Beyond Meat (BYND -0.49%) products are already in about 2,400 Walmart (WMT 0.28%) stores, but the plant-based meat alternative company will soon see a greater selection of its goods appear in a larger number of Walmart stores.
Beginning this week, Walmart will add Beyond Meat's Italian sausages to 400 stores while its Cookout Classic bulk package of plant-based burgers will appear in 500 stores. After reporting disappointing earnings results recently, the expanded distribution could help further additional sales growth.
Image source: Beyond Meat.
Beyond Meat first appeared in Walmart meat cases back in 2015, and since those early days has broadly expanded its distribution, now counting about 28,000 retail outlets across the country. This is the second product expansion at Walmart.
More recently, though, it announced partnerships with McDonald's and Yum! Brands chains KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, which followed a separate deal with PepsiCo.
Despite the expansion possibilities, Beyond Meat finds itself in a very competitive environment, not only with industry peer Impossible Foods, but also with a number of consumer products giants including Tyson Foods and Nestle and supermarkets including Kroger, which have their own lines of plant-based meat alternatives.
Impossible Foods announced plans to lower its prices by 20% at supermarkets as it drives to make its meat alternatives competitive with real meat. That's creating profit pressures on Beyond Meat, which faces expectations of continuous sales growth along with a need to turn a profit, which it has yet to do on an annual basis.
Because of Walmart's reputation for everyday low prices, as well as its massive distribution network, an increased presence in its retail stores for more of its products could help Beyond Meat meet those competing goals.
