For consumer packaged goods, the grass may not always be greener when deciding which side to allocate resources – E-Commerce (direct-to-consumer) vs brick-and-mortar. Regardless of the grass color, regardless of the side, there’s almost always grass (opportunity). We all want to see the biggest return-on-investment when selling our products through sales channels. Many would have…

In today’s competitive retail environment consumer product startups need to do everything faster while maintaining and building a brand known for quality and value. If you’re a startup trying to sell your products into retail, there’s never been a better time to do so. This is due, to some degree, to the resources now at…

We work with hundreds of up-and-coming CPG brands because of our partnerships (such as Indiegogo) and because of our track record of pioneering new products in the retail distribution (and b2b) space. Time and time again there’s an imbalance of perceived significance between sell-in and sell-through. Sell-in: When a retailer purchases product from a manufacturer…

Retailers and manufacturers constantly battle over the placement, promotion, and pricing of products. However, the current retail landscape has retailers pulling ahead with greater demands, increasing pressure on manufacturers. Major consumer goods companies are disputing with large retailers—such as Office Depot, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart—over the use of trade promotion dollars and product orders.…

The retail industry is naturally wrought with frequent change and disruptive models – from the retailers, product manufacturers, consumers, and all other parties who play a role in physical product supply and demand. Consumer product brands can sometimes get too attached to a particular retail goal or trend and base too many decisions on that…

Surviving as a consumer product company is – no surprise – incredibly difficult. Above all else, being in the consumer product industry inherently means understanding how people feel and interact with your product: consumers, employees, partners, etc. While there are many variables, my interview with the guys at Keyport shows how focusing on people is…

I’ve talked to hundreds of CEOs and CMOs of consumer product startups (as well as mid-sized manufacturers) who are looking for ways to either break into the North American market for the first time or increase existing market presence. The initial reaction is always to look at distributors, perhaps for obvious reasons. Why partner with…

In our efforts to educate up-and-coming hardware startups to the ever-changing retail environment, we looked inward and conducted an interview with a Retailbound client – Smashtoast – getting direct insights from their Founder, Barnabas Helmy. As a hardware startup founded in early 2014 based in Springfield, IL – Smashtoast created a compact universal remote for…

This blog post was inspired by yet another example of a promising consumer product startup (especially in tech) that’s closing its doors. In this case it happens to be Doppler Labs. While hindsight is 20/20, there’s more than enough history of failed hardware/consumer product startups to avoid the fundamental pitfalls. In fact, I’ve talked about…

Because the majority of product brands & startups we speak with are headquartered outside the US, we thought it made sense to share some tips that are all-too-often overlooked. Typical Major Obstacles Being a product startup already has some major challenges. Being a “foreign” startup or product brand has some unique hurdles: Consumers typically don’t…