At Ideas Fest 2024, Mentors for Makers’, Rachel Birrell-Gray sat down with some of the UK’s champion challenger brands and talk, “how attract a retail buyer”.
The conversation covered ground such as
- Understanding a Retail Buyer
- Building Your Brand’s Story
- Leveraging Trade Shows
- Scaling Sustainably and Successfully
On stage she was joined by Jon, the gut-friendly muesli mogul of Bio & Me, Rachel, the maker of jam-grand-slam Fearne & Rosie and Mike, the tea tincturing trailblazer behind Bird & Blend.
Understanding a Retail Buyer:
All retail chains have different strategies and long-term goals. For example, due to
Sainsbury’s Future Brands program, it has now added over 100 emerging brands to its shelves. Generally however, there are some factors all buyers consider when stocking a new brand.
These are: margin potential, unique selling propositions (USPs), market trends, consumer demand, and supply chain reliability. These weighty considerations can mean buyers act slowly, watching a brand’s performance long before biting.
Jon explains how he spent two years trying to get Bio & Me stocked in Tesco. He recalls, “there must have been 40-50 emails exchanged. When I finally got to meet the buyer, he said the thing that impressed him most was that I didn’t get annoyed!”
TOP TIP: A show of patience while you continue to grow can put you in good stead with a buyer.
Building Your Brand’s Story:
There is a story at the heart of all challenger brands worth buying. Innoleaps.com puts it this way, “Challenger brands aren’t focused on becoming market leaders. They aren’t defined by sales figures. They are aiming at something much bigger. They want to challenge established concepts. They want to change hearts and minds.”
Fearne & Rosie’s founder Rachel describes this as being “purpose-led”. As a former primary school teacher, Rachel knew she had a good product on her hands but she wasn’t familiar with the strategic world of retail buying. On a whim, Rachel rung Waitrose head office and pitched the front desk her jam. Of course, she was told she’d need to speak to a buyer.
“What is a buyer”, Rachel recalls asking. But what was truly unbelievable is the wheels were already set in motion to get Fearne & Rosie listed in Waitrose. Rachel lamented that the only reason she had gotten so lucky was because of the USP of her jam being both high in fruit and low in sugar.
“It only worked because of the product. If I had brought them something that didn’t work it wouldn’t have happened. Waitrose were only interested because it was fulfilling a need state”.
Waitrose has
a longstanding reputation for partnering with values-driven brands, often prioritising those with sustainability or health-focused missions, making it a prime choice for brands aiming to highlight ethical practices.
Leveraging Trade Shows:
Unlike Bio & Me and Fearne & Rosie, Bird & Blend sell direct to consumer. Their shops are an experience in themselves and their co-founder, Mike, spoke about being approached by major retail buyers hoping to be the first to bag Bird & Blend. “They keep on seeing us, whether it’s winning awards, or online, and it makes them come to us.”
The value of attending key UK trade shows, such as the
Speciality & Fine Food Fair or Ideas Fest is that small brands can showcase what’s special about themselves. These events are opportunities to gain direct access to retail decision-makers. It also gives space for feedback, allowing makers to refine their products, processes and packaging before a pitch.
Mike informed us that there’s a high probability of seeing Bird & Blend on our shelves in future. He pointed out that more than ever buyers need disruptive challenger brands to stock their shelves to follow consumer demand.
TOP TIP: 48.4% of consumers say they will pay more on their everyday products, if they’re made sustainably. As most challenger brands seek
B-Corp status, sustainable scaling is intrinsic to their model. Therefore, challengers currently appeal to nearly half of the market.
Mike spoke candidly, “about once a year I’ll talk to one of them (a buyer) and think ‘maybe we should do it’, then after about forty minutes into the conversation we’ll get bored and leave it for another year.” All this is to say, if things are going well letting hype grow can be powerful, especially as the challenger brand movement continues to grow.
Scaling Your Product:
Getting down to the nitty gritty of how to live these values through your manufacturing processes is essential. Choosing a manufacturing partner who has experience and faith in you will be key.
Adelphi Manufacturing has had experience working with scaling businesses. Read the case studies with LittlePod or WELSH Lavander to understand the Mentors for Makers process.
As an artisan, it’s likely you’ll initially hand-package your products or use small-scale, manual equipment. While this works in the earliest early stages, scaling up to meet the demands of a retailer requires a much more efficient and reliable packaging process.
Take a look at this article to see how artisanal values fit into entry level automation.
Buyers expect that all brands meet high standards of presentation and consistency. They assess whether your product can perform at scale not just in quality, so it’s important to get the basics right early on. Investing in a machine like the tried-and-true Response Benchtop Filler, speeds things up and minimises human error. Consistency is crucial for maintaining product integrity and meeting the expectations of both retailers and consumers. Quicker production times mean you can deliver products faster to meet retailer timelines. To retailers, your reliability is crucial.
Rachel of Fearne & Rosie spoke about when she initially scaled up, she met her manufacturing partner through a friend of a friend. This connection made the whole process far less daunting, as she felt like they wanted her to succeed.
TOP TIP: Adelphi Manufacturing’s Dean Willis offers an Ask-the-Hour every Monday, 3-4pm. With over 35 years in the industry, Dean offers his expertise and time for no-obligation consultations, to support you in achieving your production goals.
In conclusion:
If you are a hopeful product or industry challenger, now is your time! Mentors for Makers is here to support and have a hand in empowering the exciting, the different, the oh-so-obvious and the problem-solving and brands of tomorrow.
If there’s something mentioned in this article that you’d like to discuss, please feel free to reach out to us at Mentors for Makers
here.
Harmony Kinnear
Adelphi Manufacturing
