New CPG brands often think about two paths to launching their business: 1. Ecommerce – DTC (high CAC) and Amazon; or 2. Retail – premium grocers, then big chains (cash intensive) But what if there was another way? A path to sales and momentum without the huge upfront costs? I think there is. For most new better-for-you CPG brands, the current wisdom is to start selling in some small premium grocers like Erewhon or Gelsons, then quickly move to Whole Foods and Target. Great. But there are significant costs to that approach. Slotting fees, promotional trade spend, brokers in the middle taking their cut. All at a time when the brand is relatively unknown, so the sales velocity isn’t there to offset the upfront costs. This makes launching in retail a very cash intensive exercise. All before you even know if the brand is likely to be a success. But what other options are there? Independent retail can be a more profitable and forgiving channel than any other. You can make mistakes, try new things and figure out what works best. Experiment with different point-of-sale marketing materials, different price points, price promotions, sampling and demonstrations. Really hone the process of ensuring your product sells through at retail stores before approaching the big chains. And what’s more, if you set yourself up with some good, localized distributors and a few sales reps, you have no slotting fees, no charge backs, no huge trade spend obligations and no middle man brokerage fees. You can hustle as a small group to sign up accounts and work closely with distributors to service those accounts well. And profitably. Build your volume, build some cash, be confident that your product is working before you take those meetings with Target and Whole Foods. It doesn’t have to cost $ millions to successfully launch a CPG brand. But you might need to do things differently and follow the path less travelled.