How To Get Into United Grocery Outlet
- Understand you client: Before you spend a lot of time and money creating a product, you should know if anyone will want to buy it. Learn more about Market Research
- Learn if it’s protectable: Know if you can defend your product against cheap copies if it gets knocked off. Learn more about Copyright and Patent your product
- Test your product: Make sure that there’s a demand for your product and the customer understands what you are selling when it’s on the shelf and nobody is there to explain it. Learn more about Product Testing
- Perfect your pitch: Before you speak to decision makers, know your numbers, know your retailer and know your logistics in and out. Learn more about Pitching Your Product
- Don’t do it alone: If you haven’t been successful in retail before, a secret of success is that you can’t do it alone. Having great sales staff, customer support and marketing partners can take you from zero to success faster than if you tried on your own. Learn more about Retail Partnerships
How To Get Into United Grocery Outlet
United Grocery Outlet (UGO), also branded as Bargain Barn Inc. and GO: Grocery Outlet, is a regional discount supermarket chain based in Athens, Tennessee. In addition to its 24 locations in Tennessee, UGO has 9 locations in Western North Carolina, 2 locations in Georgia and single locations in Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama. UGO is the largest closeout grocer in the Southeastern US.
While UGO stocks name brands and carries “almost anything found in a supermarket,” its inventory fluctuates based on what’s available, with the primary goal of offering customers the best bargains. Trial runs, closeouts or packaging design changes are examples of why UGO is able to buy items at basement prices from brands including Campbell’s, General Mills, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, Land O’ Lakes, Mars, Nestle, Quaker and Sara Lee.
According to the company, “What makes us different is we truly are a grocery outlet, not a discount store, and our goal every day is to provide our customers with an exciting, extreme-value shopping experience, and we do that by the unique way we are able to buy products.”
It is often asked how the retailer is able to offer steep low prices to customers. The closeout grocer buys shipments of quality food, produce and meat that manufacturers may have overbought or discontinued; it then sells those products to customers at a comparatively low cost.
The retailer’s offerings at the stores include: dairy, frozen foods, pet foods, general merchandise, health and beauty items, household products, produce, and meat.
The grocery business in the United States is one that tries to connect with the individual customer. This means, the supermarkets try to address the needs and interests of individual customers. This is by offering local, international, and metropolitan products. Thus, as a vendor, you should be looking at getting varieties to the retailer.
Being a vendor may require some form of distinctiveness from other suppliers. Look at your products and see what you are offering differently. If not different, go back to the drawing board and see how you can rebrand or bring out a distinction. Distinctiveness can help you carve a niche for yourself in the marketplace.
Also try pitching to a top official who can take interest in your products and get it tested by other persons in charge of procurement. As the grocery offerings of this retailer are quite large, there is room for a lot of products to be supplied. If your products are quite popular in the local market, it will be easy for you to easily pitch to this retailer. You have to bring your product to top quality to help you with the pitch of the product.
The company also gets products from local sources as long as it is in full compliance with its quality standards and pricing guidelines.
Contact United Grocery Outlet
Do not trust any “list” of buyers.
Typically retail buyers change either companies or positions every few years. This strategy helps retailers know that their buyers are not taking “kick-backs” and are selecting the very best product for the very best position each time.
Buyers are typically held to a very rigorous standard of sell-through volume that they must hit and because of this they are risk averse. Your job as a supplier or vendor is to convince them that the buyers going into the stores not only know about what you’re selling but are actively seeking the product in the store currently.
How to Submit a Product to United Grocery Outlet
There are several ways to get a product placed in United Grocery Outlet. However, most entrepreneurs only dream about getting their product distributed to major retailers, few actually do it. We have experienced a significant rise in interest since the show Shark Tank started airing on NBC. Mr. Checkout has had the pleasure of working with a few Shark Tank success stories such as KISStixx and 180 Party Cups which are now currently being distributed around the country to stores like Walmart, Target, Kroger, 7-Eleven and more.
If you envision your product would be a good fit for United Grocery Outlet, we have a few steps to help you get your product on their shelves.
Here are the 6 steps you need to take to have your product placed in United Grocery Outlet.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to United Grocery Outlet, you need to ask yourself a few basic questions. Do you need to build demand for your product, or is there already a demand for it? Do you know that United Grocery Outlet would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with United Grocery Outlet, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to United Grocery Outlet, or do you want to license your product to a manufacturer that will handle distribution?
2. Be prepared to profit. Does your product offer enough of a profit margin for United Grocery Outlet? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check United Grocery Outlet. guidelines for other fees that you will have to build into the cost of your product in order for you to be able to turn enough of a profit to make the effort worth your while. If you work with a discount retailer, they will try to strip your profits down to zero in order to keep their prices as low as possible.
The typical breakdown of margins are: If a products costs $1 to produce, that product will retail for $4. That product that retails for $4 will wholesale for $2 to distributors and stores that purchase direct. Retailers like United Grocery Outlet = may offer to pay $1.25 to the manufacturer if the product costs $1 to produce. That is the typical profit margin.
3. Determine if is the right store for your product. The relationship between you and United Grocery Outlet starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If United Grocery Outlet already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local United Grocery Outlet to see what kind of products they are selling, speak to the manager and see if he thinks your product will sell well in their store. Picture in which zone your product would best fit on the shelf and keep in mind that the most precious asset that these big box stores value are their shelf space. Keep this information in mind when you are preparing your presentation to United Grocery Outlet.
If your company is minority or women owned, check United Grocery Outlet website and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to United Grocery Outlet. Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to United Grocery Outlet. Your presentation depends heavily on your strengths as a businessperson as they will most likely ask financial questions and logistics questions.
It’s common for companies to hire a broker to pitch their product to United Grocery Outlet, as it will be more likely that your product will make it to the next stage if the individual pitching your product has industry knowledge or a personal relationship with United Grocery Outlet. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product too United Grocery Outlet.
We at Mr. Checkout have experience dealing with brokers and know that there are several retail brokers that have poor business practices that can potentially damage your brand. If you are seeking a legitimate United Grocery Outlet, please give us a call for a recommendation. It could save you a huge headache and a lot of money.
5. Complete the required United Grocery Outlet paperwork. Often United Grocery Outlet will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by United Grocery Outlet, you should contact a buyer at United Grocery Outlet and let them know your intentions. Having a contact inside of the company will potentially move your application more smoothly through the process.
6. Anticipate the need for increased volume. Having United Grocery Outlet agree to stock your product will most likely mean a significant increase in volume. You should be prepared to ramp up your production and informing your manufacturer of this opportunity.
Having production, logistics and distribution to sync is not only difficult, it requires a significant amount of time invested in customer relations. Also, United Grocery Outlet may have stipulations in the contract that may penalize you for delays in shipping and production. Have an attorney explain all contracts to you if you don’t understand the terms.
If you’re looking to sell your product to United Grocery Outlet, be sure to thoroughly assess the marketplace, carefully prepare for production growth, and take full advantage of resources available to help you grow your business.
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