🧠 The 45-Minute Walmart Masterclass

Hey there,

Welcome back to the 67th edition of Brandish,

Your guide to crafting an iconic brand.

45 minutes.

That's all you get to pitch a year's worth of work at Walmart.

With 350+ private label brands fighting for shelf space, you better make those minutes count.

Last year we walked in like total rookies. This year? We walked out with 45 new SKUs approved.

So kick back,

Grab a Brez,

And let's talk about what it really takes to dominate retail.

The Retail Game is Different "Just take your DTC brand to retail!"

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that...

Here's what most DTC brands don't realize - retail isn't just an extension of your online business.

It's a completely different game with its own rules, players, and ways to win (or lose).

Last Year vs. This Year: A Tale of Two Reviews 

Let me paint you a picture of our first Walmart line review...

Picture three founders, fresh off DTC success, walking into Walmart HQ with:

• A pretty deck (lots of pictures, minimal data)

• Product features (but no category analysis)

• DTC pricing (completely wrong for retail)

• Zero understanding of retail metrics

Classic DTC-to-retail rookie moves.

Fast forward to this year:

• Category growth analysis

• Competitive positioning data

• Strategic pricing models

• Retail-specific SKU development

• Off-shelf display proposals

The difference?

We finally understood that retail success isn't about your brand story - it's about your data story.

The Art of the Line Review Here's the brutal truth about line reviews:

Your buyer doesn't care about your brand's journey. They care about numbers. Performance. Data.

But here's where it gets interesting...

You need to tell a compelling story WITH your data.

Think of it like this:

• First 10 minutes: Performance recap

• Next 15 minutes: Category opportunities

• Final 20 minutes: Future growth strategy

The secret? Keep it dummy-down simple.

Our buyer literally told us: "Don't get too deep into product features."

They want to know:

• What it is

• What it does

• Why it sells

• How it grows the category

That's it.

Tool of the Week

What if you could double your ad spend tomorrow without tanking your ROAS?

That’s the dream for every eCommerce marketer.

Turn up the budget, see sales skyrocket, and keep acquisition costs in check.

But here’s the harsh reality: most ad accounts hit a wall—a local maximum.

You’ve likely seen it happen: increase the budget, and suddenly CPAs climb while profitability crashes. 

The tools Meta provides—broad targeting, Advantage+ Campaigns—can only take you so far. At some point, you hit that plateau where more spend doesn’t mean more growth.

It’s frustrating, especially when you’ve fine-tuned creative and tested every campaign structure under the sun. 

What else can you do?

The problem lies in how Meta’s algorithm works. 

It’s designed to optimize for efficiency, finding “good enough” audiences to drive short-term results. 

But that approach misses untapped high-intent buyers—segments Meta’s tools just don’t “see.”

So while you might get incremental improvements with better creative or tweaks to your campaign setup, true scale often feels out of reach.

That’s the local maximum: the point where optimization hits diminishing returns.

Breaking past this ceiling isn’t about spending more—it’s about smarter targeting. 

That’s where Proxima comes in.

Proxima flips the script by giving brands access to enriched audiences built on +80 million eCommerce shoppers and +$20 billion in cross-store transaction data. 

It identifies high-potential customer segments your Meta account can’t find on its own.

These audiences are modeled using predictive AI, so you can test them against your existing broad campaigns and see how they unlock incremental scale.

No more relying solely on creative iteration or hoping Advantage+ finds the right people. 

Proxima’s data gives you a way to push past the local maximum and scale profitably.

All you have to do is book yourself a free demo.

PS - They just announced an insane revenue match guarantee offer. If Proxima is less efficient than your top campaign, they’ll fully reimburse your lost revenue 🤯. If you’re spending >$50k/month on Meta, this is a no-brainer A/B tes

The Premium Positioning Game

Let's talk about something most brands get wrong: Off-shelf displays.

You know those fancy endcaps and sidekicks you see in Walmart?

Here's the truth: They're expensive. Like, really expensive.

Some brands even take a loss on them.

But here's why they might still be worth it:

1. Brand Presence You're not just buying shelf space - you're buying mindshare.

2. Velocity Boost Products on display can see 3-5x normal sales velocity.

3. Category Leadership It signals to buyers (and competitors) that you're playing to win.

Think of it like paying for a billboard in Times Square. Is it expensive? Yes. Does it build brand authority? Absolutely.

The Science of Retail Pricing One of our biggest lessons? DTC pricing doesn't work in retail.

You need to consider:

• Retailer margins

• Trade spend

• Display costs

• Promotional calendar

• Price elasticity

• Category benchmarks

We spent months reformulating products specifically for retail price points.

Why?

Because in retail, price point is everything.

The Retail Expansion Playbook 

Want to nail your next line review?

Here's your checklist:

1. Data Preparation

• Category growth rates

• Competitor analysis

• Store-level performance

• Inventory turns

• Margin analysis

2. Product Strategy

• Retail-specific SKUs

• Strategic price points

• Clear differentiation

• Category expansion opportunities

3. Operational Excellence

• Supply chain reliability

• Fill rate performance

• Inventory management

• Promotional calendar

4. Growth Vision

• Display strategy

• Category expansion plans

• Marketing support

• Retail-specific innovations

Wrapping Up 

The jump from DTC to retail isn't just about getting your products on shelves.

It's about evolving your entire approach:

• How you present data

• How you structure meetings

• How you price products

• How you think about brand presence

Most importantly?

It's about proving you're not just another DTC brand trying to play in retail.

You're a serious player ready to compete at the highest level.

And sometimes that means spending a whole year learning how to nail a 45-minute meeting.

Until next time,

Ankit