For independent grocers and the wholesalers that serve them

Making "Local" Matter

If there's one thing that independent grocers excel at, it's relationships. Because we spend so much time in our stores, talking to customers, learning about their wants and needs, we are in a great position to influence customers' perceptions of their grocery shopping experiences.

From my perspective, there's two ways to build your business in the grocery industry. One is to develop a highly robust and efficient supply chain that allows you to leverage that efficiency in such a way that you can deliver low prices. The other is to tap into the locavore counter-culture by offering your customers choices that the large stores simply cannot deliver.

The last decade has brought food retailing to a new level in both areas. Here in Canada, the grocery industry is primarily dominated by two companies, Loblaw and Sobeys, with Walmart increasingly building market share through its mass-market channel. Competition is fierce, with all three companies investing heavily in their supply chains. On the other hand, farmers markets, local-food initiatives, and an examination and appreciation of how our food is grown and produced, have all contributed to the growing demand for locally produced food.

As a single store independent, building relationships not only with my customers, but with local producers has been a key factor in my company's success. One of the ways that we've chosen to highlight these grower and producer relationships is through our annual Fall Harvest Sale.

This year marks the third year where we've set up an outdoor display to handle the large volume of fresh produce coming off of Ontario farmers' fields. With Canadian Thanksgiving celebrated in early October our local harvest is well timed with customer demand for fruits and vegetables. The flexibility afforded by the outdoor setup allows us to bring in many products by the field bin. Often these products are larger in size, and fresher in appearance than case packed product.

One of the biggest advantages of this sale is that it allows us to break our customers' usual routine of shopping our store. Because our outdoor display effectively becomes “Aisle #1” it give us a chance to slow down the shopping trip and talk to our customers about our efforts in supporting local growers. Often, I will personally spend a better part of the day bagging apples from field bins supplied by a local orchard. While I'm there, I will also talk to customers about the growers who supply us, the benefits of supporting local agriculture, and how our products differ from those procured through faceless supply-chains.

If you need any further convincing that going-local might be right for you, you only need to look at our experience with locally produced turkeys. For the last couple of years the market has been flooded with turkeys in the one dollar a pound range. Given that turkey wholesale prices in Ontario are controlled through government regulation via our poultry marketing board this is well below cost. As an independent how do you compete with chain stores who are losing $10 a bird? The answer, simply find a local grower, producing better quality, antibiotic and hormone free turkeys. They may cost more, but you won't find a better tasting turkey, and you can't get them at a chain store.

When local retailing is done right it emphasizes top-quality products grown and produced close to the communities where they are being sold. An emotional link is drawn between the consumer and the producer via the local independent grocer. I've become accustomed to occasionally telling the odd customer, “I can find cheaper, I just can't find better quality.” I think my business is stronger for our commitment to promoting quality local products.

3 members like this

Comment

You need to be a member of Independent Grocer Network to add comments!

Join Independent Grocer Network

Comment by Gail Gardner on January 12, 2012 at 12:46am: I am simply thrilled to see this post because I see sourcing locally combined with selling what the big chain stores aren't carrying that people like me really want as THE best ways for independent grocers to compete and grow their market share.

Where I live there is a small chain (David's Foods) and if they were to carry what people like me are buying online or driving past their stores to buy at Whole Foods (45 miles away) they could capture an entirely new market willing to drive out of their way to reach them.

Independents do NOT have to carry all that many items. Chains like Whole Foods have huge quantities of brands and products that are just over-prices versions of conventional products or used to be high quality organic brands that have been bought by multi-national corporations and immediately start declining - not to mention are suspect.

Just a dozen of the most important, hardest to find items properly promoted in Local Search Directory listings, blogs and across social media would make a local grocer THE grocer of choice. Carry non-fluoridated toothpaste, high quality organic coconut and soybean oil, Dr. Bronner's soaps, Seventh Generation cleaning supplies, Marcal recycled paper products - even one or two products - and buyers who seek those out will buy everything else in your stores, too.

I once read every single tube of toothpaste in a huge big box store - hundreds of options - and could not find one single tube that did not contain fluoride! Now I order that online several tubes at a time because I'm not going to waste my time looking for what I know no one is carrying.

Do a search on Twitter for #BuyLocal #ShopLocal #EatLocal and similar hashtags and you will see the movement is growing. Source local fruits and vegetables, share why organic is better - and by the way - many of us don't care about the certification as long as we trust the grower - and more and more growers will start producing.

I am especially impressed that you are selling locally raised turkeys. I would gladly pay far more for chicken and turkey, eggs (if I wasn't already raising my own), and grass raised AND finished meats. If there are laws in the way we need to educate the buying public, raise visibility and get them changed.

I published a post with an infographic showing that according to a study commissioned by Local First:

$73 of every $100 dollars we spend in locally
owned businesses STAYS in our communities!

Only $43 of every $100 dollars spent in
non-locally owned businesses STAYS.

That extra $30 means more local sales tax revenues and more jobs and higher pay and benefits for people in your community. Small businesses also pay more in property taxes that support schools and fire departments.

Imagine how much more than $30 that would be if your local small businesses start sourcing more of what they sell locally. Most currently buy from major suppliers and NOT from other local businesses – but they COULD and they WILL if you encourage and support them!

I will actively promote any grocer or organization that is interested in what this post and my comment are suggesting here - and I already collaborate with social media savvy bloggers willing to help make that happen.

There is more information including my contact info on my blog. I sincerely hope I hear from grocers or representatives of the Independent Grocer Network. I am easy to reach - just use the info found on my contact tab at the top of my blog.

I would be happy to share lists of specific products or even write guest posts laying out what I've mentioned in this comment with links to detailed