Broker Selling Toolkit, Summer’s New Home Occasion, Vita Coco’s Distribution Advantage
👉 The Retailer Storytelling Corner
Equipping Your Broker Network for Stronger Retailer Conversations
Several CPGs lean on broker networks to cover retailer relationships, and we keep seeing the same pattern. Reps are representing multiple brands, with limited time per buyer and a lot of ground to cover. They don’t have time to build effective storytelling materials for every buyer meeting.
The retail landscape isn’t making it easier. Volume growth remains difficult across most categories, and buyers are looking for CPGs with a partnership mindset who can help grow the category and drive results.
We’ve solved this for our CPG clients by packaging their selling materials as a modular toolkit rather than a collection of standalone decks. It’s an approach that you can consider applying on your own.
Below is one example of what a toolkit like this can include. Think of it as a starting framework you can adapt based on your broker network, your categories, and your retail footprint:
1/ Company Overview because the buyer may never have heard of you. (e.g., we worked with a cheese company that’s €10 billion in Europe and virtually unknown in the U.S.)
2/ Business Priorities for the broker: guidance on how to prioritize their efforts (e.g., SKU / distribution priorities, by channel) when they’re in front of buyers.
3/ Category Growth Playbook so brokers can speak fluently about category drivers and pitch products within that context, not in a vacuum.
4/ Channel and Retailer-Specific Strategies because what works at Walmart looks different from what works at a C-store or a regional grocer. This chapter makes that easy to navigate.
5/ Product Features and Benefits, which most companies cover well already. We make it sharper by layering in shopper and category insights (the why behind the buy) alongside the product story.
6/ Promo and Merchandising Programs with the tactical resources brokers need to drive velocity at shelf.
7/ Performance Metrics and Accountability, a scorecard for tracking broker performance and driving accountability across the network. This one stays with the broker.
Not every chapter goes into every meeting. That’s the point. The toolkit is modular, so brokers use what fits the conversation. But when they walk in with the right combination of company context, category perspective, and retailer-specific strategy, the meeting changes.
Summer at Home Is Becoming the New Occasion Brands Should Win
Kroger and 84.51° recently published a Consumer Digest that caught my attention because it looks beyond how much shoppers are spending to where summer occasions are actually moving.
The data: Nearly 2 in 3 shoppers plan to stay closer to home this summer instead of taking big trips. 4 in 5 intend to keep their calendars more open, and 51% say eating out is the first expense they’ll cut.
The takeaway: Rather than reading this as consumers simply spending less, 84.51° frames it as a shift in where occasions happen. More summer moments are moving into the home, creating opportunities for brands to become part of everyday meals, entertaining, and small indulgences.
It’s a useful reminder that when shoppers change how they spend their time, the opportunity isn’t always to compete on price. Sometimes it’s to become part of the occasion that’s replacing it.
➤ Read more: Kroger and 84.51°’s Consumer Digest on where shoppers are leaning in and pulling back this summer.
Why Distribution Often Beats Product: Lessons from Vita Coco
Jennifer Barney, founder of Barney Butter and now an advisor to emerging CPG brands, shared an interesting perspective on Vita Coco’s recent growth that looks beyond the headline numbers.
Coconut water sales are up 31.3%, more than double the growth rate of energy drinks, according to NIQ. But Barney argues it’s worth asking what’s creating that growth, rather than assuming it’s all driven by rising consumer demand.
She believes Vita Coco’s strong Q1 was helped by a Walmart shelf reset that added 27,000 new points of distribution and improved shelf placement, generating trial while household penetration for coconut water has remained around 15-20%.
Barney then shifts to what she believes is the more interesting discussion: how brands are positioning themselves as the category grows. She compares Vita Coco’s diversified, multi-country sourcing model with competitors that have built their brands around a single origin.
Her argument is that while a sourcing story can differentiate a brand, it can also become a liability when supply chains are disrupted. Brands built around supply flexibility and traceability may ultimately prove more resilient than those built around a single origin promise.
For Category and Sales teams, the more useful question isn’t simply, “Is the category growing?” It’s, “What’s creating the growth, and are those advantages sustainable?” The answer could point to very different opportunities.
➤ Read more: Jennifer Barney’s Substack on why Vita Coco’s growth is about more than just coconut water.
While you’re here
1/ Here’s an interesting format innovation story. Smash Foods started as a low-sugar jam brand before reinventing itself with protein snack bites featuring a jam-filled center. The move transformed a slow-turn pantry product into an everyday snack, helping accelerate the brand’s growth. [Read more]
2/ Banana is having a moment. Jeni’s, Olipop, M&M’s, and Starbucks are all embracing the flavor, while banana water brand Banagua has expanded to more than 3,500 retail locations in under six months. It’s a reminder that familiar flavors can sometimes outperform trendier ones because they require no consumer education. [Read more]
3/ Numerator’s latest loyalty report looks beyond sales to examine how much of a shopper’s total spending a retailer actually captures. It explains why retailers can grow sales while still lose share of wallet as shoppers spread more of their spending across competitors. [Read more]
Learn More About OUTKREATE’s Sales, CatMan & Insights Solutions
OUTKREATE develops retailer-facing presentations for top CPG Cat Man & Insights teams, equipping them for success, be it Top to Tops, Innovation Selling Stories, Line Reviews & JBPs, and more.
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