Strategy, Positioning & Buyer Readiness for CPG Brands
CornerstoneStrategy Group
EST. MMXXVI
There are a lot of people who can help you set up an item. There are very few who know what it takes to walk into a room with a Walmart merchant and walk out with real distribution.
Start a conversationWhat it takes to win on shelf
Cornerstone Strategy Group is built on years on the buyer's side of the table at Walmart and Sam's Club — as a merchant, negotiator, and category strategist. That's the kind of judgment that comes from knowing, before a product ever launches, whether the price, the positioning, and the story will actually win.
Category growth planning, pricing and value proposition strategy, brand positioning, CPFR, and negotiation strategy — the work that gets a brand in the room with a Walmart merchant, and gets a yes when they're there. It comes from sitting on the other side of the table, not from studying it, backed by years building the enterprise planning systems Walmart's own merchandising organization runs on. Based in Bentonville, Arkansas, that experience is now available on a fractional basis — either customer-facing in the room, or working behind the scenes on the strategy that gets a brand there.
Where the work happens
Category Growth & Market Assessment
Category strategy, competitive assessment, and growth planning built from years of deciding what earns shelf space and why.
Pricing & Value Proposition Strategy
Pricing architecture and value proposition development shaped by seeing which products win on shelf — and which never had a chance.
Brand Strategy & Buyer Storytelling
The strategy and story that gets a brand in the room with a Walmart merchant, and gets a yes when it's there.
Negotiation & Meeting Strategy
Executive-level negotiation and meeting preparation, built on years of sitting on the other side of the table.
CPFR & Forecast Collaboration
Collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment strategy that keeps a brand's numbers credible with Walmart's.
Fractional CPG Advisory
Embedded strategic support, customer-facing or behind the scenes, on a retainer or project basis — senior-level thinking without the full-time cost.
How an engagement works
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01
Discover
Understand the business, the category, and the real constraints — not just the brief.
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02
Diagnose
Pressure-test the current strategy against the data and the competitive landscape.
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03
Design
Build the plan, the pricing, and the story that gets a brand in the room and gets a yes.
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04
Deliver
Stay in the room as long as it's useful — customer-facing or behind the scenes — then hand off a plan built to keep winning without you there.
Let's talk strategy
If you're building a category plan, positioning a brand to win at Walmart or Sam's Club, or just need a second set of experienced eyes before you're in the room — reach out.