RETAIL AND WHOLESALE GROWTH
Winning distribution is not the same as growing inside it. A listing is a door opened, not a result delivered.
Proven Professionals connects UK food and drink businesses with senior professionals who have managed supermarket, convenience and wholesale accounts from the supplier side.
Support is available on a project, fractional, interim or advisory basis.
Discuss your challengeBEFORE THE LISTING
Customer strategy, range and price proposals, and commercial readiness for a buyer meeting.
AFTER THE LISTING
Forecasting, service levels, promotional planning and joint business plans.
ACROSS THE ACCOUNT BASE
Trade terms, cost-to-serve and dependence on a single customer.
A first major listing is being pursued, and the business has not supplied a multiple retailer before. The terms, the promotional expectations and the service requirements are unfamiliar.
A listing has been won, and the volume has not followed. Rate of sale is below expectation, promotions are reactive, and the range review is approaching.
One customer has become most of the business. The relationship is sound. The dependence is the risk.
Customer and channel strategy. Which retailers and wholesalers suit the product, the price point and the capacity of the business, and in what order they should be approached.
Commercial readiness. Price architecture that leaves room for retailer margin and promotion. Case sizes, forecasting and service levels that hold under a larger customer's demands.
Account management. Joint business plans, promotional calendars, range reviews and trade terms, handled by someone who has sat on the supplier side of those conversations.
The requirement is established first: the customer, the stage of the relationship and the decision that has to be made.
A senior professional with direct experience of that channel is then proposed. The scope is agreed before any work begins and is kept proportionate to the issue.
A listing follows a proposal a buyer can accept: a product that fills a gap in the range, a price that works for both sides, promotional funding, and evidence that the business can supply reliably. Preparation before the meeting carries more weight than the meeting.
The common causes are distribution that is narrower than the listing implied, a price or promotional plan that does not suit the shopper, and availability problems caused by weak forecasting. Each is measurable from sales and service data.
Retail growth is sold through stores a retailer controls. Wholesale growth is sold to a wholesaler who supplies independent retailers and caterers. The terms, the margins and the selling effort differ, and a brand often needs both.
Discuss your challengeThe Commercial Diagnostic is a written review of a food or drink business across five commercial areas, scored by a senior professional. £950, delivered in five working days.
See the Commercial Diagnostic