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POS INSIGHTS: Distribution vs. Premiumisation – What’s Your Strategy?

In the world of POS and marketing materials, most recognisable in the drinks industry, there can be a clear difference between two distinct strategies – distribution or premiumisation – in line with your strategic brand choices.

When setting your targets for the year ahead, you need to identify which areas of the market you’re going to choose to drive the profitable sales growth your brand needs. New customers vs. existing customers. High value accounts vs. low value accounts. New verticals vs. existing verticals. Whichever choices you make they’re yours, and your marketing supply chain gets to work with you to help you deliver your success.

As a proud partner to some of the worlds leading brands for over 35 years, Staci has the fortunate position of monitoring the outflow of POS and marketing materials across key sectors, and helping brands compare their performance vs. their peers both inside and outside of the vertical that they operate in.

One of these key areas we help visualise for clients is how their POS performance aligns to their strategy, and how this compares to averages across the UK.

When looking at the distribution vs. premiumisation argument, we’re able to highlight for our clients their average POS investment per address/trade customer, in the UK, whilst also looking at their average number of annual orders per address too. We then map this for our clients to show how this compares to other brands within their market, to see how their strategies compare.

How does this help?

Well, a brand with a focus on distribution should of course be seeing a lower number of orders per address, and a lower investment per address too – where the focus is about reaching as many outlets as possible throughout the year. Conversely, those brands with a focus on premiumisation, we’d expect to see the number of orders and/or the investment per address each year being higher, as those brands look to enrich a select number of trade customers with the best marketing materials and spend.

This is something to consider when planning your POS strategy within your internal teams and with your 3PL, who can help effectively execute your chosen strategy. Each method has its benefits and limitations, and entirely depends on your brand’s position within its industry.

As Staci is a seasoned expert with over 35 years of experience in POS logistics, we can help you find the perfect solution for your brand’s marketing materials that will suit your positioning and assist your overall marketing strategy. Get in touch with us today.