B2B Inspired
B2B Inspired, the podcast by BlueOcean - The B2B Agency, is all about exploring the ins, outs, ups and downs of B2B Marketing here in Aotearoa, New Zealand. We'll uncover emerging trends and thinking while sharing inspiring real-world stories from B2B Marketers here in New Zealand. With the goal of supporting New Zealand’s B2B Marketing community in becoming one of the best and brightest anywhere in the world, let’s roll up our sleeves and take on tomorrow together.
B2B Inspired
FMCG Strategy That Sells with Jayden Kilpatrick
Breaking into retail isn’t just about having a great product—it’s about having a strategy that delivers results. In this episode of B2B Inspired, Jayden Kilpatrick shares practical insights from his journey through New Zealand’s FMCG landscape, from supermarket floors to launching his own brand partner agency. He explains why many emerging brands struggle to scale: they focus on surface-level tactics instead of building a strategic foundation that aligns pricing, positioning, and consumer conversion.
Jayden unpacks what B2B buyers in retail really care about, how shelf space is earned (and lost), and why data-driven decision-making is essential at every stage of growth. Whether you're launching a new product or refreshing an existing brand, this episode offers a clear and actionable framework for turning your value proposition into retail performance.
For more B2B insights, ideas and opportunities, head to www.blueoceanagency.co.nz
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Let’s roll up our sleeves and take on tomorrow together.
Thank you, ecosystem. We're here to help the New Zealand B2B community to become one of the best, boldest and brightest anywhere in the world. Now if, like me, you live and breathe all things business to business and you're looking for a place to connect, learn and be inspired, you have come to the right place. Let's join Roland Leemans over in the studio.
Speaker 2:Welcome to B2B Inspired, where we're trying to help businesses do better business, and you have got a very, very specific skill set about distribution. So what we would like to know from you is tell us a little bit more about yourself, your journey, what you do and about your company.
Speaker 3:Cool. Well, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3:What do we do? Well, what do I do? So 25 years in retail. So sales solely in FMCG, so fast-moving consumer goods within the supermarket landscape. So 15 years I'm just shy of in retail. So working for foodstuffs in-store, starting as a young chap 13, pushing trolleys, and progressively worked my way up through the supermarket chain, packing shelves into grocery manager role, duty manager produce into store management, and sort of learnt the ropes on how a supermarket works and the inside. So, yeah, vast knowledge on how they operate. And spent the last decade in broker agencies. So working with DKSH, new Zealand, and then moving into KML, which are both large broker agencies within New Zealand. Yeah, so I cut my teeth there.
Speaker 3:Some people say it's jumping into the dark side. So moving from stores into the supplier side was, was a big step, but it's a step that I haven't really looked back from. So I thoroughly enjoyed the last 10 years navigating that. So starting as a territory manager for Ferrero. So they were contracted to DKSH, where I learnt how to negotiate on the other side of the table. Being a grocery buyer, I was in charge of managing the storefront and the supermarket side of things in regards to grocery. So that's your range reviews negotiation with suppliers X, y, z. So when you flip that and you're on the other side of the table, it's a bit more different, right? You're challenged a lot more, while I have vast knowledge of the supermarket side of things it definitely put me out of my comfort zone, which created an opportunity to learn.
Speaker 3:Through that, navigated my way through territory management, so managing my own territory, dealing with multiple buyers in different stores and learning that not every store's the same and you're dealing with people and personalities. Through that, promoted to field sales manager. So then, not just managing my own territory but managing a group of territory managers that were responsible for looking after their own stores, buyers and territories. So that gave me an understanding that, yeah, I still had the hunger and crave to lead and teach, pass on my own experiences and learnings and through that I ended up at KML as the field sales manager. Through that process, moved into account management. So that's your level of where you're dealing and working on behalf of suppliers, but at head office level. So not just convincing the buyer at a store level. Now you're convincing the major retailers why our products are so amazing and why they should be on shelves and ranged within their banners and outlets.
Speaker 2:So it's fair to say that you've got a lot of experience in distribution A little bit. A little bit, you're talking about a lot of experience. Yes, yes, and then you decided to set up your own company.
