For a small business, selling to a well-known retailer is key in promoting their product towards a large customer base. Retailing is all activities directly related to the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumer. If small businesses cannot manage to open their own retail locations or make a profit by selling directly to their customers, they can always sell their products through larger retailers, such as Starbucks. Starbucks falls under the specialty store which specializes in a certain type of merchandise; in this case coffee, tea, snacks, and a relaxing atmosphere.
In the article, A Small Player Breaks Into Starbucks, a perfect example of retailing is demonstrated by Daniel Lubetzky, CEO of KIND Fruit + Nut Bars and Starbucks Corporation. Lubetzky’s retail marketing plan was to choose the proper promotion strategy, location, and presentation of the retail store, also known as the retailing mix. He persisted in selling his products to Starbucks because he believed the brand fit perfectly with his product. Both Starbucks and KIND aimed to appeal to the health conscious customer, making the implementation of KIND bars ideal.
KIND Healthy Snacks offered its product, Fruit + Nut bar, to Starbucks locations. The goal of the promotion strategy for KIND Healthy Snacks was the same for Starbucks: to help position the product in the consumers’ minds. Starbucks, as a retailer, tends to use public relations and publicity at the forefront of its promotion strategy capitalizing on giving back to the community and helping non-profit organizations. As a proper location, KIND Healthy Snacks chose a ‘store within a store.’ This is a method for smaller specialty lines to bring their products inside larger stores while expanding retail opportunities without risking investment in an entirely separate store. Although KIND Fruit+ Nut Bars is not a complete store within Starbucks, it is still a way for this specialty line to sell within the larger corporation without taking on additional risk.
A small business sometimes needs the help of a well-established organization to climb up the corporate consumer ladder. In the case of Lubetzky’s KIND bars, Starbucks was the reputable organization that lifted the brand up the ladder.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/businRetaess/smallbusiness/01snackbar.html?ref=retailing
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Note: The preceding post was written and researched by students in my Honors Marketing 351, Fall 2011 class, from the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, Cal State Fullerton University, Fullerton California. Many thanks to their time, talent, and contributions to both their career and this marketing blog. Go Titans!
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