Hey there!

This is the first installment of a Shelf Conscious series called Micro-interviews. These are short Q&As with interesting and knowledgable people in retail or CPG. Since these are to be short, there isn’t any chit-chat. Just high ROI info that should fulfill this publication’s purpose of doubling your chances of success.

Enjoy!

About Benn

Benn Manning is a fellow BYU alum and one of the people who convinced me to join Walmart out of college. He is one of the best business thinkers I’ve ever met and is also just a really caring and awesome guy. Benn has held buyer roles at both Sam’s Club and Walmart, private label leadership roles at Walmart and was a DMM at Uline. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and is currently the co-founder of Counter, a macro-friendly frozen foods brand. When it comes to retail and CPG, Benn always sees the big picture and this small interview illustrates that well.

I hope you enjoy learning a thing or two from Benn!

Q&A

1) What knowledge from your buyer and private label days has helped you the most as a CPG founder?

Two ideas from my background have been instrumental in how we’ve gone to market.

First, many large retailers are open to product innovation. The classic go-to-market path in food is to begin in the Natural channel and then move to the Grocery, Mass, and then Club channel. However, we did the opposite and went to Club and Mass channels first. This unlocked many things for us including getting large volume early, which then allowed us to attract large established co-packers.

Second, instead of trying to have the highest retail and maximizing internal margin, we try to have the lowest price point possible with an acceptable internal margin. In order to stay on shelf, sales velocities need to be acceptable. As volume grows you can revisit your internal P&L and find ways to expand margins. However, if a retailer deletes your product because of slow velocities, it is very difficult to get a second chance.

2) You were a buyer receiving pitches from potential suppliers and now you are on the other side making pitches. Now that you have done both, What is your advice to make a great pitch?

Great pitches are simple: show that you’re on trend and provide social proof.

You need to show product-market fit as quickly as possible in buyer communication. If you already have distribution in other large retailers, that is something to lead with.

If you don’t, you need to show that you’re executing on a major trend found elsewhere in the market. Counter is a high protein frozen foods brand. In our early pitches we pointed to the popularity and growth of high protein DTC meal companies, the presence of “high protein” on socials, and the massive categories of protein bars and protein drinks.

3) Counter has had some great success working with influencers to drive trial and velocity. What tips would you have for others who might want to do the same?

Consumers of digital media have become very savvy about sniffing out inauthenticity among creators. If a brand chooses to work with creators, it needs to find those whose brands and content align with their core value prop.

At Counter we don’t pay any creators to talk about our products. If they choose to talk about us when we send them samples, then great. If not, we need to try harder to have something that is worth talking about. We believe we’re solving real pain points that certain creators want to share with their communities because they are intimately familiar with those pain points.

4) In your opinion, what is the most important thing to keep in mind when working with retailers post shelf set?

The two most important things are 1) don’t be a headache and 2) have strong shelf velocities.

Buyers are super busy, and they want to work with suppliers who don’t need to be babysat and disciplined. Ensure POs are being fulfilled on-time and in full. Ensure product quality is impeccable. Ensure all requests are taken care of quickly.

There is no perfect metric in retail, but one of the key ones post shelf set is Units Per Store Per Week. Suppliers should have an idea what a good benchmark is for its category and strive to exceed that. Suppliers should not rely on the retailer’s organic foot traffic but instead focus on driving traffic into the retailer to drive sales. This should be a key tenet in a brand’s marketing plan.

Take care✌️,

Jordon