Top 3 rookie mistakes launching into large retailers
You’re all ready to go. Its been months of time, work and effort getting your products sorted. You’ve gone from working with a contract manufacturer, or maybe even making it yourself, and invested thousands in design & branding to make sure your packaging is super awesome. Your Facebook and Instagram pages are set up and everyone from your old primary school teacher to your sister’s best friends cousin knows all about the super cool products you’re launching. There’s probably even a huge pile of stock in your garage or a warehouse all ready to go. You email every Retail chain you can find online telling them all about your products, and how they need to take the full range of products because you can’t launch small and be taken seriously. Its ‘go big or go home’ time.
And then. Silence.
The inevitable follow up email asking if they’ve decided to take your product, is met by silence and the rejection emails, and maybe courtesy calls if you’re lucky, dribble in slowly.
So what went wrong?
Well, you likely made one of the top 3 rookie mistakes that Category Buyers see over and over every week (and I know some that would get over 50 new supplier requests a year!).
Not being retailer ready at the right time
A day is a long time in Retail, and can be absolute torture for a new Supplier that finds out they have missed the Countdown category review deadline by ONE day. This means waiting anywhere from 6 months to a whole YEAR until the next review timing comes around when Category Buyers / Managers will consider new products. No amount of begging, pleading or telling them how super amazing your new product is will shortcut this with Retailers that work to strict timelines. While some have flexibility, this comes with compromise of slow roll outs if you’re lucky enough to sneak through.
But why such a long delays and lead-times you wonder? Most large Retailers work to a fairly predictable retail calendar that works a long way out in time. Easter orders are placed in October, Christmas is all done & dusted by May and forget about trying to launch ANYTHING between late November & January when everyone is struggling to keep up with Christmas and summer sales & restocking shelves. With literally thousands of products to coordinate through warehouses & complicated supply chains, it takes a mammoth amount of effort to organise products, pricing, promotional activity, demand, orders and more. Some large grocery retailers like Countdown have set ‘category review’ timelines that they work to every year, and a clear process that all new suppliers need to work through.
Large manufacturers work in 6-12 month planning horizons when launching NPD (new product developments) and have an extensive checklist to work through to make sure they’re all good to go.
HELPFUL HINTS
If you are wanting to sell into Foodstuffs or Countdown, then have a look on their websites for information on timing for their Category Reviews. These are published and you can talk to a Category Manager to get more information on the timing and what’s needed to present your products for consideration and ranging.
Look at your own timeline and start planning ahead a long time BEFORE you think you need to. There’s a lot more preparation, compliance and box ticking to launching and failure to have everything ready to go can have a massive impact on your growth plans (let alone on your confidence and bank balance). It might take you 6 - 8 weeks to pull together all the information you need to get started with a large retailer, and you need to factor this into your wider business plan.
Targeting the wrong Retailers that don’t fit your brand
Where you sell your product - or more correctly, where your TARGET CUSTOMERS most expect to discover your products - is a key step in working out which Retailers to approach. This is especially important when you’re just starting out in FMCG and need to establish a strong sales history, and start to build a customer base that is bigger than friends, family and local supporters. Sure you’ve likely sold through your Facebook/ Instagram/ Shopify sites, and maybe you’ve sold through a local store or cafe owned by a local friendly face, but have you done the work to figure out where your next group of customers are going to expect to find you?
Category Managers & Buyers spend all day, every day understanding the dynamics of their category and fine tuning activity to meet THEIR customer needs. They’re constantly looking at new trends and juggling new product launches, range extensions and inevitable deletions to have the optimal offer on shelf. That’s where you need to pass the first credibility test - “will my customers be interested in buying this in MY store”.
Just because you’re selling a drink, doesn’t mean that every place that sells drinks is the right place for you. I’ve personally had cocktails presented to a service stations (handy tip - alcohol and driving are NOT a good combination), and people trying to convince me that collagen shots are the next big thing to sell alongside mass-market energy drinks. Sure there may be the odd random person that might buy it, but the investment in setting up a new supplier, getting products into warehouses and then the cash tied up in stock for dust-gathering SKUs makes it a very risky punt, and likely to get a polite ‘thanks but no’ reply.
HELPFUL HINTS:
Get outside your own suburb or neighbourhood to figure out who your first best fit Retail chain is going to be.
Make sure your target customers are SHOPPING in the channel (not just visiting) and that they are in the right state of mind to be purchasing a product like yours. While the majority of the population may go to a petrol station regularly, the majority definitely are NOT buying their nappies or cat food from there unless its an emergency.
Look for similar products and ask the store owner or staff whether they have many people buying products like yours. Oh, and give us a call to find out the nuts & bolts behind different retail channel segments, operating models and ways of working. You’d be surprised how a little information can shape plans in a big way.
Generic ‘send all’ sales emails
So you’re launching a product and think that of course ‘everyone will want it - all my friends do’. Or maybe ‘ they sell drinks, and this is a drink so of course they’ll sell it’. Or worst case ‘you’re a New Zealand retailer, and I’m a New Zealand business so I guess you’ll range me, right?” (cue face palm….)
Whether its cold calling a Retailers call centre, writing a short basic sales email and sending it to someone to pass onto ‘someone who makes buying decisions’ or couriering samples to Head Office in the hope someone will try it and like it - putting your best foot forward is key to get past the quick ‘scan and delete’ that a Category Manager is likely to do.
Assuming you’ve passed the basics of checking spelling, punctuation and grammar, make your email short and punchy and clearly spell out your product, the market opportunity, and top four selling points tailored for their store. Check you’ve done your homework on the #1 & #2 mistakes above, and if they DON’T work to a strict timeline then you should be in with a great chance to book a first meeting or sales call.
HELPFUL HINTS:
Make sure you attach a professional short sales presenter (ideally 1-2 page) and there is a clear call to action or follow up in the email.
Have a clear set of questions to create a conversation with the Retailer - that could include asking if they have a preferred distributor, whether they are taking on new products at the moment, or whether they have a set process for taking on new products. Sometimes this is on their website so make sure you’ve had a thorough look at their website and got the right contact details
If its a larger retailer like Z Energy, BP, Farmers or one of the supermarket chains - ask if they have a category review timing, preferred distributor or info sheets to understand how to do business with them are all great questions to start a conversation. Remember Category Managers aren’t mind readers and will assume that either you’ve got all the information you need, or are just not that serious about selling to them.
If you want to find out how to tackle these mistakes , sort out your Go to Market plan (fancy language for ‘what to sell where and how), and write a compelling presenter - then get in touch at hello@pitchfork.co.nz .
