering the Walmart marketplace is like setting sail on a vast ocean filled with opportunity and challenge. For consumer packaged goods brands and suppliers, Walmart represents a treasure trove of potential sales and growth.

Jon Allen
Oct 94 min read


Open Call 2025: What to Know Now
Walmart’s annual Open Call is happening right now in Bentonville—and the energy is real. Think hundreds of founders from nearly every corner of the country streaming into town to pitch U.S.-made, grown, or assembled products to Walmart and Sam’s Club merchants.

Jon Allen
Oct 83 min read


Retail Deductions 101: Terms, Causes & Solutions
“Retail deductions” are amounts a retailer withholds from your invoice—usually for shortages, compliance issues, pricing discrepancies, freight/OTIF misses, or after-the-fact (post-audit) claims.

Jon Allen
Oct 65 min read


Understanding the Impact of a Government Shutdown on Retailers and Suppliers
If Congress misses the October 1 funding deadline, parts of the U.S. government will shut down. Essential services will keep running, but...

Jon Allen
Sep 294 min read


Your Product Photos Are Killing Conversion (Here’s How to Fix Them)
Shoppers buy the image first, then the product. Low-quality product photos don’t just hurt conversion—they can trigger returns, bad reviews, or even compliance flags.

Jon Allen
Sep 252 min read


Elevate Your Brand with Expert Product Photography
What is Product Photography? (Simple Definition)
Product photography is the disciplined process of planning, lighting, styling, and capturing images of a product, allowing customers to evaluate it online or in print.

Jon Allen
Sep 244 min read


What Is a Food Broker? (And When You Should Use One)
A food broker is a contract sales representative who connects food and beverage manufacturers with retail buyers—think grocery chains, club stores, mass, and specialty.
They don’t buy or own your product; they sell it, manage the relationship, and help move it through existing retail channels.

Jon Allen
Sep 234 min read


Unlocking Rapid Growth: The Retail Broker’s Magic Touch
In the retail world, where countless brands jostle for attention, achieving a foothold can often feel like scaling Everest. Yet, the...

Jon Allen
Oct 19, 20232 min read
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