New research from IRI has found that small and extra-small CPG manufacturers’ and retailers’ own brands gained U.S. market share over larger players during 2020. Of the CPG industry’s $933 billion of total U.S. sales in measured channels in 2020, large manufacturers collectively lost 1.3 share points, or $12.1 billion in sales, to smaller players due to channel shifts, supply constraints and category shifts. –New Hope Network
Where should a small, start-up, or local CPG manufacturer in the food space begin if they want to get in on the online action? Well, if based on Long Island, the answer would be the Long Island Food Council Marketplace. Why? It’s a niche marketplace designed specifically to support Long Island manufacturers by offering a platform where they can connect directly with the consumer near or far to generate buzz, and promote and sell their products.
Two very important things to know about why an online marketplace like LIFC’s is the perfect starting point for Long Island food and beverage CPGs:
- Niche is the #1 eCommerce trend in 2021
- Presence on a locally-branded online marketplace in the CPG Food and Beverage niche is about more than just direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales.
-
- the ability to enable transactions among multiple sellers and consumers
- access to multiple brands (focus can be on a specific product group or diverse set of products)
- enables vendors to stand out (i.e. featured sellers, inclusion in audience-targeted content, etc.) via a nominal for structured fee
-
- Fee-based convenience services like payment processing, customer-service, warehousing, returns handling, or last-mile delivery.
- Optional services like marketing, data and analytics, and search support.
- Some degree of product authentication for quality management
“Consumer brands have been seeking to establish direct relations with end customers for a range of reasons: to generate deeper insights about consumer needs, to maintain control over their brand experience, and to differentiate their proposition to consumers. Increasingly, they also do it to drive sales … By having a deliberate strategy that clearly qualifies the opportunity and an execution capability to effectively convert customers at a reasonable cost, consumer companies can overcome [these] concerns and set up a profitable new source of growth.”
-McKinsey & Co
Why Join The LIFC Marketplace?
The LIFC Marketplace is the ideal selling platform for a small, consumer packaged food manufacturer. The LIFC Marketplace is focused solely on food and food-related products born and homegrown on Long Island. The marketplace gives shoppers direct access to new food products made in their surrounding area. It also enables Long Island food manufacturers to reach far beyond Long Island. There are obvious benefits like local delivery and pick-up options or ongoing direct sales after being discovered at a local store, restaurant, or farmer’s market. What may be less obvious is how the LIFC marketplace can function as a highly valuable grassroots marketing strategy channel for a food producer.
What would a small, local brand looking to sell products online have to pay just in website development, fees, and maintenance, plus advertising costs to reach potential customers? Once invested, how would these customers get access to that brand’s products? How much would a brand have to invest monetarily and time-wise to ensure this results in a streamlined sale? If the manufacturer used a large marketplace, how would they retain potential buyers’ attention among so many competing options at their fingertips? Do those marketplaces include that brand in their promotional content to help them stand out and connect more deeply with potential customers? To what degree would these actions and investments effectively contribute to increasing word-of-mouth about the brand?
The LIFC Marketplace
The LIFC Marketplace helps Long Island food businesses leverage a larger marketplace’s marketing power and offer products to consumers without having to manage their own eCommerce store. With added value coming to the future to the LIFC Marketplace, food producers and shoppers will have options such as local pick-up locations to reduce environmental impact and repeat subscriptions for convenience. Busy business owners will be able to focus on internal operations while expanding their reach in various ways. By shopping on the LIFC Marketplace, customers from all over will be helping Long Islanders succeed in their creative dreams of food business ownership. Long Islanders will be able to support small businesses while discovering an array of unique, delicious, indulgent, and healthy options they may never otherwise have known were being made right next door.
The LIFC Marketplace has a vested interest in the success of small, local, and start-up food manufacturers in the Long Island area. Our mission is to advocate for the Long Island Food and Beverage industry and serve as an information hub and catalyst for networking. We are committed to offering meaningful benefits and resources that Long Island food brands and related businesses need to grow and stay profitable.
Not all of our members are food producers, and that is a good thing. We have members and partners in many other relevant business sectors available to support Long Island food manufacturers. For example, Long Island-based digital marketing agency TunedUp Media deeply understands small businesses’ struggles on Long Island and works as the LIFC eCommerce partner to further our goals and help our vendors succeed. Together we are creating multiple avenues for added value on the marketplace and would love to hear what local manufacturers and consumers would like to see offered.
Subscribe & Join The Long Island Food Council
Receive exciting news including new Long Island food products, restaurant openings, foodie events, resources for creators of new food brands, grant opportunities and much more.
We do not spam. You can unsubscribe anytime
Jane Rudes is the CoFounder of TunedUp Media and brings a 20+year background in communication strategy and content development to the agency. She is often called upon both professionally and personally for her ability to analyze and optimize situations that require advanced interpersonal understanding, intuitive strategic planning, and precision of expression.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.