Next great product soon to hit Walmart shelves

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Walmart is offering consumers the chance to get their product sold on Walmart.com and in Walmart stores in its new contest, "Get on the Shelf."

The nationwide contest is the latest announcement from @WalmartLabs and similar to the popular American Idol television show, contestants will create videos of their latest inventions and the public will vote online for the winners.

A two-round public voting process will determine the top three products to be sold on Walmart.com.The grand prize winner's product will be sold on Walmart.com and featured on the site's home page, and also get valuable shelf space in select Walmart stores across the country.

"Walmart has the best products at everyday low prices but we know there are some great undiscovered products that have not yet reached our shelves," said Venky Harinarayan, SVP Walmart global e-commerce and co-head of @WalmartLabs. "For a long time, the ability to get a product into a retail store was at the sole discretion of the store buyer.Today, we are removing these barriers by giving anyone a chance to launch their product at Walmart and reach millions of shoppers nationwide."

The contest opened with a sneak preview a few weeks ago and already has nearly 60 entries including a new hot sauce, cube game, hair accessory, iPad pillow and paw puffs for dogs from individuals across the country.

Contestants can submit an entry video at http://GetOnTheShelf.com until Feb. 22 when the submission round ends. Videos will be screened for appropriateness before posting them to the site. The first round of voting will take place March 7 through April 4 at which point the top 10 finalists will be announced. The second round of voting will take place April 11 to 24, at which point the top three contestants and grand prize winner will be announced.