Road 2 Retail: Our Commitment to Emerging Brands

Here at The Road 2 Retail, we focus our time and energies toward helping emerging, small, and challenger consumer packaged goods brands intelligently grow their business.  We do this in several ways:

1)       Our Experience: The Road 2 Retail partners each have over 30 years of experience in what we refer to as Commercial Operations. We have held executive or senior leadership roles in marketing, sales, trade marketing, market research, new product development, business development (brand M & A), logistics, international distribution, broker & distributor management, marketing agency selection and management, co-manufacturer selection and management, Amazon management, all things digital, and private equity backed organizations.

 We discuss how founders and leaders of emerging brands can determine if they are in fact ‘retail ready’. This goes way beyond ‘do you have a good product?’ We are focused on:

-            Have you secured funding?

-            How best to start online and prove your idea direct to consumer?

-            Do you understand how a supply chain works?

-            Are all your suppliers vetted and qualified?

-            Do you understand the unsexy things like case packs, handling deductions, and responding to inquiries from retailers or consumers?

-            Do you understand your P&L completely and is your pricing logical?

o   Includes ALL your costs

o   Consider all trade spend expenses

o   Allow for the retailer margin

 We look to bring the audience of our popular emerging brand podcast (The Road 2 Retail) and brands that retain our consulting services a dose of well-earned reality. These are the real-world adventures that an emerging brand can expect encounter, and will need to solve for, as they begin selling to consumers: online or in traditional brick and mortar. From getting a meeting with a retailer, to what to include in your presentation, handling uncomfortable discussions with your retail buyer, and surviving your first line review.

 2)       Road 2 Retail Podcast Guests: Our popular and growing emerging brand podcast (the Road 2 Retail) brings on people of all walks that have built brands, are building brands, can help grow brands, and those that finance, buy & sell brands. Specifically, we interview brand founders, retailers, sales agent & brokers, marketing & advertising agencies, market research firms, package design, media, logistics firms, co-manufacturers, Amazon & Tik Tok Shop experts, investors, and investment bankers that buy and sell brands (or entire companies). These guests tell their unfiltered story about building their brands, what it takes to drive demand and velocities, and what it takes to get a check from an investor.

3) Road 2 Retail Consulting Services: Because of our many years creating, building, and buying and selling brands- many brand leaders have reached out to us over time and asked if we could help them successfully launch and intelligently grow their brands. Due to these requests for counsel, we offer a limited suite of high impact consulting services. The solutions we provide include:

 a. Go To Market Strategy Development: The blueprint for determining the path forward when launching your brand. Geographic, DTC capability, retailer compatibility, case pack development, price pack architecture, trade spend strategy, P&L development and management, co-manufacturing partner selection and more. This is your initial brand roadmap.

 b. Presentation Preparation & Review: You get one shot with a retailer to make your initial presentation.  What goes in it?  How long should it be? Where do you allow time for dialog?  How much data? Do you understand the category dynamics? Do you have a plan in place to drive demand? And many more nuances to work through. We have presented to the nation’s largest retailers dozens of times.

 Once you are in distribution, each year you will go through the line review process with each retailer where you have distribution. Do you know how to present your business relative to both the plan you had for the past year as well as what you hope to accomplish the next year? How do you properly explain challenges your brand encountered the past year? What does the retailer expect in this presentation?  We know.

 c. CPG 911: This is a service we offer on a low-priced monthly basis to be available to work with your brand to resolve issues that come up and how to best take advantage of opportunities that may come your way. All challenges and opportunities that come up may seem overwhelming… because they are yours. But with very few exceptions, we have worked through all these before and stand ready to help you troubleshoot matters that may come up with your brand. We don’t want to be part of your fixed S, G & A- we simply want to step in and help where needed- and then step out. Here are just a few examples:

     i.  A retailer calls and tells you that the velocity hurdle is not being met and something needs to be done

   ii.  A retailer wants to expand your store count, but you are not sure you can keep up from a supply and cash standpoint. How best to respond?

  iii. You are struggling with your digital agency and need help getting the  relationship back on track

  iv. Your co-manufacturer has let you down again! Now what? The only thing a retailer hates more than a brand that doesn’t sell is one that doesn’t ship!

 d.       Access to the Road 2 Retail Critical Supplier Network: We have a deep, vetted network of suppliers across all CPG disciplines as well as a network of early stage investment firms, private equity groups, and investment bankers that are in a position to help your business both grow and remove some uncertainty from your daily operations. We are glad to facilitate introductions or help manage these suppliers if that’s what our emerging brand clients need.