What do startup CPG brands need to know about going into stores? [Recorded Live]

Recorded live in the Gorgias office, Colin Davidson shares what brands who started as DTC need to know before going into grocery.

1. DTC brands are marketing companies. They're marketing their store as much as their products. When moving to brick and mortar, you need to think of your team as a sales organization instead. This means knocking on doors and building relationships.
2. It can take 3-4 years to sell into a retailer. Most retailers reset their shelves once a year. You need to be invited to sell in once a year.
3. The expectation of 10-15% of your budget being spent to promote with the retailer. This comes out of your gross margin, and is in conjunction with additional promotion on your end (email, website updates, etc). This is the easiest to measure promotion, and covers the cost of things like changing out tags.
4. Factoring additional costs associated with retail packaging requirements can increase costs as well
5. Don't be afraid to copy what works from successful brands. Grocery is a 100+ year old industry. Often times, if there was an easier way to do something, a brand like Nestle or Pepsi probably would have done it by now.
6. 8 weeks of velocity will tell you how well your product will sell. The goal is $10 of retail sales per SKU per week.
7. Retailers know more than brands

Bricks and Clicks is hosted by Johnny Valeriote and Colin Davidson, two of the three managing partners at Omnium. Produced by Rolled Up, submit your comments and questions to us on Twitter.