Shenoy: Zero-to-one alcobev brands must build tertiary retail demand before signing distributors
Suraj Shenoy · Ep #18 | WTF, Alcohol is a $70B Business in India? | Nikhil Kamath explores Gaps & Opportunities · Nikhil Kamath · Jul 3, 2024 · at 2:02:29
Suraj Shenoy explains go-to-market distribution strategy for early-stage alcohol startups on Nikhil Kamath's podcast.
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“If you are an absolute zero to one person starting out, I would say once you identified what product you are doing, just take a few bottles and there are three layers to distribution. What you manufacture is called as the primary. Then you, what your distributor supplies to the market to say, Meenakshi's bar is called secondary. And what Meenakshi sells from her bar is called tertiary. I would suggest first thing that you do once you have the product go Ulta. Don't go the route that the big companies do where you go, do primary, you have established distributor, you go to hundred bars, go to 25, 30 wine shops, take your product, sample, talk to the owner. You already built enough awareness on your brand on and people know that you are doing so that when you go to a distributor, you know that if you sell 102 hundred cases, it's going to go to those many bars. The distributor is going to be far more comfortable. Taking on your product, if you've already done that little legwork.”
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