The Race to Scale: Four Tips For Ensuring Successful Growth

There are many strategic decisions to be made before bringing a brand and product to market, including decisions about the product and customer acquisition. However, the challenges don’t stop there. In fact, there are even more decisions to be made once a brand is launched. Inevitably, founders will find themselves at a crossroads during several major milestones in the brand’s lifespan – one being the moment when they need to strategize when and how to scale the business.??

As part of Trax’s Disruptor Series , we welcomed 100 industry leaders and founders from the fastest-growing emerging brands to learn, network, and inspire at the historic New York Stock Exchange. We had the pleasure of hosting the panel, “Disrupting Retail, Winning at the Shelf ” which featured leaders from Once Upon a Farm , EBOOST , Sanzo , and MISSION who shared their experience growing their brand’s retail presence, answered key questions, and provided their top tips for winning the race to scale.??

Below are our top takeaways from this can’t-miss panel.??

Know that bigger isn’t always better.?

A lot of brands desire to win the race to scale – but sometimes scaling an emerging brand is not always the right option. Matthew Spolar , chief operating officer at EBOOST , can attest that sometimes moving too quickly can actually harm the business. His recommendation is that emerging brand founders should scale their businesses by setting their eyes on one channel and going deep within that channel. For EBOOST , this channel (retailer) is CVS Health , which has proven to be a less crowded field and allowed EBOOST to develop a meaningful partnership with the nationwide retailer. This approach allows you to build and nurture relationships within the industry, ensure your product is in the right places and that your vendors are well-versed on your product, and ultimately connect you with your target consumer.??

Make sure your consumer understands you.?

In addition to your distributors and retail partners understanding your brand, it’s imperative that your consumer understands you. If your product is first-of-its-kind or you’re unlocking a new category, there’s an element of education needed to make sure consumers fully grasp the product.??

Cheryl V. , chief customer officer of Once Upon a Farm , experienced this during the company’s early days. At the time, their clean children’s foods didn’t fit into any one category, so her team needed to invest time in educating the consumer on why serving fresh food is what’s best for children. This educational phase required a slow approach of testing, growing, and learning — essentially going door to door to make sure consumers understood the product. Once the company invested time in education, they saw the impact of their work directly as they started to grow almost immediately. Now, they are the number-one baby food in a new naturals category and a household staple.??

Shopkick by Trax offers a unique way for consumers to engage with their favorite brands, discover new products, and learn about their features and benefits. With its user-friendly interface and interactive features, the app provides a fun and educational shopping experience that encourages customers to make informed purchasing decisions.??

Focus on one audience segment at a time.??

Launching and being in every retailer overnight sounds like the dream for any entrepreneur – but more important than growth is longevity. It’s imperative to never lose sight of your core demographic, as these individuals will not only naturally help you grow but will also ensure your longevity.??

Caleigh Salvucci , senior director of sourcing at cooling and heat relief company MISSION , shared that the company started by marketing to athletes who might get overheated on the field or court. Because of this key demographic, they started out in sporting goods stores. However, as the company grew, they realized athletes are just one portion of the population who are impacted by heat. After this realization, they quickly expanded to home improvement stores to target manual laborers who often face the same issues. While these audiences are vastly different in what they do, they have a common overarching problem. Without first focusing on their core demographic of athletes, MISSION might not have learned that manual laborers could be part of their target as well. Now, they are available nationwide in many different types of stores, and their consumers run the spectrum of industries, but it was a very slow and strategic journey to get to this point.??

?Build a community.??

Once you have conquered various demographics and audience segments, it’s important to bring your supporters together to create a community. Sandro Roco , founder, and CEO of Sanzo , is familiar with building a community and understanding his customers. In fact, Sanzo was made with a specific audience in mind.??

Sandro’s connection to the Filipino-American community led him to make the first Asian-inspired sparkling water at a time when the Asian community was coming into focus but had yet to be reflected in the consumer space. After the launch of Sanzo , Sandro worked to expand the Sanzo community beyond his initial demographic of the Filipino-American and Asian communities. Today, Sanzo has amassed a community of over 25K followers on social media and, thanks to the demand from consumers, can be found at big-name retailers such as 塔吉特百货 , Sprouts Farmers Market , Safeway , and Whole Foods Market , as well as popular restaurant chains across the country such as Panda Express .??

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Shopkick by Trax is more than just a shopping app - it's a community of like-minded individuals who love to explore and discover new products. Our platform brings together a diverse group of users who share their experiences and opinions, creating a dynamic and engaged community. We also leverage social media platforms to connect with our users and inform them about the latest deals, promotions, and product launches.?

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To experience the full panel discussion and explore other discussions from Trax Retail ’s emerging brands event, click here .?

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