Connect with GRM.
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Grocery
Natural, Organic, Specialty
Non-Grocery
Health, Beauty, Supplements
Frequently Asked Questions
General FAQs
A broker is a person or company that helps to facilitate transactions between producers (you and your brand) and industry buyers (retail stores and distribution channels).
Brokers are often considered part-time salespersons for your business, negotiating prices and conditions for business transactions.
Brokers typically have deep insight into the market and can help determine the foundations of your product, as well as how to compete against your competitors.
Brokers have deep knowledge of categories and markets, as well as long standing relationships with buyers in key markets that allow for fast-tracking your product to shelf.
Key relationships and working knowledge of each retailer and distributor significantly cuts down the legwork required to establish clear communication, contract details, opening offers, refill needs, velocity, etc.
They also assist in negotiating contracts that establish key business details such as (examples):
- Producer will deliver “x” amount of units by a certain date
- Retailer will sell “y” product on the third shelf for 10 weeks
- The producer will supply two flavors and will add additional flavors for summer seasonal sales
Getting your product on a shelf is only half of the battle.
Besides continuing to grow your brand into more retailers, brokers continually communicate with retailers and distributors to identify voids on the shelf, market trends, etc., that they then relay to your business so you may make critical decisions regarding your production output, operations, etc.
Often enough, brokers supply critical analysis of the market and your competitors which allows for you to tune your business to outcompete your competition.
The market knowledge that brokers have is invaluable to a small business. Often enough, small businesses do not have the immediate capital (or time) required to produce their product, hire a professional and experienced sales team, and promote the product.
Partnering with a broker can alleviate those issues, as well as provide a strong advocate for your brand should your sales begin to falter at a retailer. Your broker can negotiate offerings that can help boost sales and keep you in retail.
Lastly, many larger retailers and distributors do not work directly with small brands; preferring to work with a dedicated professional (broker) that already understands their needs and requirements.
GRM Specific FAQs
GRM works with brands that are considered natural/organic brands, health food brands, health & beauty brands (oral care, skin care, etc), supplement brands, non-food brands, home and gift, and pet food brands.
GRM does not work with brands that are formatted to sell into the food service industry.
After the recession of 2012 and realizing the difficulty for new innovative and local brands to retain representation in the Pacific NW Market, David Victor and Rody Oueis partnered to
create Grass Roots Marketing, LLC (GRM).
In 2020 Grass Roots Marketing created Grass Roots Marketing SoPac LLC after receiving ongoing requests to widen our coverage, we decided to expand and offer services to the Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Western Utah markets.
We offer a range of administrative support from our best-in-class onboarding, monthly retailer newsletters, executing promotions, and monthly activity reports. Connect with us to learn more about how we support our brands.
We value our clients’ privacy on public platforms like our website. That said, we are happy to share success stories from our many great represented brands during a meeting or phone call. Reach out to us to learn more!
Great question. Head on over to our Team page to learn more about our great employees and their professional experience.