Opportunities for smaller food brands

AMSTERDAM - Since 2013 the market share of the 10 biggest retail producers like Unilever, Douwe Egberts, Coca-Cola is decreasing on the Dutch retail shelf. According IRI Research the opportunities for smaller players are growing. Known examples are Tony Chocolonely and Johnny Doodle in the chocolate category, but also the increasing amount of local beer brands or great initiatives like Lola Quinoa, Cool Bear syrups or Hoevenaer Dutch Duroc pork.  

The last few years biggest Dutch retailer Albert Heijn is working seriously to add more diversity to her product assortment. Big brands have failed to innovate on health trends apart from reducing sugar and salt. Newcomers start from scratch with new ideas that are low in these kinds of ingredients from the beginning. Initiatives like the Albert Heijn Product Pitch, that give small enterprises a podium to present their products to the AH-jury, are an example of the growing attention from the for start ups.  

There is another reason why the retail is interested: they can earn more from newcomers. The growth of the retail in saturated markets is limited, so they have to grow from concepts with more margin and concepts they can distinguish themselves with. Exclusivity is often a topic for discussion. The winner of the Product Pitch wins a year on shelf at the biggest Dutch retailer and an investment budget, but also has to guarantee one year of exclusivity. 

Of course there are more difficulties when launching at the bigger retail. In the beginning you are new and they offer you a free advertisement in the retail magazine. But after a while the standard rules will apply to you and that’s often quite hard for the smaller supplier. You need to sell, of course, but when this is just a little lower than expected, your items will be withdrawn from shelf, you need to compete with the big A brands and you need to pay to keep your position. Besides this, the communication with the – not always very well-informed buyer – is difficult and the position in retail will not be in favour when you also opt for a position at a specialty store. Many reasons to prepare an introduction thoroughly. 

At TEN the export network we support bigger, but also many small food companies like Lola Quinoa, Cool Bear and Heyde Hoeve with a market launch. We do this worldwide. We can offer starters in export in the Netherlands free advice in the SIB (Starters International Business) project that has been launched by the Dutch Government. 

Besides this, TEN advises and supports food companies that are aiming to broaden their horizons. We coordinate food export activities, encourage business development projects, and create new international links. We also help improve the standard of existing export activities, and we operate as SIB advisor to SMEs. For more information www.theexportnetwork.nl or contact us for a first meeting without any obligations: http://www.theexportnetwork.nl/contact/.

Source: Leeuwarder Courant