In a recent article, Brandweek’s Becky Ebenkamp demystifies the difficult process of gaining distribution into Whole Foods Market stores. It’s not easy. Yet, many upstart brands see distribution within Whole Foods as their company’s best hope for success.
These brands want to follow in the footsteps of once upstarts like Odwalla, Honest Tea, Nature’s Path, and Stonyfield Farm. These businesses all became well-known national brands thanks, in large part, to getting on the shelves at Whole Foods Market.
Becky shares smart insights on approaching Whole Foods to gain a distribution deal. Entrepreneurs read up. Highlights include…
First and foremost, a product has to meet Whole Foods' definition of clean. Passing the sell test doesn't just mean having the right ingredients, it means being free of the wrong ones, ranging from aspartame to vanillin. (The full, unappetizing list of 80 verboten ingredients can be found at the company's Web site.)
Generally speaking, Whole Foods' buyers aren't impressed by traditional sales tactics. "Don't go in there trying to be slick like some classic corporate packaged goods company would; that just turns them off," warned former Whole Foods director of national marketing John Moore, who later founded Brand Autopsy, an Austin-based marketing consultancy. "Don't try to wow them with a snazzy PowerPoint presentation. Wow them with a snazzy product."
"Everybody wants to walk into Austin [headquarters], have a meeting with a buyer and get placement within every region," said former Whole Foods Northeastern area grocery director Tim Sperry, who's since gone on to found Wellesley, Mass.-based Sperry Group. "You need to have patience and a longer view. It might mean you start on a coast and work your way through. If you're a small company and you want to get your feet wet, going one store at a time is an option."
Uniquely, the company empowers its stores and employees to make decisions for what products they carry, Moore said. "Many times folks will try to appeal to national [buyers], but in reality, this is a company that works better on best practices," he said. "If a region sees a product sells well somewhere else, they're going to want to get that product in their stores."
While many national grocery chains will buy either nationally or regionally, Whole Foods does both—and combinations of both. A brand rep can start his pitching at the local store, but it's also possible to jump in on the regional level or (in rare cases, such as that of Stonyfield Farm organic yogurt) get a national contract right off the bat.
Yet dealing with the regional buyers can induce plenty of headaches, too. Granted, the ability to start local lets smaller companies get in a door that more centralized, corporate chains might slam in their faces. However, the micromanagement of relationships with multiple managers is time-consuming and expensive.
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