How brands actually fund a Walmart launch

Behind every shelf debut is a 150-day cash gap… how should brands fill it?

In case you haven’t heard: all of the coolest CPG brands are launching into Walmart these days.

The mass-market retailer has changed, and so has who shows up on its shelves. As Modern Retail explained, “Walmart has evolved beyond its reputation as a low-cost retailer into one that gives brands that have started online, are new to physical retail, or sit at higher price points the opportunity to scale throughout the U.S.”

More and more brands are landing spots in those coveted doors at earlier and earlier stages. Winning a Walmart order can easily be the single biggest moment in a brand’s trajectory—and that’s usually the story we tell.

But then there’s a part of that story that doesn’t usually get told: how did they actually pay for it? A mass order means supplier deposits, a full production run, and freight—all due long before Walmart pays a cent. We got curious: what do brands actually do to cover that gap?

First, the gap itself, which is bigger than we assumed.

The cycle goes:

You order a production run for your PO (yay!) → deposits and production costs hit → goods made and shipped → invoice sent → Walmart pays on net terms

The catch is, those terms run Net 60 to Net 90, and once you add production and shipping, a brand can wait 120 to 150 days from PO to actual cash (!!). And the really wild part is, the gap scales with the order—a bigger win creates a bigger cash hole before it creates a dollar of revenue. Even brands with great demand and healthy margins can hit a wall in this exact scenario.

So, how do they cover it? The most common answer we hear is some version of “we just used the money we had”, leftover cash, or proceeds from the last raise. Which sounds reasonable… but is quietly the most expensive option on the table.

Borrowing to fund production might seem wild on paper: purchase order financing runs roughly1.5% to 3% a month, which annualizes to ~18% to 36%. Plus, there’s always equity, where the money feels free.

Except equity is never free. It’s just expensive in a way that never arrives as an invoice.The implied cost of equity for a growing CPG brand routinely sits above 30% and can pass 60%, depending on what investors expect to make back. A financing fee is a one-time cost on a single order. Equity quietly compounds against every future dollar the company earns.

Side by side:

A $200K Walmart order, financed for 90 days at 1.5% a month, costs $9,000–no dilution or claim on what comes next.

Fund that same$200K out of a $2M round raised at a $10M valuation (investor takes 20%), and if the brand exits at $100M in five years, that stake is worth $20M.

A 10x return works out to roughly a 58% annualized cost; meaning those same dollars effectively run about $22,000 over the same 90 days, plus permanent dilution.

The fee is the cost you can see; the equity is the one you can’t, which is exactly why brands keep reaching for the wrong one. (Side note: this only works out if margins can absorb the fee, because lenders generally want 20%+ gross margin.)

The brands that get this right know how to match each dollar to its job:

•      Equity funds long-term growth (brand, team, R&D)

•      PO financing covers production tied to an incoming retailer order.

•      Factoring bridges invoice to payment after delivery.

•      Operating cash handles the day-to-day.

When we went looking for who actually does this for Walmart specifically, the road kept leading to Bridge. The direct lender behind Walmart’s PO financing program, funding up to 100% of COGS for Walmart and Sam’s Club suppliers so brands can produce and ship the full order without draining operating cash.

That last part is the whole game: fund the entire production run and you ship on time and in full. Come up short and the penalties land on the exact cases you couldn’t make, on top of the standing you lose with the buyer who just bet on you.Bridge underwrites on operational reality (fill rates, paid history, production plans), reading a brand the way a buyer would, not a VC.

The lesson we walked away with: winning the order is the part everyone celebrates. How you pay for it quietly decides how much of the company you still own on the other side. The brands that get it right keep their equity for what equity is actually for, and fund the predictable, asset-backed part with capital built for exactly that.

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Written by the team at Express Checkout