Speaker 3:Yes, yep. So through my journey and five years at KML I got the opportunity to move into new brand, so finding new clients for KML, and KML is a very established business and broker agency. But through that I identified that there's a lot of smaller New Zealand players out there that have great ideas, great products and struggle to afford the large-scale agencies and brokerages. So I set out on my own path and SCP was born.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Supplier Collaboration Project, what do you do? How do you help those brands?
Speaker 3:Well, it's in the name we collaborate really really closely with our suppliers. Project what do you do? How do you help those brands? Well, it's in the name we collaborate really, really closely with our suppliers, so we pitch ourselves as brand partners. Yeah, so we like to sit at the table with our clients and immerse ourselves in their businesses and we find that clear expectations, transparency from from the outset. One set the stage for our clients and gives me and my team the ability to go and execute and meet expectations.
Speaker 2:Great. So I'm a brand I'm starting. I might have had some sales success and then I come to you. What are the key challenges that you see those brands?
Speaker 3:experiencing. Yeah, it really depends on the stage and level that that brand is in. So if we start at the bottom and you're a new entrance or an emerging brand.
Speaker 3:We would assist you in regards to learning and understanding the data, so the analytics on what's happening within that category, who are the major players, who's not, who's performing well, who's not, what are they doing and what's happening within that category. Who are the major players, who's not, who's performing well, who's not, what are they doing and what's not working. And then for us it's really important about identifying the value proposition of your brand or your product. You need to stand out from the crowd and it's busier than ever. We always say a consumer makes a decision in three seconds.
Speaker 3:So how do you cut through and make your product stand out from the rest of market and how do we convince the retailers on the why? That's the really important part. How do you stand out? What's your value proposition versus what's in the market? The retailer doesn't want another me too product right. Shelf space is finite, so how do we capitalize on that? And every SKU that sits on that shelf needs to be doing the mahi and turning over units per store, per week. And while each category is different and different hurdle rates and south route visits can vary.
Speaker 3:We lead those emerging brands on that journey to give them insights on what really matters and what they need to be working towards.
Speaker 2:Okay, so that's a startup brand. What about the other brands, the brand that they've got a little bit more experience? What are they struggling with?
Speaker 3:What are their challenges? We find, if a brand's already established a market and they're coming to us, they're looking for a refresh. We find they've either become complacent with either their current agency or within their own internal organisation and they need a hand, or a bit of a shake-up, as we say, and really establishing what's next, what needs to be happening and assessing the solutions around. What's the next step for them?
Speaker 3:So, if you've been in trade and, say, a decade, 10 plus years, you've got a solid consumer base. Right, you've got your regular consumers. They know your product, they know your brand. Amazing, that's your bread and butter. But how are we attracting new consumers into your product and your brand offer? And that's not easily achieved without the help of marketing consumer education and then leading into consumer conversion at the coalface right.
Speaker 3:As I said three seconds. As a consumer, I'm making a decision, so we need to break it down around reviewing price structure when do you sit in the market? Are you too expensive? Are you not Promotional analytics? Are promotions actually working or are we better off having an EDLP model? And we need to really break down and understand that so then we can help that supplier take it back to category or the retailers to navigate the future of that brand and how we can establish them again. If that makes sense.
Speaker 2:What about when there's a new entrant that is coming and chasing in my category?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, that's where you need to really cut through the noise and stand out from the crowd. You know we're busy people, we have short attention spans, we're on our phones and we have a lot of data and a lot of advertising pushed on us right. So how do you cut through? And again, it's a lot of suppliers, even new entrants or established market. They throw their net very vast and very wide to try and capture a large audience. Where we try and dumb it back and go okay, who's the 20%, who's the core that we need to be communicating to?
Speaker 3:and educating around your brand, your value proposition, and focus on the stage one, the 20%. That's where we need to capture them. Get them purchasing on a regular basis. That's where we need to capture them. Get them purchasing on a regular basis. That works well for you as a client because you're returning units per store per week, which, if your ROIs and your COGs are all aligned, you're making profit. It excites the retailer because they're moving through volume units per store per week. Again, that's what they want Every facing on their shelves, returning profit, well, profit sales.
