Item setup: the Setup Hub, requirements, and merchant approval

The Setup Hub is where a new item enters Supplier One. Two routes, in most accounts:

• Single item setup — one form for one item. Opening questions (sold in stores? owned or DSD?) set the item model and the attributes shown; answer from the item model confirmed in Supplier catalog. Use it for a one-off, or to learn what a product type asks before a bulk range.
• Bulk setup by spreadsheet — the same questions, then a pre-populated spreadsheet: one row per item, then upload. Each row carries its own Spec Product Type; set it first; it decides which columns apply. Headers are color-coded by requirement level — needed before Walmart can order, needed for the Walmart.com page, conditionally required by product type — and a data-definitions tab explains each attribute; read the legend in your sheet. Download a fresh sheet each time and never add or delete tabs.

Either route, and either item model, ends in the same place: a submission the Submissions Manager tracks and a merchant approves.

Both routes need the same blocks, each sourced:

• Identifiers at every level — the each's UPC/EAN (the form's sellable GTIN), the case's GTIN-14 (orderable GTIN), a pallet GTIN where used, your supplier stock number. A break-pack case adds an inner pack with its own GTIN-14 — a packaging choice, not a product-type one.
• Dimensions, weights, and quantities per level — each, case, pallet, any inner pack: measurements labeled with level and unit, eaches per case, cases per pallet.
• Images — main and supporting, to Walmart's current published standards.
• Required attributes — name, description, key features, plus the product type's own.
• Compliance flags — hazardous-material, battery, and similar declarations; a wrong "no" passes validation and returns as a compliance problem.
• Logistics and commercial fields — the item model decides the logistics block (see Supplier catalog); commercial terms are required but out of scope.

Pull the list from the form or spreadsheet for that product type — not from the last item you set up, the buyer's email, or a first submission's errors.

A ready item has a supported value in every required field. Before you submit, ask three questions of each: is it present, from an approved source, and in the level and unit the field expects?

Keep a readiness tracker with three states per field: ready, missing, owner asked. The states let several people set up a range without guessing at each other's gaps, and stop an unconfirmed number becoming a placeholder — a figure quoted in an email is not a source.

Then pre-empt the form's own checks: required columns filled, identifiers the right length with a valid check digit, measurements inside the accepted range, image files that open. Both routes validate on submission and report problems per field; catching them first costs minutes, a rejection costs a round-trip. Submit only when every row in the tracker is ready — an owner asked row is still an open gap, not a placeholder.

Submitting an item does not make it live. The Submissions Manager (Item 360 called it the Activity Manager) tracks every submission, grouped by who must act next. Labels change; currently:

• Supplier Action Required — data errors, missing content, a reviewer's update request, or a pending compliance assessment; details name each item and reason.
• Walmart Action Required — the data passed; the items are with the department's merchant (the buyer), or with an associate fixing an error on Walmart's side; the merchant is notified automatically.
• Completed — every item processed, each with its Walmart item number; items Walmart declined show the reason.

So: submitted, in review, approved or declined with a reason; publication is a separate state, covered below. The merchant checks it is an item they agreed to carry, in the right department, set up as discussed. Walmart publishes no service level for merchant review; some items clear in a day, others wait weeks. After a few business days without movement, contact the merchant with the submission ID; resubmitting does not help.

A data rejection names a field: fix it from the submission (in the app or via the error file) so it stays under the same submission ID and the passed items keep moving. A merchant decline gives a reason, not a field: not wanted, wrong department, too early. The same data brings the same decision; talk to the merchant first.

"Approved" leads to three states:

• Orderable — ordering attributes complete, merchant approved.
• On-site — published on Walmart.com, automatic once the required-for-site attributes are complete (a name or images, usually); the item's product view in Supplier One's Catalog shows publish status and reasons.
• In-store — assigned to stores; the merchant's assortment decision, not a data state.

After a day or two, compare the record and, for online items, the page against your source: identifiers, packaging, content, and images should match. Record the Walmart item number in your master data and keep a copy of the submission; Supplier One purges them after a set period (currently 90 days). Changes go through Content maintenance.