If you are a regular reader of my column you can probably conclude that my desire to help brands and retailers is the overarching theme of everything I write. As I type this column, I am on an airplane heading back from Phoenix fighting desperately for my share of armrest space.
The Rosen Retail team was in Phoenix keynoting the eBev series for a fireside roundtable and a speech. There were many very distinguished players there from Heineken, Wirtz Beverage, Gallo, and many, many CMO’s. I was clearly the least qualified person there, but nonetheless they let me have some stage time.
My topic was, “Selling More Through the Three Tier System.” Basically I was preaching that it is the responsibility of all the tiers, above and below in the 3 Tier chain, to push their goods all the way to the consumer.
How does that sound?
How can the supplier and the distributor influence the sale? Very easily! In the olden times, like 2010, a brand was just happy to get distribution. That was enough. Now in the Omni- Channel world we live in, it is my expectation that all three tiers are both buyers and sellers.
The word Omni-Channel was developed by marketers to describe a method of communication to end users via many, many mediums. If you were not selling on “three screens” you were bound for business death.
Typical in the AdultBev space we are slow to adapt. Our version of Omni-Channel communication is thee tier cross selling, or what I have spoken about before, Rosen Bottom Up Methodology.
I can make a strong argument that while a brand makes its way through the three-tier system, it is the responsibility of all tiers to sell it down the line and to the eventual end user, or the customer.
While ownership of the good transfers down the line every tier above has a responsibility to the tier below to help sell that good. All tiers benefit, and frankly why would the tier above not support the brand down the line?
It was tradition that the brand advertises to the public, the distributor has limited responsibility to the consumer, and the retailer is saddled with the good until it sells through. What if all three tiers supported the sale of that good either on or off premise? What if there was massive muscle selling that good?
From a retailer perspective there are thousands of goods on a sales floor, and the more support I have in selling the good, the more quickly I can replenish inventory.
It seems simple to me. Doesn’t it seem simple to you?
The buzz words this minute is “Omni” and “Activation”, and I can make a strong argument for the need of our business models to evolve into selling, marketing, activation machines that will help pull the goods down through channel and not just push them
Expert Editorial
by Brian Rosen, Rosen Retail Method
Rosen Retail for Alcohol Beverage offers support to retailers and suppliers alike, having created Supplier Boot Camp and Retailer Boot Camp and other award-winning programs that increase gross margin for retailers and cases sold for suppliers. Brian Rosen can be reached at brian@briandrosen.com or twitter @rosenretail.