Speaker 2:All right. So, in a nutshell, you identify what is the core help in the value proposition that you can support them to go to market. Then you go and tackle the sales going to the distribution, to the B2B buyers yes, and then you support them to expand the market. So talk to me about the B2B buyer, talk to me about who they are. What do they want?
Speaker 3:Well, they want sales like the rest of us. Right, we're in the market to get a large sorry, I won't say large units per store per week, based on the category average. Right, and that's where you have to cut through the noise, especially as an emerging brand. So when the buyer or the category manager is what we call them, retail is looking at a new product One you need to stand up from the credibility value proposition. Two you need to drive confidence that it's going to work. Right, Space is finite.
Speaker 3:So if I'm bringing in a new product, I'm looking at the tail end of that category, because I'm making a decision that, okay, to fit this product in, I need to make room for it. And that's where it's critical that you don't become complacent on the flip side as a supplier, right, because if you're on that tail end, you're probably going to get cut first. So when we're pitching to a buyer, we're giving them the full picture on what we're doing, but it's not just oh look, I've got the next best thing. How are we educating consumers? So that's that marketing piece. How do you cut through the noise? How do you educate them? So that way, when the product's in the retail, we've got consumer conversion, because that's what we're all chasing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So how do you convince them, how do you build that trust with the B2B buyer?
Speaker 3:Well, we work with our external brand partners, scp, we, we set this up before we went live, um. So the likes of blue ocean around building strategy brand story is important. Where, where did we come from? What are we about? You know, communicating to the consumer around your sustainability, your total carbon footprint. You know that stuff does matter now and it's really painting that picture and bringing the end consumer on the journey on why they should be purchasing your product. That's more critical than ever. And you know how are we going to stand up from the crowd and drive consumers into your store, mr retailer, to buy this product, and they need to have the trust that you're going to deliver on that and there's a staged process that we take. So if we step back a bit, roland, you come to me. You've got the next big thing in beverage. Oh my goodness, beverage is very, very saturated. How do we cut through the noise? And then you're layering that with the big boys, right?
Speaker 3:These multinationals that control these segments. So how do we stand out from the crowd with a minimal budget? You know a lot of the brands that we deal with are emerging or entering. How do we navigate that? So, first and foremost, we take them on the journey around their COGS and their P&L. We need to make sure it's viable, because there's no point putting a whole lot of capital into something that's not going to be around. Then we take them on the journey around understanding the retailer's needs, and then it's that marketing piece and then consumer conversion. So it's that five sort of stages that we take them through, so they've got full understanding on what we're trying to achieve.
Speaker 2:So, as the B2B buyer, what I'm about is that I need to make sure that the product turns on the shelf right, because I've got a finite amount of pay shelf and that I need to go and have probably a revenue per square centimeters on my shelf, or something like that. Yes, it's about understanding what is the metric that they are looking at, right. Yeah, and so if I come with a new product, regardless of what product category it is, how do I convince them that my new entrant product is going to be better than one of their product that is already turning over?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a great question and we would look at the data essentially before see the trends again, assess your value proposition and really try and pitch yourself against the current product. A lot of it's based on hurdle rate, so if we're assessing where we fit in the sub-segment.
Speaker 3:So again going back to beverages, quite vast. But if we're focused on the energy segment, what are we delivering for you as the retailer? So that could be currently high saturation of sugar, caffeines, the traditional energy sort of boosts. We know they work quickly but they deplete even quicker. So what is the value proposition of my energy drink? So then you'd be tapping into. It could be different sweeteners, natural sweeteners, either derived by fruit extracts, um, all natural, xyz, um, or genre, general genre, that the are we focused traditionally against mescaline or we've got a female lending product, you know, and does the marketing align with that? Have we tested it? Have you actually gone out to an agency and actually tested the product and the actual value proposition and is there a demand for it? The more details and context you can bring to build trust around the product, the more confident that that B2B buyer is going to be in what you're trying to convince them on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what I'm hearing is that, before you even talk to the B2B buyer, the category manager, the buyer is that you need to have a strong strategy.
