Selling more products is definitely influenced by selling them in the right place. You do have choice as to where to sell your products. Finding the right customer (retailer) is very important for your business. Depending on your business goals and structure, that right customer can be a farmers’ market down the road or Walmart. 

You should devote time and resources in your business to find the right customers that are a good fit. Any shelf is not a good shelf. Finding markets that can purchase what you have to sell, when you need to sell, is important work. The more sophisticated your customer is, the earlier you need to work on this. Many of the larger retailers are trying to plan months in advance. Continuity of supply is very important to them. Produce is one of the most challenging departments to manage the flow of goods. Make sure you are part of the solution, not part of the challenge.

We have developed a process to help you sell more products. We call this process CART and over the upcoming months I will share the process to help you sell more. There are four essential ingredients in this recipe for success:

Consumers

Alignment with your customers

Retail plan to sell your products

Trust with consumers and customers

In the last three columns, we have discussed who your consumers are, how they use your products and why they buy. Now that have developed this consumer profile, it is logical to ask next; where do they shop?

Retailers each try to satisfy a different segment of the market. The large retailers have discount stores, conventional stores and large (super) stores. The retail landscape also includes specialty stores, warehouse clubs, on line offerings and farmers’ markets. If you can’t find your consumers at any of these locations, you can always sell direct to consumers. You do have choice.

Use your consumer profile

Using your consumer profile, determine where your products have the best chance of selling. There are many segments of the market and consumers are more demanding all the time. Producing products without considering the consumer (end user) and the customer (retailer) will be frustrating for you and your customers. When you determine the best place for your products to sell, you will be more aligned with the people you are selling to.

Consider the following scenarios:

You have defined the consumers likely to buy your product as being larger households, looking for lower prices and the more basic or popular items. They are busy people and food is not really an exciting part of their day. The lower their grocery bill, the better. You should be trying to sell into the discount stores. A second option would be warehouse clubs or large superstores.

Perhaps you pack in larger sizes and your business is set up to ship full pallets. You get excited about efficiencies and this is appealing to a value-conscious consumer. They buy larger amounts in each shop and they prefer sizes that might not be available at conventional stores. This would lead you to focus on warehouse clubs or perhaps the large superstores. 

Some consumers are more knowledgeable about food. They like to find new items and devote the time to interesting recipes. These are shoppers who would be shopping at specialty stores, conventional stores or perhaps farmers’ markets. If you are a producer focused on more premium items and trying to introduce new varieties and perhaps a mix of specialty items, this is your segment of the market.

Often we see producers selling to different market segments, which might be right for their business. Just remember, the category manager or buyer in the conventional store will have different priorities than the person working at a discount chain. This can increase your marketable yield, as some stores are looking for larger sizes in big bags whereas others might want smaller sizes or bulk.

Your consumer profile should lead you to the right locations to sell your product(s). 

Consumers are always changing. We see more focus on their level of engagement regarding packaging; this was not even a consideration for many consumers a few years ago. Some retailers are moving faster than others on this issue so if consumers are telling you it is an issue for them and you are making investments to initiate change, determine where they shop and approach these retailers with your innovation.  Retailers should be hearing the same thing and be looking for the innovation you bring to the market.

The sales process in your business will be much more rewarding when you determine where your consumers shop. You will be aligned with your customers and much more likely to deliver the best results.

If you have any questions about understanding where consumers are likely to buy your products please give me a call at (902) 489-2900 or send me an email at peter@skufood.com.   Next month we will discuss how to increase the alignment you have with your customers by understanding them better.

WHAT’S IN STORE?

Plant-based protein

It is incredible to see the shelf space devoted to plant-based protein in stores. You can find the largest number of SKUS at Whole Foods, as their consumers would certainly embrace many of these products. These trends seem to happen faster all the time and product distribution to a wider consumer segment also grows to meet the demand.

The well-publicized launch of the Beyond Meat Burger is just one example. There is a shift in what consumers are buying and eating. Every time we see a category grow like this there will be winners and losers. Most retailers try to maintain the policy of de-listing an item every time they list a new one so there will certainly be some products coming out of the assortment to make room for the new plant-based protein items.

Photo caption:  These are fresh patties available at Loblaw. Interesting how they promote these fresh patties in the dairy section to appeal to consumers looking for cheese for their burger or perhaps an alternative to dairy protein.