Logistic Optimization and Digital Marketing for a Niche Food Brand

The client is a small player in the vegan foods market. They specialize in all-natural, plant-based soup blends aimed at improving immune system function and overall wellness.

Situation: 

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local grocery market where the majority of the client’s products were sold was permanently closed. 

Thus, the client looked to transition to a more e-commerce focused strategy, selling directly to customers. While the client had already set up an online store, they were struggling to drive traffic to the store. 

In addition, they were unsure on who they should focus their marketing efforts on. Furthermore, the client started losing money due to the high shipping cost associated with refrigerated products and therefore had to limit themselves to only shipping orders within their region.

Challenge: 

The client tasked Rem and Company with three tasks. First, to identify a target customer for the client and identify a way to leverage 3rd party analytics to reach this customer and drive them to the online store. 

The second task was to integrate the shipping process with a fulfillment center that could ship orders to anywhere in the continental United States within two days to ensure the product did not perish. 

Lastly, after initial research showed the benefits of paid advertisements, the client tasked Rem and Company with developing a spending strategy to maximize ROI for social media.

Approach: 

The team followed a two-pronged approach to develop a strategy for the tasks outlined above. The first prong was shipping and fulfillment centers and the baseline goal was to ship to more regions at an equal or lower cost. In order to do this, the strategists completed extensive research to better understand the logistics of how a fulfillment center worked and what some of the industry best practices were. This allowed them to have meaningful conversations with over 15 fulfillment center managers as the team looked to find the best alternative.  

The second prong was marketing and social media analytics apps, where we focused on identifying a target customer. Through the use of the Hootsuite app, our team was able to identify social media data and trends that the client had not previously seen. This allowed us to pinpoint who the client’s target customer should be in order to maximize returns on marketing. Building off of the data collected, our team then extensively researched facebook ad manager. This allowed us to create a detailed guide for the client on how to build a successful paid advertising campaign. 

Impact:

The Rem and Company team presented multiple recommendations on how to transition to  their new digitally focused business model. Through overlaying vegan hotspot data with the locations of the fulfillment centers, the  team was able to identify top fulfillment centers to partners with . 

In addition, the team made contact with the top 3 potential partners and got the client on a list of potential future business partners in order to make the transition easier on our client when they reach the order volume necessary to make the switch. 

Lastly, the team identified women aged 18-55 as the target customer for the client based on buying patterns and social media following; as well as, provided modifications to the clients social media pages to optimize for conversions across this target group. 

With that target customer in mind,  the team developed an advertising matrix and a detailed guide for a $200 social media advertising budget that would reach our target customer while maximizing ROI.

At Rem and Company, we're on a mission to keep doors open and dreams alive. Rem and Company started as a social impact initiative offering free consulting services to small businesses impacted by COVID-19. Rem and Company has become an information hub and digital community platform for small businesses in need. At Rem and Company, small businesses stay up to date on trends in their industries, learn new approaches from peers, build a network, and develop the capacity to adapt as the world around them changes. Our consulting teams provide small businesses with the opportunity to identify and prioritize issues facing their business, propose innovative strategies and facilitate execution. If you are a small business owner and want to learn more about how we can help, request a free consultation.