Checklist: How to Sell Your Product to Retailers

So you’re ready to get your brand on retail shelves. Have you prepared your pitch for the retail buyer? Do you know what you’ll say? How to position your brand? What the buyer will want to hear?

We do!

At ProQuo AI, brand management is what we do best. Take a look at our checklist below to make sure you’re ready to present your trade story to a retail buyer, and really blow them away.

Category Expertise
If you want to impress your buyer, you’re going to want to show them that you know more than just your own product – you know your category. Category value is one of the main performance metrics year-on-year for a buyer, so any story you tell must be shaped with category value in mind. Make sure you know: your key drivers, how the key drivers change over time, and the unique segments within your category.

Scope of Competition

You’ll need to show how your brand performs against the competition and how well you meet customers’ needs. Make sure that you know your competition inside and out, and that you bring data and proof points to back up your claims.

Value Plan

Plan to present how your brand maximizes the category value. Again, the number one key performance indicator (KPI) for a buyer is to grow their category value. Ask yourself: How will your brand drive more users, more usage, and more trade up?

Reassurance of Success

It’s time to showcase the activities that will support your new innovations landing in market. Give the buyer confidence that people will be driven into store to purchase by taking them through your brand’s innovation marketing plan – and make sure you show them the data to back it up!

Proof Through Data
Remember that this entire journey should be driven by data to back up your claims and support your trade story. If you don’t have data, you don’t have a good trade story. Looking to get everything you need in one place? The ProQuo AI Brand Management platform gives you access to category, competitive, and brand-specific data, monitored 24/7 for daily results – everything you need to get started.


To learn more about creating a compelling brand story, check out our e-book, "How to Craft a Killer Trade Story."