Walmart embarks on an innovative approach to supply chain finance

Best Supply Chain Solution

Overall Winner

Walmart

Photo of Pooja Shah, J.P. Morgan collected the award on behalf of Walmart.

Brandy Newhof

Senior Director, Global Treasury

United States

Walmart is an omnichannel retailer that each week, serves approximately 280 million customers and members via more than 10,900 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 19 countries.

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The challenge

Walmart’s supplier base is an important part of its operations. For many small and medium-sized suppliers, access to affordable working capital can influence their ability to fulfil purchase orders and support future growth.

Walmart’s existing supply chain finance programme provides eligible suppliers with access to invoice-based early payment during the period between Walmart’s receipt of goods and the contractual payment due date. While this serves an important segment of the supplier base, it does not address the earlier stage of the working-capital cycle, when suppliers may need funding for raw materials, inventory production and logistics before goods are delivered.

For smaller suppliers, traditional bank credit may be unavailable, insufficient or not structured around the timing of their purchase order-related funding needs. Other financing alternatives can be expensive, slow or operationally complex.

These limitations can constrain a supplier’s ability to accept larger orders, invest in production capacity or manage the costs incurred before delivery. Walmart identified an opportunity to explore a financing solution that could address this pre-delivery gap while strengthening the resilience of its supply chain.

The solution

Walmart’s trade finance team, led by Brandy Newhof, Senior Director, Global Treasury, developed a purchase order financing pilot specifically designed for the pre-delivery funding period. The objective was to provide eligible small and medium-sized suppliers with an additional source of capital without disrupting Walmart’s existing payment terms, payment processes or commercial relationships.

Walmart collaborated with J.P. Morgan and Slope on a solution. J.P. Morgan provides funding capacity and trade finance expertise, while Slope provides the AI-enabled technology platform and supports the digital application and underwriting process. Financing eligibility and credit decisions remain with the financing providers. Walmart contributes relevant supplier and purchase order information supporting the underwriting process.

The solution was deliberately designed to complement, rather than replace Walmart’s existing supplier finance programmes. Suppliers may continue to participate in available dynamic discounting or invoice-based supply chain finance solutions, while purchase order financing addresses an earlier stage of the working-capital cycle.

Although the initiative remains in its early stages, Walmart is optimistic about its potential to expand access to capital for small and medium-sized businesses and challenge the traditional boundaries of supply chain finance.

Best practice and innovation

The judges recognised Walmart for its innovative approach to extending supplier finance beyond the traditional post‑delivery model. Through the purchase order financing pilot, Walmart is learning more about small and medium‑sized suppliers’ pre-delivery funding needs, details that can help lenders better evaluate those businesses and how earlier access to capital could support supplier growth and a more resilient supply chain.

Purchase order-stage financing at retail scale with a flexible structure. Purchase order financing moves the potential funding point further upstream, allowing eligible suppliers to seek financing when an order is issued – weeks or even months earlier than traditional invoice-based supply chain finance.

Further, the financing structure is designed to be flexible, with loan tenure set dynamically for each purchase order by reference to the anticipated timing of payment under the supplier’s existing contractual terms with Walmart. Suppliers also retain the ability to repay earlier.

Technology-enabled underwriting. Slope’s underwriting engine uses live bank account transaction data and proprietary AI models to support credit decisions and can provide lenders with a timelier view of a supplier’s financial position than an assessment based solely on traditional credit scores or annual financial statements.

Walmart contributes relevant purchase order and supplier‑relationship information to support the underwriting process. Information such as purchase order history, order cadence, fulfilment track record and relationship tenure can provide lenders with additional insight into a supplier’s established Walmart business. This information supports the evaluation but does not determine the outcome; financing eligibility and credit decisions remain with the financing providers.

The pilot is designed to complement Walmart’s existing supplier finance programs without changing Walmart’s payment systems, renegotiating contractual payment terms or altering the underlying supplier-buyer relationship.

Key benefits

Potential benefits being evaluated through the pilot include:

Cost and process efficiencies.
Risk mitigation.
Improved key performance indicators (KPIs) or metrics.
Increased automation.
Increased system connectivity.

The digital application process is designed to reduce the time and administrative effort associated with more traditional credit processes. Eligible suppliers may be able to receive financing more quickly, subject to underwriting approval and completion of required documentation.

The longer-term opportunity for Walmart’s treasury organisation is to enable a more financially resilient supply chain by expanding financing options for eligible suppliers. With access to appropriate working capital, suppliers may be better positioned to fulfil orders consistently, invest in capacity and grow their businesses.

Walmart is optimistic that combining retailer information, technology-enabled underwriting and institutional funding could help broaden access to capital for small and medium‑sized businesses and strengthen supply chain finance.

Pooja Shah

Executive Director, Supply Chain Finance, J.P. Morgan

Walmart launched an innovative purchase order financing program to close critical pre-delivery working-capital gaps for its suppliers. In a powerful three-way arrangement, Walmart provides PO data, J.P. Morgan delivers funding capacity, and Slope utilises AI-native technology to perform rapid underwriting. This solution provides access to affordable capital, especially important for SMEs, and complements the existing early payment solutions Walmart offers. With same-day funding and competitive pricing, this solution strengthens supplier resiliency across Walmart’s growing supplier base. We are honoured to support Walmart in reducing supply chain risk and, on behalf of J.P. Morgan, we congratulate them on this exceptional achievement.

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The Adam Smith Awards are the industry benchmark for best practice and innovation in corporate treasury. The 2026 awards attracted 635 nominations. To find out more please visit treasurytoday.com/adam-smith-awards

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