Building a successful retailer pitch
There is an old cliché in our industry – ‘suppliers have time and buyers have practice’.
Buyers are inundated with proposals for new products all the time. One Commercial Director of a leading UK retailer described it to me as being “water boarded by LinkedIn”. What we hear from buyers most is that high-growth, innovative brands spend hours and hours chasing for meetings, and when finally in the room, the pitch misses the mark.
A brand’s most common failure is not considering the category or shopper perspective for the pitch being made. Your product may be unique in your eyes, but others need to be taken on that journey too; what consumer need, or shopper mission, is it satisfying?
Can you confidently say you are using your time well? Are you practicing and refining your pitch materials and delivery?
Below are a couple of points to be thinking about.
How will you support a listing?
Too often we hear that brands see a listing as the destination. The reality is that it is just the start.
If you are successful in having your product placed on the shelf, app, wholesaler catalogue etc., how are you planning to support that listing? What are your plans to promote your product to a new audience? Do you have above the line marketing activities you can tailor with below the line marketing activities? What is on the customers marketing calendar that your brand could help them activate in a unique way? Can this help them be differentiated in the marketplace?
We appreciate there are a lot of questions being asked here, but in order to make your listing a success, answering, and demonstrating these to a buyer, are a necessity.
What are your RTM arrangements?
Poor service levels, underpinned by weak supply chains are by the far the most common reason brands are delisted.
How can you reassure your buyer that you will not be in this group? How can you demonstrate that you will provide high service levels and high availability? How can you ensure they feel confident in you?
Answer – understand what is important to them and share details on how your supply chain works (e.g. in house or co-manufacturing, UK or abroad, 3PL or Distributor etc.). Organisation and transparency is key.
How well do you really understand the UK’s biggest retailers?
The YF Community provides its members with access to leaders from the UK’s major retailers.
Our Lessons from Leaders event series has seen Directors from Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Deliveroo share their industry insights and advice to high-growth FMCG brands.
Sound like something you would be interested in?
Learn more about joining the Community here.
We are here to help
Do not waste your moment in the spotlight by not preparing effectively.
YF’s Trading Team have 20+ years experience dealing with the UK’s major retailers, convenience and wholesale customers. They have seen hundreds of pitches and can give you a safe place to practice, as well as providing feedback on pitch decks and materials.
To learn more about how we can help with this or how to tackle other commercial challenges, contact the YF Trading Team at [email protected].
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