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When you look at your industry, and you see your competitors in the market, how do you feel towards them?
I won’t lie to you, for me, I didn’t even considered them. I was in my own lane. They didn’t exist (well, so I thought). I didn’t need them. I wasn’t trying to see what they had done, or trying to learn from them. Arrogant, I know.
When I started Dolce Butter, I thought we were the only sweet butter brand in the UK. I couldn’t find any brands on the market on Google or in the stores. Our SEO was, and still is, terrible. So our tagline was “The UK’s first sweet butter brand”. Little did I know, we were not the first.
I connected with Farrah who runs Moose Maple earlier this year and it was surprising nice to know we weren’t the only ones. I was sceptical at first though. My natural instinct was to not trust her. The first 5 mins of the conversation were me questioning everything. Why is she asking if we’ve trademarked the business? Why is she asking about our recipes and how we make our products? I soon realised that these were in fact helpful questions. Her probing made me fast track registering our trademark for example (even if just out of fear).
Things I learnt in the conversation:
Category Management is hard
When it comes to category management, you don’t want to be alone. Having a few of you allows buyers to understand your market a bit more. They can have some idea about your customers, and their buying habits. They can also understand the incrementality of your product.
Incremental Sales – These are sales that are an increase in transactional value, not just increasing the number of sales.
In retail categories, buyers want products that will grow their total category. The goal for brands is to add value, without taking it away from other products in their category.
Brand Awareness
When starting something new, there’s often an educational element you need to consider. For us, when people think butter – toast, bagels, crumpets and baked goods are what come to mind. But there’s so much more you can do with it. Think roasted vegetables, pan-fried lemon fish, buttery roast lamb for example. One thing I want to prioritise is expanding the view of how our products can be used.
I do believe this needs to be something we all do though. It’s not a mantle I want to carry alone, nor should I have to. We all benefit from creating opportunities for people to see the flexibility in the product. Particularly as the seasons change.
Finding advocates amongst our competitors
Have you considered how you might be able to work with your competitors? Earlier this year we did a big butter give away and joint forces with some other butter titans. I can’t speak for the other brands, but for us, it worked wonders for reaching new audiences. It was a reminder that there’s strength in numbers.
We’re so fearful of people taking our ideas, and I get it, because it definitely happens. But no one can take our brand original stories away from us. Even when they try, you are the missing piece of the puzzle.
By having competitors, we’re increasing visibility and options for our customers. But we’ve also got people we can learn from (if you don’t let your pride get the better of you). You’d be surprised how open people are to helping others out. That’s certainly my philosophy, I constantly want to make sure I’m sending the ladder back down. Truth be told, I’m still on that ladder, but I stay read to extend a hand. Ultimately, there’s enough room for us all.
Questions I want you to ask yourself (and feel free to share your answers with me too):
- How do you feel about competition?
- How have your feelings towards competition changed over the years?
- Could you see yourself working with your competitors?
Further reads
- The value of incrementality: Seeing the full assortment picture – https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/education/2021/the-value-of-incrementality-seeing-the-full-assortment-picture/
- How to drive incremental sales to your retail store or brand https://www.shopkick.com/partners/blog/how-to-drive-incremental-sales-to-your-retail-store-or-brand-slp-fc
⬅⬅⬅ You can find the transcript for the video on your left (tidied up for clarity).
