Marketing Aquaculture Products — 1

Dealing Directly with
Grocery Stores
Brokers get your product into channels. One
channel is the established grocery-store retail
business. Th e average grocery store has 50,000
products. Th is means that you have to differentiate
your product. It also means that to
do so, you must present a sales pitch. You may
have to visit the store a few times to get your
foot-in-the-door, identify the key person to
talk with, and establish yourself as viable supplier.
If you want to directly deal with grocery stores,
you can do well by targeting smaller stores and
independents interested in showcasing local
foods to their customers. Th ese tend to be in
more upscale neighborhoods. Grocery stores
in economically and socially depressed neighborhoods
will always focus on lowest cost and
lowest price products.
Don’t get frustrated if a retailer is not interest-
ed in small operations or “buy local” products.
Retailers are very diff erent in their focus and
accurate or inaccurate perception of what their
client base is interested in purchasing and why.
Some store managers understand that your
product represents a unique marketing opportunity
and others could never comprehend
that in ten lifetimes. Your best tact is to target
independent grocers and those grocery store
chains that are actually cooperatives. Most
states have a grocery store association and the
association will be happy to provide you this
and perhaps other very helpful information.
Most states have emerging or established buylocal
endorsement programs that closely work
with retailers. Contact your state organization
for advice on how to market your product
with their assistance and contacts though their
program.
Many of the points of dealing with grocery
Marketing Aquaculture Products — 33