Landing in a wholesaler’s warehouse is a big win for a supplier, but it’s often just the first step in a journey that ultimately ends in a consumer’s fridge.
Stone Distributing general manager Brian Fried, Breakthru Beverage California director of beer Sinead Carey and Tryon Distributing director of beer Elledge Davis shared the questions and tasks suppliers need to ask and accomplish along the way during the Brewbound Live business conference last month in Marina del Rey, California.
“As we think about new item launches and new brand launches, what we like to really think about is the end consumer,” Fried said. “As you’re thinking about your portfolio and you’re thinking about your approach to the market, be thinking about what role does that brand play with the consumer? What whitespace does it fill? What niche, what consumer needs is it going to meet? That really helps us when we are just looking at brands to decide how do we want to play, what new brand, new item fits best for us.”
When exploring new offerings and new partners, Breakthru deploys a “very robust brand evaluation process” that ranges from market data to fundamental business questions, Carey said.
“We’re using data and analytics to tell us what’s going on in the market,” she said. “We’re also asking some really solid questions of potential partners and potential brands, as in, what are you looking to do? What channel are you trying to focus in on? Do you have some financial support? And are you financially stable, particularly if it’s a smaller supplier?
“We’re also looking at, again, that end consumer – are they going to pick it up off the shelf?” she continued. “If it’s an out of state supplier, particularly here in California, we’ll also say, ‘What is your investment level going to be? Are you going to put feet on the street to help that brand move and to help us grow it and build it and bring it out to the consumer?’”
For Tryon, the first task in building a relationship with a new supplier is to “make sure their vision of success for the launch makes sense with our go-to-market strategy and our capabilities,” Davis said. “After compatibility is established, more complexity can be layered on.
“From there, you can add in the pieces of price promotion or incentivizing but making sure you’re in alignment is the first step,” he added.
Stone Distributing added 20 new supplier partners in 2023, Fried said. He cautioned suppliers to have a plan to engage with Stone Distributing’s team to build brand awareness.
“It’s great to get into our warehouse; it’s great to have an amazing product,” Fried said. “But unless consumers become aware of it, it’s gonna be really, really difficult to get things going.”
Watch more of Carey, Davis and Fried’s conversation with Brewbound managing editor Jessica Infante above.