Wal-Mart launches female-retailer site

Empowering Women Together features 19 small businesses in U.S., abroad

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Thursday launched a new shopping website, Empowering Women Together, aimed at boosting the sales of merchandise at small businesses owned by women in the United States and eight other countries.

Links to the businesses can be found at walmart.com, the retailer’s sales website.

The project includes two partners - Full Circle Exchange, a nonprofit social enterprise organization that focuses on empowering women and communities to reduce poverty through sustainable economic opportunities, and Global Goods Partners, a nonprofit that sells handmade,fair-trade products to improve the economic status of women around the world.

Tara Raddohl, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said via e-mail that in selecting the initial Empowering Women Together suppliers, the company worked with nongovernmental organizations to identify businesses owned by women in the United States and abroad, as well as eligible businesses already in the retailer’s supply pipeline.

Most have annual revenue of $10 million or less and fewer than 300 stores selling their products, she said.

“While we help these women-owned businesses grow, we want them to grow with us, so we will continue to work with suppliers who enter the program and grow into higher revenues,” she said.

The U.S.-based companies selling products on the site include Full Circle Exchange, Breads from Anna, Southwest Creations, Women’s Bean Project, ComfortCake, Elizabeth Lamb, Carrie Eckert Photo, Petite Collage and Lisa Ann Sparks Artglass.

Andrea Thomas, senior vice president of sustainability at Wal-Mart, said in a news release that the concept of connecting sustainable products with improving economic opportunity is simple.

“It connects shoppers in the United States with quality products made by women owned businesses around the world,” she said. That, in turn,helps suppliers increase their incomes, she said, as well as creates more jobs.

“Wal-Mart can help these suppliers gain experience with buying trends, scaling, product development and acumen they need to build their businesses,” Thomas said.

Of the initial 19 Empowering Women Together suppliers, nine are based in the United States. Others are from Rwanda, Peru, Kenya, Haiti, Cambodia and Nepal.

Jennifer Gootman, executive director of nonprofit Global Goods Partners, said in a statement that the groups’ goal is “to help strengthen women led initiatives for marginalized communities in Asia, Africa and the Americas.”

Business, Pages 30 on 03/09/2013

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