Food Trade Channels

   Where will you sell your products?  There are a lot more options than your local grocery store.  For current and potential creators, marketers, and manufacturers of packaged Specialty Food Products the retail trade channels available include:

   Each retail trade channel offers its own unique opportunities and challenges and will be determined by your target audience. This is an ever-changing environment with many variables, so careful planning and selection is required.  It is an intricate puzzle to piece together success, so think about where your biggest potential lies, and the impact on the other trade channels while achieving that potential.

   For example, if your market is the natural foods industry, find out which ingredients and packaging are allowed into that channel.  Generally, products that are acceptable in the natural foods trade are fine for the other trade channels: whenever possible, keep your products 'clean' by avoiding preservatives and chemicals.  Also, consider the market impact when selecting the order you approach different channels.  For instance, if you intend to sell upscale specialty and gourmet stores, you do not want to sell your product into club stores first.

   To be successful at retail, in any or all of the retail trade channels, you must successfully merchandise and cross-merchandise products in appropriate areas of all possible departments: (this list is specific to foods, but you get the idea)

Back to Introduction                                Forward to Distribution Channels