What Retail Buyers Want - Part 2

Each quarter TRKR talk to retail category buyers to find out what’s currently important to them and, more specifically, what they expect from food & drink manufacturers when they pitch to them…

In Q1 ‘22 buyers highlighted 4 main areas for food & drink suppliers to focus on.

The second of those was……..

Part ii) Know your category

• Get out into store

• Be clear on your target audience

• Bring insight on the category

The first point is easy…if you’re talking to the Sainsbury’s buyer, get into 3 or 4 different formats of Sainsbury’s stores beforehand, so that you know who they stock, where they’re positioned, promos etc. Know the fixture and know where your product will fit.

It’s not rocket science, but apparently it doesn’t happen enough. It also wouldn’t hurt to know about the same fixture in the other retailers…

”The first thing I’d say to a new supplier is go out and have a look at our stores. Sounds simple but you’d be surprised at how many suppliers don’t do this.” Morrisons buyer

Be clear on your target audience

A common fault of food & drink manufacturers is being too product driven, when they should be driven by the needs of consumers. Consumers will only buy your product if they actually need it, and if it’s better than the other options available to them.

To develop a new product that delivers this or consumers, you need to know your target audience well. What motivates them, why they need your products, their attitudes to other brands etc

”Too many products are pitched to Asda without any real thought of the end shopper and the end consumer”

Asda Buyer, 2022

Retail buyers expect you to be able to articulate this to them.

For example, are you selling to people who already buy salmon, or are you bringing new people into the category? Are you trying to get people to switch from another brand to you? Are they buying your product for themselves, or for their kids?

Bring insight on the category

For example…….what is the promotional participation in grocery and and how does this differ by category? Suppliers need to know what is expected of them when launching new products.

26% of all grocery spend is sold on Promotion, however, this also differs by category. In Biscuits this increases to 30% compared to Bakery products, 16%. Kantar 2022

To answer questions like these, manufacturers should seriously consider investing in some market data, ideally a blend of EPOS (Nielsen, IRI) and Panel (Kantar).

This will enable you to tell the buyer how your product (and/or competitor brands) are doing across the Mults, which brands are adding the most value, and which shopper segments are driving those trends. You can also suggest a “victim SKU”…which brand is underperforming and should come OFF of their shelves to be replaced by your product.

Where you can really stand out to the Buyer is by providing them with real, bespoke  evidence that shoppers value your product, especially with NPD. By reducing their risk (of stocking your new product) and giving them insight that they can share internally, you can be a supplier that goes beyond their expectations.

How can TRKR help?

We help food & drink clients get to grips with a category, for existing or potential new products. Both accessing EPOS and Panel data, and creating bespoke insight/evidence will help you develop better NPD, AND help you stand out to retail buyers

If you’re free for 30 minutes to run-though the TRKR What Retail Buyers Want report, please email mark@trkr.co.uk