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- Weekly Update February 14th
Weekly Update February 14th
😥 I had a distributor chargeback 30% and it almost put us out of business. ❌
Happy Monday! I always enjoy connecting with you at the beginning of the week, to share the latest resources, opportunities, and partners to help you be successful.
As we start off this week, I want to share my experience working with regional and national distributors.
PS. If you were forwarded this newsletter, please
.
😥 I had a distributor chargeback 30% of every product we sold them and it almost put us out of business. ❌
A few years ago I was working with a national distributor and kept getting large orders from an account. Great, I thought, but that's a lot of product, they'll need help moving it!
When I tried contacting the retailer, I couldn't get in touch with a single person who could help.
A few months later we started getting chargebacks from expired product that didn't sell. Ok, that's par for the course I've heard. But once I finally crunched the numbers it turns out they returned 30% of ALL the product we sold them, AND I had to re-pay them the product cost AND a fee!
That nearly took us out of business and I refused to send any more product to that retailer.
What should you do to avoid situations like this?
1) Only enter into new national distributor DCs with their largest account. This will ensure that you're moving enough volume to meet the DC minimums.
2) Build a strong relationship with the retailer and invest in merchandising and in-store promotions.
3) Work with an accountant or service like
or
.
🚚 I've had the best experience working with Regional Food and Beverage Distributors.
Why?
These are small businesses too, whose success is dependent on the success of every brand they carry.
You still have to work with them to drive sales in stores, but from my experience, most of them have no or low chargebacks and fees, and are much easier to work wtih.
What have been your experiences? Join the conversation in the Foodbevy Slack (e-mail me for an invite).
Jordan Buckner
Foodbevy
HOW NOT TO FAIL AT RETAIL IN CPG
Friday, March 4th at 9 am PT | 11 am CT | 12 pm ET - FREE
Getting product on the shelves is fantastic – but it’s only the opening bet. It’s what comes next that will determine whether you end up with all the chips, or none. And the vast majority of startups – over 80% – end up with none. One of the major reasons for this is that most only discover the real challenge of winning in the retail game AFTER they’ve already sat down at the table. That’s a really bad time to learn the rules of the game - but it’s not too late.
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Re-framing Trade Promotion: what it is and levers that can be pulled to manage performance
Choosing the right objectives (growth, profit, velocity)
Obstacles in trade promotion to watch for (especially DEDUCTIONS)
Opportunities in trade promotion that benefit your whole company
THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF REDUCING PACKAGING
Check out this awesome article from Levitskie Creative on how to improve your product packaging. I love this story she shares: "Don’t get me wrong. We’re all for brands scaling back the amount of packaging they’re using to reduce costs and improve their carbon footprint. Seriously, big cheerleaders. But trust me, there is a right way, and a wrong way, to do it. For example, when I opened a “luxury” subscription box I received a few weeks ago, I found a banged-up cardboard box with all the contents rolling around and one thin balled up piece of tissue that I suppose once wrapped around the products inside. Sound luxurious? Nope."
45-60 DAY CREDIT CARD WITH PARKER
If you're looking for a new business credit card, definitely check out
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HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST E-COMMERCE PLATFORM
Looking to figure out the best e-commerce platform for your brand? Take a look at these considerations for your brand.
LOOKING FOR HELP WITH FUNDRAISING OR RECRUITING?
Dave Adams and Alex Gould of
have recently joined our platform. They bring their extensive experience in hospitality, brewing, and food production backgrounds. Dave spent the last 10 years building the Green Flash Brewing Co. brand and was instrumental in their recent acquisition. Alex has been an entrepreneur, held interim COO and DOO titles, and has led nationwide expansions with companies from startup to sale.
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- 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.
With your help we're building an amazing community of Food and Bev entrepreneurs helping each other!
Jordan
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