8th & Walton Illuminates Wal-Mart Way

Living in Northwest Arkansas means living in the shadow of the world’s largest retailer, where concepts like EDLP and Rollbacks can seem as ingrained as TDs and touchbacks.

What Matt Fifer realized while serving an expatriate assignment in Japan, though, is even the roots of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. don’t always cross oceans. It was during his two years abroad, in fact, when Fifer was first struck by the idea foreign companies might be willing to pay to be taught “the very basics of doing business with Wal-Mart.”

The notion popped up again when Fifer had a conversation with Nancy Woods, a veteran of the supplier industry. Fifer and Woods were working at Premier Retail Networks, Wal-Mart’s in-store TV network supplier, at the time.

“I remember when I shared my vision with Nancy,” Fifer said with a smile. “She said, ‘Matt, you’re thinking way too small.'”

Woods’ insinuation, based on years of experience, was foreign companies weren’t the only ones who would pay to learn how to do better business with Wal-Mart. Fast-forward to today, and Fifer and Woods are thinking bigger and bigger as the co-founders and managing partners at 8th & Walton, a Bentonville-based supplier development outfit.

Having started by offering just one class, now known as “Walmart 101,” 8th & Walton currently offers about 100 different courses aimed at helping companies do more efficient and effective business with Wal-Mart. And while Fifer and Woods declined to give specific revenue figures, this much is clear: companies close to home and far, far away are willing to pay to learn the ins and outs of Wal-Mart.

Consider 8th & Walton offers 50 to 75 courses per month. Most courses cost between $500 and $600 per person and the average class size is 10 to 15. It doesn’t take Retail Link training to do that math.

Learn the Language

Retail Link is an Internet-based tool Wal-Mart created to allow suppliers to access – and therefore analyze – point-of-sale data and other information. It’s also a significant piece of what 8th & Walton teaches.

No less than 10 of 8th & Walton’s current courses contain the name “Retail Link,” and it was mentioned early and often by those who are familiar with the company’s curriculum. Clint Lazenby said Retail Link is a second language for suppliers doing business with Wal-Mart.

“You can’t deal with Wal-Mart if you don’t know Retail Link,” said Lazenby, director of Walmart International for ConAgra Foods Inc. and an 8th & Walton advisory board member. “It’s like The Koran for Muslims. It’s the cornerstone of the culture.”

Roger Doyon, senior vice president of sales and marketing for CleanBrands LLC, agreed. Doyon took a Retail Link-related class a couple of years ago, and called it “really a pleasant surprise.”           

“What I liked about their format is, first it was conducted by people that had experience on the vendor side and the Wal-Mart side,” he said.

Doyon said the instructors “spoke the vendor language” and came “from the trenches.” He was impressed, too, by their willingness to gauge the attendees’ education levels and areas of interest, then tailor their lessons to fit both.

“The traditional classroom format? They kind of threw that out the window,” Doyon said. “It was a notch above any of the other training I’ve been to. If someone were to ask me if they’ve got the goods, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them.”

In fact, Doyon did just that. After hearing his experience, two other senior-level CleanBrands executives took courses.

8th & Walton 101

Fifer and Woods still seem genuinely flattered by such glowing reviews. The two were so careful during the planning stages that more than a year elapsed between 8th & Walton’s founding (June 2006) and its office doors actually opening (July 2007).

“It took us a full year to figure out what we wanted to do and to figure out what we didn’t want to do,” Fifer said. “Had we not taken the time to establish that vision from the beginning, I think it could have been just a muddy mess.”

What became immediately clear, however, was the need for 8th & Walton to expand its curriculum beyond the basic introduction to Wal-Mart. Woods said that class was – and remains – a valuable tool for individuals and companies who never have done business with Wal-Mart.

For the many individuals and companies who are familiar with Wal-Mart, though, there was a demand for something more.

“It wasn’t long after we finished the first ‘Wal-Mart 101′ that we realized we needed to add more offerings to be relevant,” Woods said.

By the fall of 2007, a handful of additional classes were added. The growth has been steady since then, and there are currently about 100 different courses available, whether they’re administered in a classroom, Web-based or video-on-demand format.

The classes largely are divided into six basic categories. There are fundamental courses like the introduction to Wal-Mart and retail math, as well as more specific offerings in the areas of sales and inventory analysis, category management and shopper insights, leadership development, selling to Wal-Mart, and operational excellence.

Just as they expanded 8th & Walton’s educational menu, Woods and Fifer quickly realized they could extend their reach far beyond Bentonville. Using one full-time facilitator and a network of 20-plus instructors, 8th & Walton offers classes in about 40 cities throughout the United States.

8th & Walton also maintains an office in Mexico City and an advisory board for its Latin American operations, which includes work in Chile, Costa Rica and Guatemala. Puerto Rico will be added in December, and the company has a steady presence in Canada.

Spreading the Word

Regardless of where the instruction is given, it is the emphasis on the instructors that separates 8th & Walton from previous attempts to teach the Wal-Mart way. Fifer said a “by suppliers, for suppliers” mentality was instilled from the get-go.

The idea was to have “top-of-mind” topics presented by people “who are still very much in the game.”

Ken Simpson, The Clorox Co.’s Walmart International team leader and an 8th & Walton adviser, said Fifer and Woods have succeeded in implementing that strategy.

“The training is done by people that have worked, or are working, with Wal-Mart. These people really know how to make it happen,” Simpson said. “They have credibility.”

“Getting people that are in the know right now keeps it fresh and makes it spot-on,” Lazenby added.

The next step could be for 8th & Walton to follow Wal-Mart into new markets. Those possibilities include Russia, South Africa and India.

“When Wal-Mart moves into new countries, those are big opportunities for 8th & Walton,” said Simpson, who has had team members take replenishment, inventory management, and other courses.

Fifer stressed there is no official partnership between Wal-Mart and his firm, though exit surveys indicate about 15 percent of its business comes from Wal-Mart referrals.

Instead, Fifer believes 8th & Walton simply fills a logical need for the retail giant’s suppliers.

“No one had ever really given it a brand, given it an address,” Fifer said.

Until now.