Retail 101: What to focus on after you've got your first retailer or distributor

85% of CPG brands overspend on trade, says PwC. That's because they don't invest in a retail strategy guided by actionable data.

As a new entrant to the consumer packaged goods industry, you need a clear plan of action for engaging with retailers and distributors who bring your product to market. Plotting everything into a spreadsheet won't cut it anymore. You need a better system in place for collecting and analyzing data from your trade campaigns.

At Vividly, we've spent years analyzing the trade patterns of early-stage consumer packaged goods brands. That's why, today, we're giving away our most up-to-date framework for crafting a retail strategy for CPG. 

Need help minimizing expenses and improving returns from trade? Keep reading!

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What Is Retail Strategy?

Retail strategy is a comprehensive plan developed by CPG brands to develop, promote, and ultimately sell their products to end consumers. It includes:

• Studying market pricing, positioning, promotions, merchandising, and customer service. 
• Implementing strategies to maximize sales, increase profits, and compete with other companies in the industry. 
• Increasing loyalty through brand loyalty programs and customer experience initiatives. 
• Develop sustainable relationships with retailers and distributors to bring your product to market.

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Why Do CPG Brands Need a Retail Strategy?

According to McKinsey and Company, brands and retailers that rely on data transparency to build meaningful relationships with each other are much more likely to succeed than those trying to outmaneuver the other side in negotiations. 

Developing a retail strategy is key to maintaining these meaningful CPG-retailer relationships. Not only does it help to clarify expectations and set the terms of engagement, but it also enables you to weed out bad partnerships by adding perspective to each trade campaign. It also helps:

• Improve sales by targeting the right customer base through optimized pricing. 
• Maximize profits through cost control, efficient operations, and inventory management. 
• Better compete with competitors in the industry by implementing new tactics to stay ahead. 
• Boost loyalty by building relationships to improve the customer experience. 
• Optimize the impact of promotions, such as in-store events, coupons, and discounts. 
• Monitor and manage disputes related to trade promotions. 
• Collect and interpret data related to customer buying behaviors. 
• Ensure that investments in promotional strategies yield a positive return.

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The 7 P's of Retail Strategy for CPG Brands

The 7 P's of retail strategy are a framework that can help CPG brands plan, develop, and implement a system for maximizing sales and building loyalty with retail partners and end consumers alike. The so-called 7 P's of CPG retail are:

• Product: The product you are selling is the most important driving factor in retail strategy. CPG brands need to consider how their product is presented to retailers, distributors, as well as the end consumer. That includes packaging, labeling, shelf placement, and product assortment. 
• Place: Place is another important consideration for CPG brands in retail strategy. You need to determine which channels are best for your product, such as retail outlets, e-commerce platforms, and wholesale distributors. 
• Promotion: Promotion is the process of raising awareness of your product among retailers and consumers. It includes traditional advertising, trade promotion, and digital marketing. It should be tailored to the channels you use to market your product. 
• Price: Price is a key element of retail strategy. CPG brands need to determine the price at which their products should be sold, both at the wholesale and retail levels. You should also identify promotional pricing strategies to maximize profits and sales.
• People: Don't neglect people when building your retail strategy! You need to ensure that your sales and customer service teams are well-trained. You should also work to improve the human element of their retailer and distributor relationships.
• Process: Process management is essential for CPG brands to ensure that products reach the market in an efficient, timely, and cost-effective way. This includes optimizing supply chain processes and automating trade promotion management. (Need more visibility into your trade? Try Vividly!) 
• Physical Evidence: Physical evidence is important for retail strategy. You have to make sure your products are visible on shelves, either through in-store displays, end caps, or other placements. That, in turn, comes with building high-quality relationships with retailers and distributors.

