All Posts in Retailing Tips

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:
Which Parent-Approved Certifications Actually Increase Retail Credibility? A 2026 Guide for Baby and Household Brands

If you sell into the baby or household category, you have probably been pitched at least four different product award seals this year. Some cost a few hundred dollars. Some cost several thousand. A few send you a logo within two weeks of paying. And you have almost certainly asked the question every marketer in this category eventually asks: does any of this actually move product, or is it just a sticker?

Here is the short answer, and then we will unpack all of it.

Safety certifications and product award seals are not the same thing

Safety certifications prove your product will not hurt anyone. Award seals prove somebody chose it over the alternatives. Retail buyers, registry editors and parents are looking for both, and they read them very differently. The credibility problem most brands have is not that they are missing a seal. It is that they have the compliance side covered and nothing on the preference side.

One disclosure before we go further: Parent Tested Parent Approved is one of the programs in this landscape. We have been certifying products through in-home parent testing since 2007. We have tried to describe the other programs fairly and accurately, because …

Read More

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Landing meaningful retail distribution is one of the biggest milestones for an emerging consumer brand. Perhaps you made it on the shelves at 150 Sprouts Farmers Markets locations. A few Whole Foods regions. A new Target test. Several hundred Walmart locations. Or an expansion into a retailer where the brand has been working for years to earn shelf space.

It deserves to be celebrated.

But once the product arrives on shelf, a different question becomes increasingly important: How are enough consumers going to know it is there, and why should they buy it?

That question is not limited to newly distributed brands. Established companies face it when introducing new SKUs, expanding into additional retailers, supporting key promotional periods, addressing underperforming stores or defending shelf space in increasingly competitive categories.

Retail distribution creates opportunity. Sustained consumer demand is what turns that opportunity into growth.

Great Challenger Brands Do More Than Win Distribution

I was recently reviewing Seurat Group’s Challenger Brand Study 2026, which looks at brands ranging from emerging challengers to more established category modernizers.

One point particularly stood out to me: many successful challenger brands are not inventing entirely new categories. They are finding ways to make familiar categories more …

Read More

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Pricing power is not a function of scale. It is a function of perception. Brands maintain pricing power when customers understand their value, when retailers respect their positioning, and when distribution reinforces consistency. Brand integrity follows the same principle. It survives when messaging, merchandising, and experience align across every touchpoint.

Independent retail distribution protects both.

National retail systems prioritize uniformity. Assortments are standardized. Promotions are scheduled. Pricing strategies are centralized. Products are slotted into categories based on margin targets rather than narrative alignment. Over time, brands become commodities within these environments. Price becomes the primary lever. Integrity becomes collateral.

Independent retailers operate differently. They curate. They contextualize. They explain. Their shelves reflect identity rather than algorithms. This approach allows brands to be presented with intention. Products are placed where they belong. Their story is told. Their function is understood.

This presentation sustains value perception.

Retain stronger pricing power

At Mr. Checkout, long-standing distribution work across independent retail channels has consistently shown that brands positioned through curated retail environments retain stronger pricing power than those introduced primarily through mass placement.

Pricing power is also protected through relational accountability. Independent retailers interact directly with customers. They hear price objections. They address them. …

Read More

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

When you are a brand owner, sometimes things just go wrong. It could be an ingredient shortage, a miscalculation on your part, a production error, or a simple act of God. These are the times that test the resiliency and ingenuity of an entrepreneur, and offer valuable lessons moving forward. 

Molly Blakeley, Founder of Molly Bz Cookies, is no stranger to shit hitting the fan. In fact, her entire life story before launching her brand was a series of overcoming one challenge after another. She even documented it in her book which will be published October 27, Bake it Till You Make It: The Story of a Risk-Taking Cookie Queen. 

Fortunately, most of the risks she has taken with Molly Bz have paid off, and via RangeMe Immediate Opportunities & ECRM Food & Beverage Sessions, she has landed deals with Walmart, Target, Kroger, 7-Eleven, and most recently, Desert Diamond Casinos (see story here). But in one particular instance, a new product she was developing, the Straight Fire cookie, ran into so many roadbumps it almost never made it our of production. 

Fortunately, some quick pivoting and scrappy problem-solving on the part of Blakeley turned what couple have been a potential …

Read More

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

For emerging consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, few moments rival the thrill of landing a distribution meeting with a major retail buyer. Whether brokered through networking platforms like RangeMe or forged during meetings at a ECRM sessions, receiving that initial “yes” feels like the ultimate validation.

However, as Sudhanshu Gupta, Founder and CEO of Mirchi Labs, points out, that initial handshake is actually where the most complex phase of retail expansion begins. Getting a product approved is merely step one; getting that product set up, compliant, and visible across distinct retail portals is an entirely different operational hurdle.

For resource-constrained founder-led brands, navigating these distinct requirements can rapidly turn an exciting growth milestone into an operational bottleneck. Sales leads, administrators, and founders often find themselves bogged down in technical spreadsheets rather than driving core business growth.

“When the brands come, when they get ‘yes’ from the retailers, the very next thing is to get their product set up with those retailers,” says Gupta. “And every retailer comes with different requirements, different ways of accepting data. This is where Mirchi Labs comes in and helps brands set up their products and manage their product listings on various channels.”

I had the …

Read More

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:
When & How to Find the Perfect Contract Manufacturer for Scaling Your Brand

Many of the brands I’ve interviewed over the years have followed a similar journey. They started making their products at home, typically in their kitchen or basement (as Nat’s Nuts did), then eventually moved up to a commercial kitchen space (or using a local church kitchen as in the cases of Molly Bz Cookies and Teddy’s Tallow). Finally, after growing distribution enough, it was time for a contract manufacturer. 

In many cases, this involved hundreds of calls and dozens of meetings, trial and error and dead ends before the right contract manufacturer was found. Fortunately, in today’s digital age even the process of finding the perfect contract manufacturer has been streamlined with platforms like PartnerSlate, which bridges the gap between emerging brands and an extensive network of contract manufacturers and co-packers. And via PartnerSlate’s partnership with RangeMe, brands can leverage this platform for little or no cost.

I sat with Vincent Tseng, the CEO of PartnerSlate, during the recent ECRM Center Store Grocery Sessions in San Diego to discuss how emerging brands can determine when they are ready to take the step to a contract manufacturer, what to consider when choosing one, and how to take advantage of the PartnerSlate/RangeMe …

Read More