How vendors can foster strong retailer relationships

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — What makes a good retail partnership?

That was the question posed by Kristine Lorusso, vice president of retail partner services with the Guimarra Cos., to kick off the “What do Retailers Really Want from Their Produce Partners?” session at the Global Organic Produce Expo in late Jauary. The panel discussion also featured Jeff Cady, vice president of produce and floral with Northeast Grocery; Daniel Bell, director of produce for Grocery Outlet; and Dennis Payne, senior category manager at The Fresh Market.

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Payne said a good retail partnership includes trust and transparency.

“[It's] making sure that any issues that will arise are communicated in a timely manner and that everything is transparent throughout both parties," he said.

Cady said service is another key quality he looks for with vendors. Cost is always a factor, but it’s not the only factor.

“I want someone who's going to have skin in the game with me, that [our contract is] not transactional,” he said.

Cady said a good vendor understands the fresh produce industry and his company’s needs.

“Ninety-nine times out of 100, I have an item in my store today that you are bringing to me,” he said. “The other thing I have an ample supply of is problems. So, don't come to me with a lot of problems. Come to me with solutions.”

Bell encouraged produce growers to approach each retailer differently.

“Understand the retailer you're talking to and what their business model is,” he said. “If you come into Grocery Outlet and present to us like you're presenting to Whole Foods, there’s a very real chance you're not going to get too far. It's just a totally different business model, and it's a totally different way of going to the market.”

The vital role of information

There’s no such thing as information overload for consumers, according to the panelists.

“An educated guest is the best guest,” Payne said, noting The Fresh Market sends out an electronic magazine monthly to its customers and subscribers. “If we educate the guests before they even come into the store, they're already one step ahead.”

Payne said most grocery lists include produce staples such as lettuce, tomatoes and potatoes; everything else outside of the typical purchase is considered an impulse buy. This is where The Fresh Market’s information creating a buzz by helping customers understand what new varieties they can expect to see in the store.

“If they're educated on a certain item, such as a new apple coming in or new citrus variety, they're going to come in looking for it before and put it on their list,” he said. “By giving us the information of how it's grown, what goes into the growing practices, whether it's fair trade, whether it's organic, makes a big difference to our guests.”

Bell said educating the consumer needs to include how weather interruptions affect product availability and cause price spikes.

“Why should mom be paying another dollar a pound for grapes this past fall than she normally does? Did we communicate that to her? Did you expect the retailer to communicate that to her?” he asked. “Does the consumer know that they just had a hurricane go through the Central Valley and wipe out a huge chunk of the grape crop?”

Social media, Bell said, can play a great role in reducing the gap between farm and fork. Vendors and growers can help meet the consumer where they spend most of their time: on their phones.

Changing workforce

Lorusso turned the conversation to the changing workforce in retailers’ produce departments. Bell, Payne and Cady shared how the produce manager of today isn’t the same as the one they knew when they entered the industry.

“When we came up with the industry, you had a produce manager that had been in the industry for years and knew that seasons change and knew the quality and could talk to customers about what was going on,” Bell said. “Stores don't have that kind of depth in their product departments anymore. That's why you're seeing a very generic layout going out to the stores with the folks in the stores to execute.”

Any information vendors can offer helps retailers better inform their produce teams, which in turn informs the consumer.

“The turnover nowadays with minimum wage and everything is just really high,” Bell said. “So, if nobody's staying in a job anymore, any kind of information you can give us, whether it's a weekly update on crops, weather conditions, growing conditions, whatever, we can take it down to the people that need to see it and read it and understand it.”

Cady told vendors in the audience that he reads what they send him, even if they don’t think he does. He'd rather have more information instead of less.

“An educated workforce is good for us,” he said.

Details matter

Payne said as vendors court retailers, it’s important to target the data presented in those meetings. While understanding what’s going on nationally from a crop perspective is critical, it’s also vital to share regionally targeted information as each of his stores is unique and may have different trends and behaviors.

“We have to make sure that we're targeting those areas and getting the proper data to pick the right solution and come up with the right plans to execute in our stores,” he said.

But don’t come with too many pie charts and bar graphs, Cady said. 

“We love information and that's how we make all our decisions,” he said, adding that too much information, however, can waste valuable time.

Bells encouraged vendors to target the specific solutions that the vendor can offer him and his company in bullet points and quick-hitting information.

“As a regional retailer, it needs to pertain to my region and my competition specifically," he said. "Make sure it's bullet points. Make sure it's to the point, and have some other stuff to go around with it because data is great, but if that's your whole presentation — ouch.”