Impact Group

Entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses in food retail face an enormous obstacle: established brand giants. Of course, that’s an obstacle faced by small businesses in any market, but it tends to be a larger obstacle for niche food brands. That’s due in part because people tend to be very particular about what they choose to ingest, which can make for extreme brand loyalty. That very personal, very particular concern about what one eats and drinks serves as an extremely powerful motivator to choose the best products on the market. This can mean that over time as different trends and health information come to light that people can be looking for products to potentially replace the brand giant they grew up with or are most familiar with. That provides an “in” from which a shrewd food retailer can carve out a sizable chunk of market share, particularly when partnered with a competent CPG marketing agency. Establish Your Ideal Customer and Take Them Away F...

Trends are the name of the game for much of retail merchandising. It’s certainly the case for grocery purchasing (just ask a CPG marketing agency). Trends that are picking up steam can draw mini-rushes of interest and purchases. But in some cases (seemingly overnight) all that stock that had just been flying off the shelves is now relegated to the discount rack. Then there are the products that prove to be steady trends, rather than fleeting fads. They’re the ones that peak, dip, and then plateau—but seldom disappear (like quinoa, smoothie-specific fixings, granola, goat cheese, etc.). This is one of the features that distinguishes a fad from a trend. So how can you know if a trending health product is a long-term draw worthy or early adoption, or a flash-in-the-pan fad destined to fizzle out? Consider the Sources and the Claims The general nutritional information provided by mainstream scientific authorities and organizations usually turns out to be accur...

So, your niche food or drink product or brand has been doing well online. You have a website with the appropriate dedicated point-of-sales landing pages and may also be offering your product through third-party vendor sites as well. This is the point at which online sellers of consumable goods face an all-important decision for their brand: Continue to sell solely online by focusing exclusively on digital marketing, optimization, ads, and expansion to seek additional internet-linked niche markets and the sites catering to them? Or, is it worth going after brick-and-mortar grocery stores and retail chains? The latter can certainly be a risk, but success would change everything. However you choose to court the grocery retail market, it’s going to require an investment of time, money, and effort. The question is: Which of those investments is going to yield the greatest ROI? Which direction offers the greatest possibilities for growth? Being Your Own Brand Amba...