While a compelling origin story and great tasting product are table stakes for brands to get noticed by retailers, shelf space is limited (and coveted). The brands that understand how retailers approach assortment will earn their place on those shelves, according to experts during the Specialty Foods Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City earlier this week.
Brands must root retailer pitches in data to show how and why a prospective product can move on shelf, according to Krystal Dawson, VP, North America business partner cluster leader, Nielsen NIQ.
She explained, “consumers are continuing to prioritize how they spend” and “trust and value mean so much more than ever before.”
Numbers first, story second
For retailers, the message is consistent: storytelling matters, but numbers drive decisions.
“Know your numbers, know your data points, know your velocity. … It’s retail space, I’m selling space. It’s real estate,” Glen Cunningham, center store director for Village Supermarkets, emphasized.
A broader view of performance, including trial and social media, are critical data points for retailers considering how discovery shifted in recent years.
“Social media is one of the major players here that wasn’t here two to three years ago. You have people looking at TikTok for trends,” Shannon Rosiak, director of fresh category manager, KeHe Distributors, emphasized.
It’s retail space, I’m selling space. It’s real estate.
Glenn Cunningham, center store director, Village Supermarkets
“We’re following those trends, we’re seeing them happen in our stores. … I have data points that are showing me how many followers brands have, those are the points that I’m looking to see where the trends are coming from,” Cunningham said.
At the same time, buyers are less interested in incremental innovation alone and more in how innovation will increase foot traffic, Dawson noted.
Retail readiness is non-negotiable
Beyond topline metrics, retailers expect brands to understand how retail works at a more granular level.
“Are you ready for retail? Can you pitch your promo pricing? Do you understand the velocity? Do you understand what goes into getting to the store? … I think that’s retail readiness,” Cunningham said.
For brands, retail readiness also means understanding who their competition and consumers are, Rosiak added.
And arguably more important: Brands need to think like shoppers, not just founders, Dawson emphasized.
“You just need to get out there in the field and see and watch someone shop the aisle,” Rosiak said, .
Relationships still win
While data may be what grabs retailers’ attention, relationships are foundational to building retail presence, according to another panel during Fancy Food Show.
For many founders, like Ilay Karateke of labneh brand Bezi and Jamie Kim of granola brand Jamie’s Kitchen, those relationships starts with old-school hustle.
“ I walked to every grocery store with [a] backpack with the samples to tell the story and get the best thing into the shelf, and that was the main game changer for us,” Karateke said, reflecting on the early days of building Bezi..
Kim, who founded Jamie’s Kitchen over a decade ago in Ithaca, New York, as a Cornell University student, took a similar walk-the-city approach when she planned to expand her granola business beyond the local grocers upstate into the metropolis.
“I walked all across Manhattan, 11 miles, I dropped off all my samples,” she said, noting she didn’t receive a callback from anyone, but the experience taught her to sharpen her awareness of retailers’ assortment strategy.
For many brands, like Jamie’s Kitchen, those retail relationships start locally, not nationally – and not even in large markets like New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles.
“I would really encourage you to look more locally … we had a really amazing community in upstate New York … maybe one retailer would see it on the shelf, and then they would automatically reach out to us, and we’d spread across the whole town,” Kim said.
“We really developed a lot of those relationships … once you have that, it’s that human to human connection, and that doesn’t really go away,” she said, adding that maintaining those relationships is an ongoing process throughout the brand’s growth.
From selling products to providing solutions
Most businesses may start with a sharp sales pitch about a delicious product – but the panelists note that the mindset to win in retail shifts from selling the product to providing a solution.
“It’s not just a sales pitch … it’s really repositioning it as sales as service, where I am also helping and supporting you,” Kim explained.
“Sales as service is definitely something that I’ve learned,” she added.
That perspective starts with understanding the retailer’s reality beyond serving as a landing pad for a founder’s product.
“They pay rent, they pay people’s wages. Those products are how they’re actually maintaining these stores. It’s simple as that,” Karateke said.
In other words, every product on shelf must prove its value.
“This product needs to make the rent of that shelf that is occupying,” she emphasized.
Brands also should take into account how buyers are approaching the category they’re trying to win.
“Understanding how the other person thinks about creating the assortment is very helpful when you’re having this conversation,” Karateke added.
