Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I received an email from a key buyer asking me to outline the benefits of LibDib to retailers such as himself. He was invited to the platform by a winery in Oregon that he had done business with years ago, who had ultimately lost their distributor and had to spend their time focusing on Direct to Consumer sales. They are very small and could not find another wholesaler to distribute their products in California. Until now (gooooo LibDib!). Their award winning wines are on the LibDib platform and are available for restaurants, bars and retailers in both of our current markets (NY AND CA).
So, clearly one of the benefits LibDib has to offer retailers is access to small production products that otherwise would not have a route to market.
However, there is a lot more. Let me share:
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- No minimums. Traditional distributors have trucks that cost money to drive around. More often than not, there are 5 case or $500 order minimums. This is usually just fine for larger customers; most retailers need at least that of their Tito’s and Jim Beam. However, a smaller retailer may only want 6 bottles of one item. With LibDib, no problem. Because our suppliers are fulfilling direct (for the most part, depending on state compliance rules), and paying for shipping themselves….this is no longer an issue. Producers can add whatever quantities they want within the LibDib platform and price accordingly. One bottle, 6 bottles, 10 cases, rainbow packs, or gift packs; it’s all possible with LibDib.
- No more “shit” sandwiches. Sorry for the vulgarity here. But a very smart distributor sales person once described this phenomenon to me. All distributors have things they “have” to sell. Something that’s on quota for the month and most often is from their largest suppliers who have a large influence over the monthly sales plans. So my very smart friend would put together a “shit sandwich.” On the inside was something the buyer wanted. On the outside, two things that the sales rep needed to sell. She would wrap it all up in one nice “sandwich.” Funny, but true. At LibDib, we are the ONLY distributor that doesn’t have to make quotas or sell anything in particular. It is entirely up to the buyer what they want. 12 bottles of 95 point Comartin Cellars Pinot Noir? OK! 6 bottles of Drake’s Organic Vodka? No problem. How about 48 cans of O’Light Organic Beer? You got it!!
- Access to the best, most enthusiastic and educated sales force EVER: The Makers themselves. Said retailer, that I was conversing with prior to my turkey dinner, often has choice words for distributor sales reps. He can get frustrated because they don’t know enough when he has a question. Understandable, but how can they? The system is set-up for failure. Sales reps at most distributors have thousands of products and hundreds of producers in their book. There is no possible way to be an expert on even 1/100th of the portfolio. Especially when they are bombarded with the things they have to sell that month. I have said time and time again, there is no better salesperson than the Maker themselves. With the ability for Buyer and Maker to connect immediately (no salesperson in between), the passion and excitement for their products is intoxicating (ha...literally and figuratively!) This only helps Buyers when selling to their end customer.
- One place….for everything. Buyers on LibDib can go to one website and do everything. Discover. Buy. Shop. Pay. Review invoices. Check delivery status. Connect with Makers. Download POS. Watch videos about cool distilleries and wineries. Get the latest media scores. It’s all inside the platform. Makers have the control to update their pages which means information is in real time. And the platform continues to get better and better everyday (thank you to my awesome engineers).
- Products are always current vintage. The LibDib model is different in that Makers more or less fulfill directly. This means orders are coming direct from the cellar. Product is current vintage or the most recent batch. Inventory is not “sitting around” in warehouses around the country, collecting dust until someone pays attention. Buyers get access to what is current, not what was shipped via pallets a year ago.
- Supporting small, family-owned business is now EASY. Small businesses are the heart and soul of this country. Most restaurants and retailers are small businesses themselves. LibDib makes it easy to support fellow small businesses with the ability to discover and order all in one place (no tracking down 10 different Makers who self-dib for a reorder), one invoice and payment (via ACH or check or even credit card where legal). LibDib brings the conveniences of big business to small Makers.
- Consumer tastes are changing. The research is there and if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s coming. Consumers have less brand loyalty. They want to try new things. They care about the quality of products they are consuming and what they are putting into their bodies. They want to support local and family owned. Consumers crave authenticity. And that’s entirely what we are selling. It’s a brave new world out there, and LibDib is bringing new, exciting, small production, craft products to market every single day.
- MAKE MORE MONEY. At the end of the day, retailers and restaurants can make more money selling the products LibDib is offering. You can try and compete at 20 points with Tito’s all day long. OR, you can make more money with Ving Kale, Lemon and Cucumber Vodka. It’s got a great story, the product is high-quality and the reorder rate is through the roof.
So that’s my story. I want to make things easy for buyers and makers to do business together. I won’t interfere and try to sell you random stuff. My goal is for you to find the right products and for Makers to find the right buyers. Consider LibDib a matchmaker. Coming soon...swipe right