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10 Winning Traits of Disruptive Challenger Brands

I always have my eyes open for dark horses, the come-from-behind winners that no one expects. I cheer for them, marvel at their grit, and hope for their victory over stronger, better-known competitors. They have always inspired me, and they challenge how I see the world. They give me hope.

But why do dark horses win? 

They aren’t favored to win, often for good reasons. They usually don’t have big money invested in them. They have no history of winning, and not many people have heard of them. Yet they win anyway.

A few years back, I started interviewing smaller, purpose-driven companies that were winning despite their size. Dark horse companies frequently have limited financial coffers, little brand awareness, and none of the cushion that comes with historic success. Against all odds, they still win.

Gone are the days of big companies always outperforming the small. Today, most industries are being shaped by emerging smaller and disruptive organizations, many of which out-innovate competitors that are much larger and powerful (who often end up acquiring them to bring that innovation in-house). In fact, smaller brands account for more than 75 percent of all “Circana’s New Product Pacesetter” companies and 64 percent …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:
How Sarilla Turns Cold Leads Into Warm Leads with RangeMe

“RangeMe is not necessarily the place where you are going to close a deal, though it has happened for us. What it does is move a cold lead into a warm lead and starts to build that buyer relationship.”

With this statement, Sara Delaney, Founder & CEO of beverage brand Sarilla, concisely summarized how best-in-class RangeMe subscribers view the platform, and leverage it as a key part of their overall strategy of moving buyers into and through their sales funnel. And Delaney makes great use of the tools it provides to ensure optimal exposure for her brand and to gain the insights she needs to engage buyers once a dialogue begins. 

We’ll get into the “how” shortly, but first, a little about Sarilla.

Sarilla’s origin and introduction to RangeMe

Asheville, N.C.-based Sarilla sells a line of alcohol-free social beverages made with all-organic and mostly regeneratively-farmed ingredients sourced primarily from the brand’s small farm in the African country of Rwanda – with plans to soon be Regenerative Organic Certified. Delaney got her start as an importer selling loose leaf tea in bulk after falling in love  with the tea from that region, and started experimenting with various formulations to make her …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

In the past few columns in our CPG Marketing Magic series, we’ve embarked on an exciting journey through the realms of branding, user experience, inventory movement, and digital advertising. Now, it’s time to delve into the pivotal role of metrics in your marketing strategy. In this article, we’re diving into the world of analytics, where we unravel the intricacies of return on investment (ROI), conversions, loyalty, and how they shape the success of your CPG marketing efforts.

Let’s jump in!

Navigating the Challenges of Measuring ROI and Loyalty

Measuring ROI and loyalty can feel like deciphering a complex riddle. It involves navigating challenges such as:

Pinpointing the right metrics to track. Tracking conversions effectively. Understanding the ins and outs of conversion tracking and GA-4. Deciphering what’s “good” vs. what’s “bad”. Data overload! There can be so much to track and review that sometimes it’s hard to determine what the heck it all means.

Additionally, a lack of standardization or a prescribed system by industry can often be one of the biggest challenges in measuring ROI. Each industry has its own niche with specific benchmarking “standards” depending on whether it’s a product or service, the product age, and audience diversity. 

In …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Melody Richard, SVP of Pantry for Walmart, works with her team to ensure that the retailer’s customers have what they need in the pantry to feed their families and friends. This includes a broad array of categories such as snacks, beverages, dry grocery, baking and breakfast meals, condiments, sauces and commercial breads. 

In this fireside chat with ECRM/RangeMe’s Wayne Bennett, Melody shares some of the key things that are important to the retailer, including:

The ability to demonstrate how your brand uniquely solves consumer problems Why great packaging matters The importance of a digital-first approach Commitment to EDLC and EDLP approach Regeneration

She also touches on how her team has been working to create solutions that provide unique opportunities for consumers around the bundling of products across categories (think crockpot and all of the ingredients that go into it for a nice winter dinner). 

This interview is packed with great insights! 

The post Walmart SVP of Pantry Shares Key Insights that are Important to the Retailer appeared first on The RangeMe Blog.

The RangeMe Blog…

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Being a retailer is kind of like being a celebrity. You’ve got the household name people recognize, a loyal fan base of frequent shoppers, and maybe even a group of online haters. I couldn’t tell you the brand name of my bedsheets, but I can tell you I bought them from Target. That’s the power of retailer magic!

Your storefront is at the forefront of the supply chain (whether you’re a brick-and-mortar or click-and-order store). This direct consumer relationship puts your business in a unique position to be hit with a variety of lawsuits, regardless if an accident was your fault. 

Even if a product you sell wasn’t made by you, it can often still be linked to your store since that’s where someone made a purchase. This is where the power of retail product liability insurance starts to shine.

1. Product-related Accidents

Consumer products sent 12.7 million people to the emergency room to be treated for injuries in 2022. Most of the injuries were caused by everyday household items you would assume to be safe, like chairs, pillows, and cleaning products.

If a customer buys a product from you, and that product causes bodily injuries or property damage, you’re …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

The more we learn, the more we want to know. The ever-escalating prevalence of digital technology is feeding consumers’ thirst for knowledge – including detailed facts about the products they buy. Buyers are often searching for specific product attributes in a very cluttered marketplace. If they can’t easily access the details they are looking for, they move on.

Providing extended product information has become an imperative for retail and e-commerce success. Just getting to market can depend on providing a richly populated data set to support product promotion and transparency. Sellers providing inconsistent or incomplete information risk rejection from retailers and marketplaces, inventory snafus, delayed profits and poorly performing product listings. It’s a recipe for failure.  

Getting technical

Information technology and standards can be leveraged today to solve those problems. The collection and exchange of up-to-date, accurate information is made possible with standardized data that all trading partners can generate, exchange and understand. GS1 Standards are being used across more than 25 industries to encode data, meet regulatory requirements where applicable (e.g., food and healthcare products), enhance systems compatibility, facilitate productive relationships between retailers and suppliers, and meet consumers’ increasing demand for product transparency. 

GS1 Standards help businesses uniquely identify …

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