We talk with many emerging CPG brands that tell us "We are not ready yet. We are only in independent retailers so far."
When you are small and only in a few independent retailers is exactly the time that you need to be gathering customer data.
First of all, your independent retailers are more likely to have a larger variety of customers and be in a larger variety of locations than say, Whole Foods. So, the data you gather on these sales and customers, can help you decide which demographic, locations and retailers to target next.
You may learn that you get 75% of your sales happen outside of the city core; or that your customers are 75% women, not a 50/50 mix like you planned.
Now you can take this initial data from your first retailers and use it to make data-driven marketing strategy decisions.
Second, very few emerging brands approach large retail buyers with data. If you get a meeting with a buyer for Sprouts and bring charts and graphs on who your customers are, where they live, how much they buy, what else is in their shopping cart when they buy your product, etc. you will blow away the buyer. Very few emerging brands come to retail buyers with data.
Third, with Groflo's retailer-independent digital coupons, you get opted-in customer contact data. Now you can retarget your customers, send them surveys, drive them to your highest margin sales channels, etc.
So, don't wait until you get into large retail chains before you start gathering data with digital coupons. The data you get from our plans at $49/month or $199/month could be the most important data you ever collect.