Having a system in place to deliver products to a retailer’s store or warehouse is a vital piece of the logistics puzzle for food, beverage, wellness, and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand owners.
Distributors purchase products directly from the brand owner and in turn manage the delivery and sales to retailers. It is important to distinguish this from third party logistics providers (often referred to as 3PL) who do not take ownership of the product but will provide storage, shipping and delivery services to retailer's warehouses or stores.
Colin Swala, founder of B.A.R.E Creations and a past member of the Venturepark Labs Incubator shares his experience:
"In the early stages it was challenging to get connected to retailers, our first big account was initiated because we were associated with a distributor who brought us together. It was not all easy because there was a cost but as we look back at the cost vs. the benefits it was the right timing."
See the free Finding Distributors Park Guide for more insights, questions to ask of potential distributors and a list of Canadian based distributors to support your scale up goals.