Exclusivity

Speciality Bites with

Paul Hargreaves

Chief executive of Cotswold Fayre

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There has been some talk recently in wholesaler circles about exclusivity. To do it or not! Sometimes wholesalers are portrayed as being dictator-like insisting on control and ultimately world domination. Believe me, it is not quite like that!

Essentially there are two options for new brands within the speciality food world.  Go with and put all your energies behind one good wholesaler, or spread the business amongst several.  Both can work, but conditions apply for success.

The brands that are with a number of wholesalers that are growing and successful fall into two categories.  Either they are brands that were early into the speciality food sector that gained a good share of the market before it was as large and fragmented as it is now OR they are new brands with large investment who have enough marketing power to gain traction in the market.  In either case supplying more than one wholesaler may be a good strategy as buyers will be pleased to see these brands in wholesaler’s catalogues as they are already aware of them and have already decided to stock them before the sales person or catalogue arrives on their doorstep.  Actually there is a final category where the best strategy may be multi-wholesalers and these are products that are really so innovative and interesting that they create a large wave of PR in the sector.  Sadly this type of product only comes along once in a blue moon.

The vast majority of brands and products within the sector need introducing and selling to buyers.  Yes, you may have advertised in the trade magazines, done several trade shows and sent countless e-mails, but the vast majority of your contacts will not have bought the products.  Chances are you have introduced your brand personally to those retailers near you, but you need a sales team to roll your brand out across the UK.  When this sales team show their customers your products they are far more likely to buy, particularly if there is good sales data to support what they are saying.  So how do you get the sales team to talk about your brand?  By being exclusive with that wholesaler!  They are clearly going to talk up the brands they know they are going to benefit from all the repeat sales.  Why should they mention brands carried by other wholesalers when time is precious and the other wholesaler(s) may just run a catalogue and telesales team rather than a field sales tem and gain much of their business through replacement sales rather than introducing new brands.  It is basic common-sense and not difficult to work out.

So, two choices in my mind for a new brand:  a heavy marketing spend or partnership with an exclusive wholesaler. Simples!