Walmart USA: Market Entry via Bottom-Up Strategy
Central agreement with Walmart secured in 2 years through a bottom-up market entry strategy. From Puerto Rico distributor to Arkansas HQ — and into every Walmart store across the Americas.
Grupo Rayen
2009–2011
Grupo Rayen had a product competitive enough for the US market but no foothold. Walmart doesn't negotiate with unknowns. A direct approach to Arkansas HQ would have gone nowhere — no sales history, no proof of sell-through, no leverage. Rather than pitching central from day one, I built credibility from the ground up. Entry through Puerto Rico — local distributor, real sales data, proven sell-through at shelf level. Once the numbers existed, the conversation with Arkansas HQ was a fundamentally different one.
Central Walmart USA agreement built bottom-up over 2 years. Puerto Rico as proof-of-concept: local distributor onboarded, sell-through data built, credibility established before HQ escalation. Arkansas HQ agreement secured — product distributed across all Walmart stores in the Americas. BestBuy México secured in parallel. LuLu Hypermarkets and EMKE Group across the Gulf. Sustained accounts across LATAM and North Africa: Carrefour, Metro Group, Sodimac, Falabella, Cencosud, Marjane, Monoprix, Géant. 25+ direct key accounts managed simultaneously. Portfolio representing 20% of group total turnover. 15% consistent annual sales growth. 20+ commercial agents and distributors managed across 10+ markets. OEM product lines developed for US direct-sales companies under Vitrex brand: Heritage Mint, Seventh Avenue, Ginny's and Swiss Colony — combined portfolio ~€1M.
Getting into Walmart is one of the hardest retail milestones in FMCG. It requires sustained sell-through data, strict vendor compliance, and a strategy that works simultaneously at local and central level. A central agreement doesn't mean one store — it means every Walmart across the Americas. This wasn't a lucky introduction — it was built methodically over two years. In parallel, OEM development ran directly with the factory for the North American direct-sales channel — product customization, US standards compliance, and tight coordination between commercial, R&D and production. Running both tracks simultaneously at scale is not a standard BD profile.
"I would like to mention the great commercial work of Oriac in acquiring Walmart as a client. This milestone was thanks to months of work and the penetration in Puerto Rico along with other areas involved in the company in which I also participated." — Eveli Navarro Dalmau, Global Sourcing & Procurement, Grupo Rayen
Retail
Landing a central Walmart agreement starting from a regional entry means proving the model at small scale first. Grupo Rayen entered Walmart through a bottom-up strategy: an initial test in Puerto Rico with a local distributor and real sell-through data, scaled over 2 years to Walmart's Arkansas HQ. The resulting central agreement meant distribution of the Mery brand across every Walmart in the Americas. In parallel, the Americas, Maghreb, and Middle East portfolio represented 20% of group revenue with 15% annual growth, including accounts like BestBuy Mexico, LuLu Hypermarkets, Carrefour, Sodimac, and Falabella, over 25 direct key accounts managed simultaneously across three regions.