The 5 Must-Do’s to get Retail Ranging

Getting a product ranged in any retail sector is challenging. In this post we look at 5 ways you can significantly improve your chance of success.

 

1. Appealing Packaging is Critical

 

Products with appealing packaging get 3000%* more retail buyer interest than those that don’t.

 

This figure comes from RangeMe**, an online platform that allows retail buyers to interact with sellers seeking distribution. RangeMe considers appealing packaging so important that they apply a packaging score to all the 150,000 products using their service.

 

2. Prove Consumer Interest

 

Buyers want to back winners.

 

Winners either have a track record (existing sales in a relevant sector) or can prove a ready-market waiting to buy.

 

A ready-market means that you have robust data that proves active consideration from the buyer’s customers, and, clearly positions your product relative to existing alternatives.

 

3. Craft a Unique Expression of the Fundamental Category Need.

 

 “Jaws on a spaceship”, with these four words the first Alien movie was sold to 20th Century Fox.

 

A succinct expression of your benefit within the context of the category need is critical, do the work to get this right.

 

When Campbell's Liquid Stock was being launched into a category that only offered powdered stock, they had to overcome a significant obstacle – they were seeking a lot more shelf space than the category was currently allocated.

 

They employed the succinct benefit “Real Stock Made From Scratch”.

 

Stock is a flavouring ingredient, this is the fundamental category need. What is also fundamental is that stock is ultimately a liquid. This gives Real Stock a powerful fundamental alignment.

 

Made From Scratch at the time was unique and believable because (a) it is made and ready to use, and (b) Campbell’s has followed the same process the end-user is now involved in, cooking from scratch.

 

4. Demonstrate your Superior Benefit

 

To paraphrase Maya Angelou “People will forget what you said and did, but they will not forget how you made them feel”.

 

Demonstrate your benefit in a way that encourages positive emotion. Don’t just tell, show.

 

Engage as many of the buyer’s senses as you can – sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell – more senses, more engagement. More engagement, more chance of getting ranged.

 

5. Know How Big the Waves Are and Paddle for The Right One

 

Show that you understand the trends affecting your category and that your product is at the forefront of the important ones.

 

Knowing directional shifts demonstrates two things (1) you are a category expert (2) your expertise has been incorporated into the product you are presenting, giving it a better chance of success.

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*Presented at NOSH live, California, 2016  **rangeme.com