Hello! 🎉

Love is in the air in Vendorville. And nothing says “Happy Valentine's” like compliance fines, right? 🥴

Most Walmart suppliers have both OTIF and SQEP Fines. From research gathered from suppliers SupplyPike worked within the last year:

98% of Suppliers receive SQEP Fines
89% of Suppliers receive OTIF Fines

Walmart suppliers can be penalized by both compliance programs on a single PO, and unlike chocolate-covered strawberries, no one wants a double-dipping situation.

A recent update: Just in time for the holiday all about showing a little love, Walmart is lowering OTIF Goals.

As if standing outside all supplier's windows holding a boombox, the gesture is appreciated but suppliers still have questions and want to know how this impacts their business moving forward. 📻

Hopefully, this isn’t too forward 😊, but SupplierWiki’s love letter is all of our resources researched and written with suppliers in mind. 💌

SQEP Resources

If you don’t want to read Walmart’s 200+ page Packaging Guide:
Deep Dive: Walmart’s Secondary Packaging Guide
For a comprehensive guide to SQEP + some benchmarking data:
Common SQEP Defects at Walmart eBook
For quick reference on common SQEP Defects:
SQEP Defects Article Playlist

OTIF Resources

For the “Rosetta Stone” of OTIF guidelines
The Ultimate Guide to OTIF eBook
1-hour training on Walmart’s OTIF program:
Walmart's OTIF 201 Webinar
The quick and dirty version of OTIF:
The Unofficial Guide to Disputing Walmart OTIF Fines

Other Retailer News 📰

January 2nd, 2024

Walmart Announces Luminate to Replace DSS in 2024

"Walmart recently announced that starting March 1st of 2024, they will be discontinuing the Decision Support System app (DSS) and replacing it with Luminate, split into a required unpaid service (Luminate Basic) or an optional paid service (Luminate Charter)."

February 1st, 2024

The $400,000 Retail Job Without a College Degree
"Walmart is giving bigger bonuses and adding stock awards to their annual pay packages, pushing the total compensation for the best ones to more than $400,000 a year."

Feb 4th, 2024

Walmart's Stock Is Gravitating Toward an All-Time-High

"The world's largest retailer surprised investors on Tuesday by announcing a 3-for-1 stock split."

Rick’s Tips

One-Click Rick is SupplyPike’s helpful mascot, full of tips and tricks for all things around revenue loss. His arch nemesis is Clippy the Mircosoft paper clip, but he denies any beef between them. 🤫

“Each retailer refers to AP deductions differently. In Home Depot's case, these AP deductions are generally called chargebacks.

There are only three chargebacks that Home Depot regularly turns over to their suppliers: Shortages, Pricing Discrepancies, and Trade Discounts.”

Let’s Circle Back 🌀

Does anyone miss Valentine’s Day at school? The grade-school days of homemade cards, candy, and crafts need a comeback in the office setting. 🌹💝

Target is red, Walmart is blue, deductions wreak havoc on your revenue.

Target is red, Walmart is blue, Home Depot is orange, and Amazon is a similar hue!

Target is red, Walmart is blue, and we have one-click disputing – SupplyPike to the rescue!

Target is red, Walmart is blue, suppliers are tired, and it's not even Q2.

Target is red, Walmart is blue, SupplierWiki resources are here for you!

Target is red, Walmart is blue, always over-prepare for line reviews.

Feel free to use some of this supplier POetry on your co-workers on February 14th. Or make up your own and send it to us!

Careers at SupplyPike 😎

I'm sure you are reading this email and thinking to yourself, "The people who work here seem pretty cool."

You'd be right, and you've already passed the first test. Want to join us?

There's a new role open that may be right up your alley! Consider applying if the following sounds like you.

You enjoy identifying trends, benchmarks, and areas for improvement in customers' retailer deduction and compliance data.
You love to support internal teams by educating and decoding the world of retail deductions.
You're tech-savvy and can learn new technologies quickly.

Apply here or send this job posting to a colleague. 👩🏽‍💻

❤️ Sincerely, Your Friends in Vendorville

SupplierWiki

SQEP-T Off Your Feet!