The first delivery to a new stockist and what it decides

2 days ago
3 min read

Introduction

Winning a stockist takes months. Samples, meetings, a buyer who has to justify shelf space to somebody else, and finally an opening order. Then the first delivery arrives and the relationship is either established or quietly finished, because a buyer who has a difficult first delivery has an easy excuse not to reorder.

The product is rarely the problem. What decides it is whether the delivery was on time, correctly labelled, easy to book in, and whether anybody helped the stockist actually sell it once it was on the shelf. All four are controllable.

1. The first delivery to a new stockist has to be operationally perfect

The buyer is watching for evidence they made a mistake. Give them none.

Deliver exactly what was ordered, when promised

A short delivery or a wrong case size on the opening order is remembered far longer than it deserves. Everything after this is judged against it. Check the order twice before it ships.

Get the paperwork and labelling right

Purchase order numbers, barcodes, dates, case quantities, delivery notes. A pallet rejected at goods-in creates work for the buyer, which is the thing you least want to do. Ask for their labelling spec.

2. Ask how they want to receive it

Every retailer has its own requirements. Ask rather than assume.

Confirm the booking-in process

Delivery windows, whether a slot is needed, which entrance, whether pallets or cases, height restrictions. Turning up unannounced is a genuine failure. Confirm the slot in writing.

Check their data requirements

Product data, images, allergen and ingredient information, shelf life on arrival. Missing data delays a listing going live and that delay looks like your fault. Send it before the stock.

3. Help them sell it, not just stock it

A stockist that cannot sell it will not reorder. Sell-through is your problem too.

Provide the point of sale material

Shelf talkers, a sample, a short description, a photograph. Retail staff sell what they can describe. Keep the description to one line.

Tell the staff about the product

Five minutes with whoever is on the floor. A member of staff who has tasted it and knows one fact about it sells substantially more.

4. Set the reorder expectation

Do not leave the second order to chance. Agree it at the first delivery.

Agree how and when reordering happens

Who places it, on what cycle, what the lead time is. A buyer who has to work out how to reorder often simply does not.

Ask what good sell-through looks like to them

Their threshold, not yours. Knowing the number tells you whether you are about to be delisted before it happens.

5. Follow up before you need to

The first few weeks are the whole relationship. Do not wait to be contacted.

Get in touch two or three weeks in

Ask how it is moving, whether the placement is working, whether staff have had questions. Early contact catches a slow start while it is still fixable.

Offer something practical if it is slow

Better placement, a tasting, a promotion, a smaller case size. A stockist offered help stays; one left alone delists quietly.

Conclusion

A buyer who has a difficult first delivery has an easy excuse not to reorder, so the opening order has to be operationally perfect: exactly what was ordered, on the promised day, with purchase order numbers, barcodes, dates and case quantities all correct.

Ask how they want to receive it — booking-in windows, entrance, pallets or cases — and supply the product data, allergen information and images their listing needs. Then help them sell it with shelf material and five minutes briefing the floor staff, because retail staff sell what they can describe. Agree who reorders and on what cycle, ask what sell-through they expect, and make contact two or three weeks in.