NEW YORK – Walmart announced earlier this week its second annual “Get on the Shelf” contest to find the best new products to offer its customers, CNN Money reports. 

The contest is in the spirit if American Idol and offers U.S.-based small businesses and entrepreneurs the opportunity to win product placement on its store shelves or virtual shelf space on Walmart’s website.

Entrants can submit products in any category that Walmart currently carries. Entries must include a video pitch of the product and are due July 31 at the contest’s website. Online voting will determine the top 20 entrants.

Viewers will whittle down that list to the top five, whose products will be sold on walmart.com. Those that generate the most pre-orders online are eligible to be named grand prize winners whose products will be sold in select Walmart stores. 

It’s a far more dramatic way to gain access to Walmart’s store shelves, for which vendors typically meet Walmart buyers in small rooms along a corridor known as “vendor row” at the company’s headquarters in Arkansas, where businesses get an hour or less to pitch their products.

"In this age of technology, the contest is a great way for us to engage our customers and small businesses in a different way,” said Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com. 

Last year, the contest drew more than 5,000 entries and more than 1 million votes to determine one grand prize winner and two runners-up.