Regardless of the type of business you are running, one thing that is important for success is marketing. Having an effective marketing plan is key to making sure you have a strong customer base. For a wholesale grocery business, the basic rules for marketing are all the same as other businesses, with some fine tuning to meet your specific requirements. The overall process can be conducted in two phases and they are defined here.

Marketing Plan Definition

Before starting the formulation of actual plans to market your products, you need to make sure you have defined the strategy for doing so. It does not matter if you are a new business or an already running one, the focus of your efforts will be the same here. Consider the following things to make sure you move in the right direction.

• The first step would be to define what your business is. Define the type of groceries that you deal with and note everything down. This is important to make sure you do not lose focus and start thinking outside the parameters of your specific product(s). Once you have done that, define the specific details of each product (or group of products) that you have as each of them might require a different plan.
• Find the Unique Selling Point (USP) that your product has when compared to other products available in the market. Are you a new vendor selling something that other competitors do not have to offer at all? Are you taking a new spin on a product that is already available in the market? The answer to these questions will provide direction to your plan later.
• Who is your target audience? Who are you selling to? Define this for both the retail store that you are selling to as well as the end consumers that they are selling to. Make sure you clearly define this otherwise you could waste a lot of money.
• What is the size of the market that you are targeting? Will you be providing your products nationwide or will you supply only to local stores?

Creating the plan

Once you have the answers to the above questions, it is time to take the steps needed to formulate a successful plan for marketing your products. This should include the following things:

• The first thing you need to define is the price of your products. To do this, you need to consider not only your own production and distribution costs but also the retail prices that the competitors are offering. For a premium product, you may have the option of going for a higher price but for equivalent products, beating the competitors’ prices is probably the way to go.
• If you also manufacturer, how will your pricing change if there is a fluctuation in the prices of raw materials? Do you charge the stores extra or bear that burden yourself?
• How will you spread the word about your product? For your target audience you need to figure out the best way to communicate with them.