Leveraging Your Media With Retail
Buyers: Money Talks
The lure and allure of securing retail shelf space for a product is a very powerful and angerous drug when not used correctly. The problem that keeps arising is a very
sharp double-edged sword. The volume is there, but
retail buyers are very cautious when it comes to adding
new and unproven products to their stores.
Most manufacturers will say just about anything to
a retail buyer in order to get the buyer to pay attention to their product and give them a purchase order.
The mistake that keeps getting made is that while you
can fool some of the people some of time, you can no
longer fool the retail buyer into believing that you
have a serious media plan,
and are serious about rolling out your plan.
While you may have a
convincing presentation,
retailers have heard it
all before. The burden of
proof is fully vested with
the manufacturer. If you
are able to convince the
retail buyer of your sincerity in running a media
campaign, you better be
prepared to step up to the table and actually run your
media. It’s not that retailers don’t want to bring in
new items; it’s just that they are evaluated by their
bosses on the performance of items in their respective department. Therefore, they are reluctant to take
chances.
What gives the retailer all the power these days
are the terms and conditions that are applied to new
products. First, the age-old practice of expecting to
get paid in 30, 60 or 90 days
has just about disappeared.
Most major retailers will only
pay you based on the actual
sales of your products in their
stores for the first 12 months
or so. The term for this is pay-
on-scan. If your product sells
really well, then you have nothing to worry about. If
not, you have a big problem.
Distribution at retail enables
you to reach tens of millions of
consumers. If you have a great
product and truly advertise it,
consumers will buy it.
