10 outstanding success stories of collaboration exemplifying how brands and retailers can create a winning playbook by leveraging each other’s capabilities and resources
By collaborating, brands and retailers can reach out to new customers and expand their reach in the market. Retailers can help brands distribute their products more effectively by leveraging their existing distribution networks. Brands can benefit from retailers’ expertise and resources, such as data analytics and omnichannel capabilities, to enhance their operations and offerings. Together, they can collaborate on marketing and promotional activities to drive sales and raise brand awareness besides helping each other to tap into new revenue streams, reduce costs, and improve overall profitability.
We bring you 10 outstanding success stories of collaboration between food and FMCG brands and retailers in building new consumption/ product categories or transforming a traditional category with innovation.
Wingreens and Reliance Retail pitch in to take mayonnaise to the masses
The two partners worked collaboratively to design a price-pack architecture that could pull in new customers and increase the category’s footprint. The results came out tops with 3X growth in the total size of the category, and a growth of 6 basis points in customer penetration within just a year.
The mayonnaise category in India quite literally burst on the scene during the covid pandemic. Many believed that that category would shrink in post-covid normal times. But the pandemic also induced some seismic shifts in consumer behavior and consumption and some of these shifts have now become ingrained in our lives.
To cite an instance, people who were earlier sold on butter started using mayonnaise during the pandemic, changing their consumption behavior in accordance with the health compulsions of the times. However, as has been proved out, this was no accidental shift and consumption of mayonnaise has continued to cover more ground ever since.
“We strongly feel that mayonnaise is a category that acts as a bridge to other categories like ketchup, dips & sauces and other supplementary food products. It is turning out to be one of the fastest categories for us,” says Swarnim Saxena, head – modern trade, Wingreens World, a house of brands conceived as a joint creative enterprise between RAW Pressery and Wingreens Farms in early 2021 to serve as a one-stop-shop for all healthier foods & beverages in India.
Elements of the Collaboration
Impressed by the quick growth of the category, Wingreens decided to come up with innovative and easy-to-use solutions for consumers, which could further deepen the category’s reach and penetration.
“For any mayonnaise consumer who is new to the category, we try to provide a solution by getting their feedback, guiding them on the many different uses that the product can be turned to and finally exhorting them to upsize the pack. We consider the new recruits as being all probable or potential customers who can help to increase the category’s customer base and its value pie. This approach has helped us to grow our share of the category and expand its user base,” says Swarnim.
Coming out of the shadow of the pandemic and seeing an uptick in the mayonnaise consumption was only the beginning for Wingreens. Like every story that has a beginning, middle and an end, Wingreens’ tryst with mayonnaise was just beginning to unfold. It turned more eventful with more excitement and action to follow once the brand joined forces with Reliance Retail.
“We worked collaboratively to design a price-pack architecture that can pull in new customers and increase the category’s footprint,” says Zubin Nowrojee, national head – FMCG local buying at Reliance Retail. As an opening move, it was decided to introduce packs in two different price and weight ranges. The larger pack was for an 800 gm mayonnaise and the smaller one was for 200 gm and both came with a variety of different
flavors. Like any other major product launch, both partners put in enough elbow grease to come up with some brilliant promos and sampling exercise.
Outcome
“Ultimately, thanks to our joint efforts, the results came out tops with 3X growth in the total size of the category. The customer penetration grew by 6 basis points within just a year,” says Zubin, adding that both partners have come a long way since the start of the collaboration though there’s still more miles to go in the future.
