Commercial and Category Support

When considering entering a new non-food grocery market, having the guidance of an expert that knows the inner workings of that market is invaluable. We have helped over 40 international businesses successfully enter the UK market, so you can guarantee that we have a comprehensive knowledge of the vital steps needed for success. The solution we provide for entering the market is complete: providing detail on the relevant category and key competitors, recommending a route to market, sourcing a distributor or agent, refining product formulation and packaging via consumer research and managing customer accounts.

Approaching major supermarkets and health stores first is tempting when entering a new market, but for successful brand entry a more thoughtful and nuanced approach is needed. Before eventually approaching larger retailers or Health wholesalers, it can be a successful tactic to build brand awareness through smaller consumer accounts to demonstrate a successful track record. We have helped a number of brands enter the market this way, so we can advise on the most suitable route for you. Whether this is in retail or wholesale both our knowledge and contacts will help enhance the success of your brand within the Health category.

Regardless of how good your health product or brand seems, if you are unable to attract the attention of the retailers or wholesalers in the competitive UK marketplace, your product will struggle to gain momentum. Having an agent or distributor on board that knows the market, and is passionate about your health product or brand, can mean the difference between becoming a mainstream brand and being destined for the brand graveyard. Together with our exclusive database of UK distributors and agents, we can help find the right UK partner for you.

Having worked both client and retailer side, we have a good idea of what both parties want to get out of the buying-supplying relationship and we aim to deliver the win:win. In the first instance, we give advice on which buyers to contact, how to approach them and how to present your brand to appeal to their specific requirements. The level of our involvement is up to you – whether you want to be coached and supported through your retailer pitch or whether you just want help finding out who to contact, we will work with you.

Once you have secured your listings, managing your account is another aspect we can help you with, a service we do for many international clients who tend to be focused on several new health markets at once. The traits of responsiveness and efficiency are highly regarded by retail and wholesale customers. Our team of account managers at HRA Global can work with you so that your retail accounts are handled smoothly and contact is kept regularly with buyers so opportunities are reacted to and promotional and in-store marketing plans are delivered succesfully.

One of the biggest pitfalls for many health brands approaching the retailers is a lack of knowledge of their category. Modern retail buyers expect you to be completely up to date with price movements, market share, competitors, packaging trends and of course health and wellness category developments. Our access to the most up-to-date market data can help create a thorough category analysis which details health consumer trends, recent NPD, competitor brand positioning, pricing and performance. With this we can identify the gap for you as a health brand and, if necessary, refine its positioning to help it stand out from competition and heighten buyer appeal.

Putting together a clear health Value Proposition from the beginning, guarantees that you can build and maintain a strong brand while staying focused on your core customers. A Value Proposition is an exercise that produces a clear brand identity and a precisely defined target audience. Putting together a Value Proposition internally can be tough, as condensing a brand into a simple core essence is often something companies find almost impossible to do. Our trained eye for unique propositions at HRA Global can help this process by asking the key questions to get to the heart of what your brand is about and how to make it a success.