KITA holds seminar on breaking into US retail giants

The Korea International Trade Association (KITA) held the "2026 US Major Retail Network Entry Strategy Seminar" at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul on Wednesday.

The seminar was designed to help South Korean consumer goods companies break into the US market by introducing strategies for gaining shelf space at Walmart and its subsidiary Sam's Club, the largest brick-and-mortar retailers in the United States. More than 200 representatives from domestic beauty, personal care and wellness companies hoping to expand into the US attended the event.

Presentations covered US consumer goods retail market trends, entry strategies for Walmart and Sam's Club, and success stories from companies already operating in the market. The first speaker, Katie Whitmire, Sam's Club's head buyer for beauty, healthcare and baby products, outlined local beauty and wellness consumption trends, the criteria buyers use to evaluate brands and products, and practical guidance on post-entry operations and growth strategies.

"Getting into a major US retailer is not the finish line — it's the starting point," Whitmire said. "What determines a brand's sustained growth is understanding how buyers evaluate products and having the capability to manage inventory and supply chains reliably after the first order so that reorders follow."

A success stories session featured three South Korean companies — Valenlife, Powerplayer and Boosters — sharing their US market entry strategies and channel selection, as well as their marketing strategies before and after launch. Valenlife CEO Choi Ga-hee said domestic retail channel rankings and reorder history serve as performance proof that US buyers can read directly. "You need to demonstrate demand first through social media response and domestic sales data before you even approach a retailer, and you also need to have your product lineup calibrated to US regulations and local price points," Choi said.

Jung Hee-chul, head of KITA's overseas marketing division, said the US is a key export market for K-consumer goods but that major retail networks set demanding entry standards and require high operational capabilities, making it difficult for individual companies to break in on their own. "We hope this seminar gives our companies a chance to understand how US buyers think and to develop concrete strategies for entering the market," Jung said.

Meanwhile, KITA recently held the "2nd KITA Innovation Forum — US Industrial Innovation Trends" at the COEX Startup Branch.

The forum focused on the United States as the center of the global advanced technology market, and was organized to help South Korea's trade industry track local industrial innovation trends and explore strategies for market entry and business expansion.

The event drew about 100 attendees, including KITA Chairman Yoon Jin-sik, American Chamber of Commerce in Korea President James Kim, and executives from companies pursuing US expansion and digital transformation.