Seize opportunities & maximize profitability
Looking to assess the Canadian market opportunity and develop an optimal launch path for your brand? Need a fresh set of eyes to review your position and breathe new life into a brand already in the Canadian market? Consulting with us is a great way to go. We provide you with key market intelligence up front and, when you're ready, develop a targeted and effective action plan customized for your brand.
The Canadian market is unique – and we know it inside out. During our decades of experience in the Canadian food, drug, mass, club and e-commerce channels, we’ve had the privilege to launch, manage and grow many leading brands in OTC, vitamin/nutritional, oral care, health & beauty care, cosmetics, seasonal and household cleaning. We can help you:
Navigate around the pitfalls specific to the market in our country
Identify opportunities
Develop a solid strategy to grow your brand profitably
Your Roadmap to market
Our working sessions cover a complete and practical, go-to-market strategy that can be adapted to your project’s unique challenges to ensure optimal results. Depending on your needs, your roadmap to market may include some or all of the following:
Identifying the Opportunity
Competitive set analysis to identify gaps, weaknesses and opportunities
Features, benefits and claims evaluation of assortment to optimize items for launch and subsequent line extensions
Retail price positioning and development of provisional P&L’s by item with multi-year estimates of volume, spend and revenue
Size of prize assessment for market, category and segment
Recommended launch strategy by channel, chain and door count
REGULATORY
Regulatory assessment that identifies feasibility, hurdles, costs and opportunities
Stream assessment by item (drug, medical device, natural health product, cannabis, food) and subsequent review of opportunities and restrictions
Assistance with Health Canada licensing including estimated timelines and costs, for both facilities and products
Compliance reviews, assessments and submissions for packaging, displays, sales collateral and advertising
Bilingual translation from certified translators
Operations – Supply Chain
Strategy for the most reliable, efficient and cost-effective supply chain solutions that also satisfy regulatory obligations
Complete cradle-to-grave supply chain options including pickup from offshore factory, in-market warehousing, DC distribution, pick and pack, and direct-to-consumer fulfillment solutions
Rework, labelling, kitting, repackaging and display builds
Development and management of quarantine and returned goods programs that are market compliant
Packaging
Optimization of consumer packaging communication
Package copy, claims and branding reviews for legal, regulatory and bilingual compliance
Packaging, labelling, re-packaging and re-labelling
Display and POP development, coordination and fulfillment
Development, printing/publication and distribution of sales collateral materials
SALES
Development from scratch, or re-work of existing sales presentations, with critical information retailers want to see
Development of key, prioritized accounts and contacts list
Category reset timing – critical target planogram/modular implementation dates and work-back schedules to develop launch plan timelines
Vendor and new item setup, and item maintenance – including necessary retailer forms and portals for quick establishment as a new vendor, and accurate and efficient listing of items
Retailer annual planning – accurate completion of all required submissions to national retailers to dovetail with your annual forecast and budget plans
Marketing
Determination of optimized retail price strategy. It is critical to get this right prior to launch, as pricing is very difficult and costly to change afterwards
Trade promotional budget and program development – maximize shelf presence, promotional cadence and mix to drive top-line volume and maximize margins
Assessment of current competitive marketing landscape
Development of retail and consumer marketing campaigns consistent with brand strategy
Manufacturing, packaging, retail fixture and POP display solutions, advising and management
Store Execution
Planogram execution compliance and audit, assortment optimization, markdown and discontinued policy development and implementation
Point-of-purchase displays
In-store training and education
Store-level merchandising strategy, deployment and management
Store fixtures creation, production and in-store set up
Budgets
Budget development by item and brand, covering retailer trade spend, merchandising and consumer marketing
Navigation of new SKU introduction and growth within budget, including multi-year strategic growth planning
Forecasting – identification of retailer shelf load specifications and pinpointing of pipeline inventory load into stores and distribution centres; week-to-week road map from production to on-shelf placement; creation of sell-through forecast to assist with both inventory and sales budget forecasts
Analytics
Templates that will allow for ongoing tracking of retail velocity and inventories – enables fine tuning of inventory purchase planning and proper preparation for retailer category and business reviews
Category management – specific templates required for each account to prepare and provide analytics the retailers expect
Find out more about our Brand Management services.
“We’ve worked with Maplewood for many years. We selected them because of their like-minded approach to their business and personal life. Their families hold the highest levels of integrity, honesty and good work. In a very short period of time, we achieved virtually 100% stocking of our product within the major chains and wholesalers. Maplewood represents us in Canada as if it were their own business. We would recommend to all that a partnership with Maplewood is a good business decision.”
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