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A Step-by-Step Retail Strategy Framework for CPG Companies

Want to establish meaningful partnerships and scale effectively? Investing in a comprehensive retail strategy is a must. Vividly's team has spent years studying and analyzing CPG trade. That's why we're sharing our step-by-step framework for developing a retail strategy:

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Step 1: Identify Target Retailers or Distributors

Start by identifying the retailers and distributors best suited to your product. You'll need to research their customer base and assess their ability to carry your product. Make sure to:

• Calculate the cost of stocking, merchandising, and advertising your product
• Analyze the potential profitability of each retailer or distributor
• Develop tiered pricing strategies to accommodate different outlets

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Step 2: Develop a Pricing and Promotion Strategy

Once you've identified the retailers and distributors you want to engage with, it's time to develop a pricing and promotion strategy. You'll need to determine the optimal price at which to sell your product, and how to market it to end customers effectively. That includes researching pricing tactics used by competitors, setting incentives to drive sales, and identifying opportunities for promotions.

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Step 3: Optimize Your Supply Chain

Your supply chain needs to be optimized to maximize efficiency, minimize costs, and ensure that the right products reach the right people in a timely manner. That means:

• Automating processes to save time
• Streamlining operations to reduce costs and eliminate bottlenecks
• Enhancing the visibility of inventory
• Ensuring that orders are fulfilled correctly

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Step 4: Monitor and Manage Disputes

Trade promotions involve a lot of paperwork and disputes. That's why it's important to monitor and manage these disputes so they are resolved efficiently and correctly. 

If you don't have an automated dispute process in place, you should consider working with a third-party provider or platform that specializes in trade promotion management. 

For example, our dispute collections service enables CPG companies to delegate dispute management to a trusted Vividly analyst. You still retain full visibility into the collection process, with the added benefit of having an expert hand to navigate through the most complicated disputes.

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Step 5: Analyze Data to Optimize Performance

Data is key to understanding and optimizing your retail strategy. You need to collect and analyze data to understand the performance of your promotions. That includes:

• Analyzing customer buying behaviors
• Monitoring the performance of promotions
• A/B testing pricing and delivery
• Optimizing inventory management

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Step 6: Measure and Monitor Progress

Your retail strategy is never complete. You have to continue to monitor and measure your progress to identify opportunities for improvement. Make sure to track key performance indicators such as sales, profits, and customer reviews.

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The Role of Trade Promotion in Retail Strategy

Trade is the second-largest item in a CPG company's P&L statement, taking over up to forty percent of its annual profit. Curiously enough, 10% of trade deductions are often disputable whereas 30% are altogether invalid.

The importance of trade in a company's retail strategy is impossible to discount — not only because of its role in the sales process but also because it presents the most opportunity for cost optimization. 

Sadly, most emerging packaged goods companies do not have a proper retail strategy in place to deal with trade promotion and manage negative retailer relationships. In fact, most CPG companies use Excel to manage trade — a costly mistake because spreadsheets aren't sophisticated enough for handling that volume of data, let alone analyze it.

Thankfully, there are a few things you can do to optimize your retail strategy right now. By improving visibility into your trade activities through data, you'll empower yourself to make better decisions about your brand's future.

Using Automation to Simplify Trade Promotion Management

Using automation to simplify trade promotion management can help CPG brands save money, increase efficiency, and reduce disputes. Trade Promotion Management (TPM) software can:

• Automate calculations to ensure accuracy in trade deductions.
• Generate reports for improved visibility into trade spend.
• Monitor and track the performance of trade promotions.
• Streamline dispute processes and manage settlement payments.
• Provide insights into customer behavior to inform future promotions.

Meet Vividly, The Data-Driven TPM Platform for CPG Brands

Vividly is the ultimate trade promotion management platform for emerging packaged goods brands, with a suite of tools to help you plan, forecast, analyze, and report on trade promotions. Here are a few ways our platform can help you scale up your product distribution and retail strategy:

• Easily create, track, and manage promotions from a single UI.
• Connect your promotion strategy with your sales plan in real-time.
• House a backup of deductions and perform reconciliation from your ERP.
• Get complete visibility into the trade process with advanced analytics.
• Visualize your trade performance and receive suggestions for improvement.

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That's not all. Vividly's Dispute Collections service enables growing CPG companies to outsource their deduction management process to our trusted analysts, freeing them up to do more without having to worry about losing revenue.

Want to learn more about what Vividly can do for your team? Schedule a free demo today!