What is Stock Box and how did the program first start?
Well, the elevator pitch is that Stock Box is a product sampling program for retailers which gives suppliers a voice and retailers a choice when it comes to new products for their business. It was started just on three years ago, when I was watching my eldest daughter open a box of beauty product samples that she was subscribing to. In that moment, I realised that no one was doing this for independent retailers. Retailing is hard and independent retailers invest their lives into their business, and, in most cases, their entire families work in them, so they don’t have time to get out of their businesses to see what’s new.
That’s where we come in. Retailers love it because we bring the trade show to them and they get to try and test new products for their business, in their time, without the business interruptions of a rep or cold call. Best of all, it costs them nothing, apart from a few moments of their time in providing us with their feedback.
Innovating in the market is not easy at the best of times. What have been the main challenges for you?
It’s interesting that we all talk about innovation but when it arrives, we try and find reasons not to accept it. I’m constantly listening to supplier objections and, in most cases, suppliers are looking for reasons not to engage rather than that one reason to engage. I put it down to people just being in love with what they have always done, because it is comfortable. Let’s face it, if you were the marketing manager at a company investing sizable chunks of money to get cut-through with retailers, and feedback from Stock Box highlighted that you were missing the mark, would you want that bad news? The reality is that the market has changed and traditional forms of marketing don’t have the same cut-through as they have previously had. Mobile technology has changed the way we all engage with products and this is just a new way of delivering information.
Independents play a vital role in the Australian downstream petroleum industry. Do you agree and what do you see as the main industry challenges?
Absolutely! I would even go as far as to say that independents are the future for many suppliers looking to have a voice in the marketplace. Traditionally, suppliers have held the supermarket channel up as the Holy Grail. If you get ranging here, you’ve made it. However, recent times and announcements about de-ranging and a push for home brands mean that many suppliers will be looking for a new home. There will be a resurgence back to the corner store, in my opinion, however the corner store of the future will undergo some big changes from the old. Retailers who embrace the idea of becoming that place providing those unique products that surprise and delight their consumers will win. This will become the independents’ point of difference.
What advice would you give the independents in order to be more competitive with the major retailers in Australia? ?
Look for the white space in the market. I have mentioned before that range will be the independents’ point of difference in the future. Remember cracker night, and your corner store that had every conceivable firework on show, while the supermarkets had next to nothing? Independents need to change their thinking in relation to range. They’re not going to beat the discounters on price and who wants to be in a race to the bottom anyway? We need to bring back variety and range assortment to these businesses. The independent retailing landscape has become vanilla, in my view, and consumers are no longer brand loyal – they are trend loyal. The idea of just handing your business over to a select few suppliers for dollars is going to undo you. If you need any evidence of this, just take a drive down the street and look at the closed businesses and the branding on their windows, walls and awnings. Did any of these brands save that business?
What is on the horizon for Stock Box?
Lots! We’ve just started our “Product Discovery” program with Metro Fuels, designed to help the head office by including their members in the decision making process. This has been well received and we are talking to a number of other groups and suppliers about similar programs for their businesses, to increase their ranging and distribution in a cost-effective manner.
We have also just launched our online ordering portal. This is in a limited capacity at this point, as we undertake the test and learn process, working through the challenges of giving retailers more access to more products for their business. This is an exciting element of the program and a natural progression for us as we move from product awareness to product supply, in a new and innovative way.
For more information
Craig Matthews
0407 467 670
[email protected]
Karim Sumar
0412 243 259
[email protected]
PRODUCT SAMPLING SIMPLIFIED
