Hey , 

Happy Monday! I hope you have a great start to the week coming up. 

I've been thinking a lot about unboxing experience lately, namely for my own

Good Food Brands

boxes, and the role they play in your customer journey. Let's dive through some of those considerations below.

PS. If you were forwarded this newsletter, please 

click here to subscribe

. 

Unboxing Experience

When a customer receives your box at their door it’s likely the first physical experience they’ll have with your brand. Done well, the right packaging and unboxing experience is a chance to deliver a functional product and create a memorable moment for your customers.When a customer opens the box they should have a “wow” moment of excitement, and be encouraged to share the unboxing experience on social. Prompt customers to take a photo of the products and share on social media with an insert or language directly on the box.On the other hand, 90% of the time I receive a box from a brand, I immediately recycle everything inside -- the flyer, stickers, inserts, and the box without reading most of it. So it got me thinking, is it better to include all that stuff inside? Or just go for a low waste experience?The best materials in the box provide something that a customer actually values.

• A flyer with why you as the founder started the business?  Not Valuable

• A flyer offering a free gift on their next order when they share the unboxing on social? Valuable

If your brand is all about sustainability, including heavily printed boxes and lots of inserts isn't sustainable, so you probably should keep that communication digital.Whichever way you go, make sure your approach aligns with your mission and values, as this is an important touchpoint. 

Recommended Packaging Partners

• NoIssue - Sustainable Packaging Company

  • NoIssue creates custom sustainable packaging including boxes, tissue paper, tape, and more to create the perfect unboxing experience.

• Sticker Mule - Branded Labels, Stickers, and Packaging

  • This company makes it super easy and affordable to create custom-branded materials for your company. I use them to create branded tape for our shipping boxes. 

• Crowdspring - Freelance Design Services

  • This is a great place to start if you're looking for a designer. You can create a project and get help with box graphic design, flyer design, and more.

Let me know your thoughts on packaging, shoot me an e-mail with your approach.

Jordan Buckner

Foodbevy

BACKEND OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY-CHAIN SUPPORT

Need more time and resources allocated to revenue generating and brand building activities? Black Ink Ops helps growing CPG brands scale by providing a suite of solutions addressing the non-revenue generating tasks that are time consuming, requires capital and often a distraction.

Acting as an extension of your team, their solutions include transacting the following on your behalf:

• Order Management

• Retailer/Supplier portal management

• Billing, Invoicing and Collections

• Deduction Reconciliation

• Logistics Coordination

• ERP set up/enhancement (Quick Books)

6 E-COMMERCE KPI METRICS YOU NEED TO MONITOR

Getting products in front of anyone with access to the internet is an exciting prospect.

Whether you’re keeping up with the times, launching your very first business, or doing a combination of both, e-commerce opens the door to a wide range of opportunities and possibilities.

But knowing what KPI data points to focus on, how often they should be checked, and what each one is telling you can get confusing. We’ll explain why you should allocate time and resources into analyzing the data that’s collected from people who visit your online store, as well as some important data points that you should be monitoring regularly. 

NEED TO INCREASE VELOCITY? 

Launching in retail is very exciting, but many times your product doesn't sell as fast as you need it to. Talk to my friend Chris at Promomash to learn how they can help you increase velocity.Watch our webinar from last month on How Not To Fail at Retail CPGHow Promomash can help:

• Promotion Planning

  • One comprehensive place to plan and manage your entire trade promotion spend. Create and manage your promo calendar by account, view profitability projections, project accruals, and arm your sales team for better negotiations.

• Deduction Management

  • Maximize receivables and minimize hassles with turnkey Deduction Management Services.

• Field Marketing Management

  • Whether engagement happens in-person or online, Promomash let's you manage field marketing smarter and focus on scaling your program for growth.

LOOKING FOR INNOVATIVE PACKAGING?

Levitskie Creative and Spoonfuls have teamed up to spread the word about an innovative way to reduce packaging and plastic usage, while making liquid product measurement and dosing easier! 

Spoonfuls is a unique cap with a built-in spoon utilized with spouted pouches. With applications in home cleaning products, over-the-counter medications, baby food, and beauty, Spoonfuls closures make it easier for customers to use your products 

correctly

, ensuring the best possible user experience. These caps are also a green solution, offering significant plastic reduction, monomaterial composition, reusable and refill opportunities, BPA Free, PVC Free, plus many other sustainable benefits, as well!

This value-add system and stand out packaging design is ideal for purees, yogurts, specialized nutrition for the infirm or elderly, herb and cooking pastes, nutraceuticals and supplements, over-the-counter medicines, detergents, cosmeceuticals, and topical therapeutic aids.

If you want to stand out from the competition, contact Kristin at 

[email protected]

, for how you can become part of the Spoonfuls packaging design revolution!

LOOKING FOR A DESIGNER?

Crowdspring is an online platform to find freelance designers for your business. They can help with everything from graphic design and illustrations to website and packaging design. 

I used them to develop our first packaging design for TeaSquares and it was super affordable. They're offering $25 off your first project for Foodbevy community members.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE: 39. How to Succeed at Target with a Former Buyer

Are you interested in selling at Target? I talk with Ryan Rogers, a former Target buyer who spent 18 years working at the company.  Ryan now runs Retail Optics, a consultancy to help CPG brands navigate their sales and growth strategy.We discuss:

• The size of the grocery business at Target

• Customer shopping behavior

• The best way to pitch Target buyers

• How to succeed on shelf

Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Podcasts

DISCOUNTS

- Mindful Goods 

is an awesome Amazon expert that can quickly get you started or optimize your pages for strong ROI. 

Get 10% of their services 

 use code FOODBEVY.

- Maverick Lab 

allows you to create individually personalized videos (with a customer's name) welcoming them to your community. Foodbevy members save 40%. Reply to this e-mail for an introduction.

Check out their demo here.

- Chop 

is a

rebate platform

that allows you to drive in-store trial, collect customer shopping data, and build customer profiles to further drive your business. Foodbevy members save 20% off. E-mail me for the discount.

- Stripe 

is now providing $20,000 in fee-free processing for new and EXISTING customers.

Save over $600

The Accountrepreneur 

is your go-to outsourced CPA and CFO firm for the food and beverage industry. Receive

 a free financial assessment + Foodbevy Members get 20% off services for one year.

- Airtable

 can store information in a spreadsheet that's visually appealing and easy-to-use, but it's also powerful enough to act as a database that businesses can use for customer-relationship management (CRM), task management, project planning, and tracking inventory. 

Receive $2,000 in free credits

With your help we're building an amazing community of Food and Bev entrepreneurs helping each other!

Jordan