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That’s a wrap on Inspire 2026

Recapping Walmart Data Ventures' fourth annual customer conference

Jennifer Lindner

Jennifer Lindner

On Wednesday, more than 2,000 Walmart suppliers, merchants, and associates gathered at the Rogers Convention Center to kick off Walmart Data Ventures’ annual customer conference.

The morning commenced with a general session featuring Walmart leaders and industry experts participating in lively conversations spanning Walmart strategies, Data Ventures’ journey and vision, and memorable perspectives on data and insights.

Mark Hardy (SVP, Walmart Data Ventures) sat down with Tracy Poulliot (EVP, eCommerce and Marketing, Walmart U.S.) and Juan Galarraga (EVP, RGM, Latin America, Walmart International) to discuss how the evolving customer shapes strategic priorities for Walmart U.S. and Latin America. Next, Steph Wissink (SVP, Investor Relations, Walmart) and Michael Lasser (Executive Research Analyst, UBS) shared an analyst perspective on the increasing importance of data.

Our merchant leadership fireside, always an Inspire favorite, shed light on how Scintilla continues to strengthen merchant and supplier collaboration. Victor Padilla-Guerra (SVP, Entertainment, Toys and Seasonal, Walmart U.S.), Joel Parrish (VP, Private Brands, Consumables, Walmart U.S.), Tasha Tandy (SVP, Chilled Adult Beverage, Frozen, Candy & Convenience, Walmart U.S.), and Laura Janney (SVP & General Merchandising Manager, Walmart U.S.) joined Nicole Ryner (Group Director, Strategic Initiatives, Walmart Data Ventures) for the engaging conversation. In our store operations fireside, Kyle Kinnard (EVP, COO, Walmart U.S.) and Heather Seymore (VP, DMM, Snacks, Walmart U.S.) joined Ebong Eka (Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, Walmart Data Ventures) to explore the importance of data-driven execution in our stores.

To conclude Day 1, Pat Murphy (Group Director of Product, Walmart) shared the Scintilla product vision heading into next year. And I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Scott Sutton (Director of Customer Success, Walmart Data Ventures) to review the Scintilla Insights Model (SIM), an analytical framework for approaching business outcomes that we introduced at Inspire 2025.

Our evolution continues

The wide variety of firesides and presentations wove together common themes in our growth as a global platform. Most memorably, with this year's event ringing in our fourth Inspire as well as Scintilla’s fifth anniversary, we took a moment to share our evolution into a commerce intelligence platform.

As we celebrated our continuing evolution as a product offering and Scintilla community, we also celebrated a transformation in Inspire itself: from a one to two-day event.

Day 2: The takeaways continue

We reserved Day 2 for a full day of nearly 30 case study presentations spanning SBUs, markets, and solutions—including Scintilla In-Store. Suppliers of all sizes shared stories that highlighted their investigation of customer mindsets, behaviors, and sales performance to achieve specific business outcomes using Scintilla.

“[The] activation was really a success, and Scintilla helped us through the entire journey. Not just one data point, not just one report, but the entire suite of Scintilla. It brought…a campaign idea to a true growth strategy for Haleon and Walmart.” —Haleon

Today also gave us valuable room for three rounds of live learning sessions from the experts on our Research Services, Customer Success, and Solutions Consultants teams. These sessions punctuated the case studies by providing tangible tips and unlocks into the three components of SIM, including:

  • The hidden drivers of customers mindsets
  • 5 questions to answer to build your customer profiles
  • How to trace a signal to an insight—using Scintilla Boards and BI Link

This same content will be available soon to Scintilla subscribers on Scintilla Learn, adding to our current rich library of SIM e-learning, including our SIM Certification.

“This is what category insights are supposed to do. Help us see the shelf through the customer’s eyes. Our job is to take that understanding and turn it into action.” —Crayola

In between case studies and learning sessions, attendees visited our new Learning Lounge, where Data Ventures team members staffed focused Expert Bars to answer questions and share their SIM expertise, while Scintilla In-Store associates demonstrated the mobile app. The fun from the Day 1 activations continued, as attendees built their own “Scintilla Dream Board” and added selfies to our Welcome Wall.

As we wrap our fourth annual Inspire, we hope this larger-than-ever cohort of Walmart suppliers, merchants, Sam’s Club associates, and other attendees walk away from the event fueled by invigorating ideas, flexible frameworks to insights analysis, and powerful new personal connections. The Scintilla community is the driving purpose behind Inspire year over year.

Suffice it to say: We’re inspired. And we can’t wait to see you at Inspire 2027.