Not all sales channels are created equally.

Last week I went into a supermarket. Bare with me… after spending the last 18 months, exclusively ordering groceries online, this was a little bit novel and a little bit exciting. Yes, I know I need to get out more- does anyone fancy a drink??!

Image credit: Bloom and Wild

As I walked through the orange sliding stores and stepped into the slightly squeaky laminate floor, I came upon the flowers. Nothing particularly new there, keep going with me on this…. But there on one of the sides was a large display of 'Bloom and Wild' flowers. Huh, for those not familiar with Bloom and Wild, they are a D2C flower delivery brand. Known for their subscription boxes and letterbox delivery. They are not a brand that I would ever imagine sitting on a Sainsbury's shelf. However, what they have done is incredibly smart.

Whilst I am not privy to Bloom and Wild’s, business strategy, I’m going to guess that the primary objective of the launch into Sainsbury's is not to generate huge volumes of sales, but to act as a brand awareness generator. By being ranged in a supermarket it has created an opportunity to get more eyeballs on the brand. This is a strategy also used by Pasta Evangelists. The D2C pasta company have a concession in Harrod’s and also are available via Deliveroo. Founder, Alessandro Savelli described these partnerships as the opportunity for “more people to learn about the business model and trial the product. These highly qualified customers then have a greater propensity to purchase directly with the brand for future purchases”.

When you are thinking about your physical availability, remember that not all distribution needs to be created equally. Work through the role of each of the channels and the role that they play in the wider brand vision.