Snac World - Official State of the Industry 2021 - 20

STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
As consumers filled their
carts with old favorites,
retailers dedicated more
and more shelf space to
bigger brands, forcing
many emerging brands to
pivot to e-commerce.
©Dragana Gordic - stock.adobe.com
" If you look at the three key pillars of SNAC
International - education, advocacy and networking
- there is a lot of synergy with our pillars,
which are education, networking and championing
emerging brands, " Ms. Pryor said. " The ways in
which SNAC and Emerge have partnered is through
shared education and tapping into each of our respective
networks to connect our members to bigger
industry and networking opportunities. "
SNAC International's rising star members have
access to relevant educational content from
Emerge as well as mentors across the CPG, grocery
and retail industry. The community's 100-plus
mentors include independent and boutique brokers,
investors, distributors, retailers, data service providers
and a community of industry leaders across
various subject matters.
Semi-monthly live, interactive education sessions
are hosted by the mentor community and have
included topics such as raising capital, developing an
effective channel strategy, finding the right co-packer
partner, selling successfully at Costco, de-mystifying
brand strategy, and selling across Amazon and
wholesale e-commerce marketplaces.
" One of the key adjustments teams had to make
during the pandemic was that many of them were
focused on selling mostly at retail, " Ms. Pryor
said. " Brands had to shift, grow their brand experience
online, and sell across e-commerce and
direct-to-consumer, with a focus on their digital
strategies. Emerge supported this shift by sharing
20
SNAC WORLD 2021
industry trends and shopper behaviors across categories
as the pandemic unfolded, and by working
with members of the mentor community to host education
sessions to help teams rethink their channel
strategies, identify the right channels for their brand
and products, and generate traffic and sales across
DTC, e-commerce and Amazon.
As a member of Emerge through the SNAC
partnership last year, Pretzel Pete directly benefited
from these educational opportunities. Mr. Brown
said the company was struggling to gain traction on
Amazon as it tried to move toward online sales.
" We didn't understand Amazon, and we didn't
have the resources to devote to it, " he said.
After sitting in on an Emerge member presentation,
he joined that company's program to support
Pretzel Pete's day-to-day Amazon business.
Mr. Brown said the company also was able to
participate in a pilot class on brand marketing at a
discounted rate in exchange for feedback on the
new course, which was beneficial as the business
turned its focus to investing in its own brand.
" It was very eye-opening and helpful for me, and
the timing was excellent as I was looking to invest
and increase our brand reach and better position
our marketing materials, " he said.
And the networking has been helpful as well.
Recently, Mr. Brown discovered a platform for staff
training through conversations with another business
owner. After looking into it, he decided the
platform was a good fit for Pretzel Pete.
Snac World - Official State of the Industry 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Snac World - Official State of the Industry 2021
