Retail buyers usually roam the exhibitor halls at Expo West – obscuring their badges to avoid overly eager founders – to find brands that can drive consumers to their store, but Sprouts Farmers Market flipped the script on how it finds new brands with a dedicated booth at the natural products conference.
Over the last several years, Sprouts dedicated its modest Expo West booth to learning about smaller CPG startups that did not have a booth, or founders who were backpacking the event, the retailer’s Chief Forager Kim Coffin explained.
“We would always have folks stopping us and wanting to show us their products, and we said, ‘Why do not we give them a place to come and be able to talk to us about what their products are?‘” Coffin said. “It is really a way for us to find brands that are out there doing good things and just are not ready maybe to do a full-blown presentation.”
“We obviously look for purpose-driven brands that are differentiating and solving problems, solving health issues or making a difference. And we like really passionate founders that are trying to move the food system forward,” Coffin added.
Knowing velocities is crucial to success at Sprouts
Brands that succeed at Sprouts typically have a loyal fanbase of online consumers, who are willing to make the trip into the store to purchase the product, Coffin said. Then, Sprouts can boost a retail launch with shopper marketing programs, she added.
Sprouts launched a retail media network in 2023, powered by Instacart, which allows brands to create targeted digital marketing campaigns to boost interest in a product.
These efforts are designed to drive one of the key CPG metrics – velocity. Sprouts also provides CPG brands with tools to measure velocities, which can often influence other business activities, Coffin explained.
“We have a lot of partners that we work with where we can get them the help that they need in understanding the velocities that they can expect, so they can be ready from an inventory and funding standpoint. And then what it really takes once you are on the shelf to really engage the customer and drive traffic and keep your velocities up to we are projecting them to be,” she elaborated.
Balancing name and store brands at Sprouts
Sprouts also is searching for emerging food and beverage manufacturers that can develop innovative private-label offerings, Coffin said.
Sprouts strikes a balance between its private-label (i.e., store) brand and innovative named brands to ensure that its assortment addresses various consumer demands, she added.
US store brand sales reached $271 billion in 2024 and grew 3.9% in dollars, according to Circana Unify+ data shared in a Private Label Manufacturers Association report. Refrigerated, general food and beverage led the growth with dollar sales increasing 7.5%, 4.3% and 4%, respectively.
“Private-label is super important to our business. You can only buy those products with Sprouts,” Coffin elaborated. “Our program is not just the cheapest thing on the shelf. We really look at attributes and really solve problems for customers.”