Speaker 3:Oh, 100%. There's no point even starting if you haven't got a clear strategy.
Speaker 2:Thinking that you've got a great idea or a great product and it's been selling at the local market is not going to cut it. No definitely not. So what is a good strategy?
Speaker 3:A good strategy is just being clear on what the end goal is and the steps we need to take to achieve that goal. So an idea is great cool but how do we plan out that strategy?
Speaker 3:And I'm a firm believer in going to the experts. As founders and startups, they wear multiple hats and they try and do everything themselves to keep costs low. Well, we see the benefit in that, especially when you're starting. It doesn't actually benefit the long-term goal or the journey, so it's really leaning in and that's where someone like SCP tries to guide them on that. So, wow, we can map out a strategy and have those stages, but if we're trying to do everything ourselves as founders or owners, we're going to one burn out. But two, we're not experts in each field. So when we're building out that strategy and looking at the marketing piece, who's responsible for the marketing? We want the brand owner the one that's created the product and has the aspiration for it to be the next big thing to work with someone that specialises in that so they can build it out properly. The first time we find you haven't got a defined strategy and then you're not working with the experts within each stage of the strategy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You end up spending more money in the long run, you know, because you, you learn by your mistakes, and then you sort of come back to that stage one again. You've wasted a lot of time and a lot of capital by not outlining that strategy clean and clear yeah, as I said, we work on that five stage matrix, you know, really breaking down the value proposition, going through the cogs and the p and l, then that marketing, consumer education and then consumer conversion well, the, the.
Speaker 2:The cost of a mistake can be that you're being removed from the shelf.
Speaker 3:Yep, that's the worst-case scenario.
Speaker 2:Worst-case scenario and it's much harder to get back in right.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:We're in an interesting time right now, especially within supermarkets, right, they're on the news a lot and it's not always painted to be the most exciting sort of industry. However, it's understanding the expectations from that B2B buyer, right, understanding their metrics, as you touched on before, understanding that they've got KPIs. But then it's understanding the actual category you're trying to play in and really we want that category performing Again. Space isn't finite. We want that category performing Again. Space isn't finite. So that category the shelf that it holds at our retail coalface needs to be delivering Okay.
Speaker 2:And so when we look at strategy at Blue Ocean, we also like to look at what is not part of the strategy? What should be kept out? What is the that I'm making more noise than the? The quality of the focus of what you are delivering. So what would you leave out of a strategy? What is the thing that you don't want them to come to you with?
Speaker 3:uh over over investment in I don't know um in I don't know. Influencers, for instance. Yes, they have a place, but that's not the part of the initial strategy. Why we talk about marketing yes, very important and that consumer awareness. It's about controlling that investment and not again spreading the net across the total ideas that pop out of our heads right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And there's a lot of noise out there that you should be doing this, you should be doing that, you should be doing this. So the one thing that I encourage to leave out is the noise of what's going on. So I'm a firm believer in losers. Focus on winners. Winners focus on winning. So don't be drowned out. Be aware of what the category is doing and what your competitors are doing, but don't bring that into your strategy. I hope that makes sense, because it's distracting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And when you start focusing on winning the other people, you're losing time and energy and focusing on what you should be doing at your end around landing that strategy and following through. Being factual is so important.
Speaker 2:You love data?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I do so data is at everybody's fingertips. So, not, I suppose, going back to the question, leaving out so not being well planned and thought out in regards to the analytics side of things. So, that's a needs must, I suppose, more than a leave out scenario. Sorry, I'm just digesting the question.
Speaker 2:So in the data itself. What is the data that they should focus? So strategy should be also driven by data. Yes, and one of the ingredients that you just said that I really like as an insight is that don't overly focus on what everybody else is doing, on all the influencers, on all those. Focus on what is your value proposition, what you can deliver and how you can differentiate your product from others. Then what is the data that I need to look at and can I access that data? Like I remember when we had a project together, you could log into a system and have a look at the product categories, which is not everybody can access that data. So what is the core data that is needed when I devise my strategy?
Speaker 3:So a lot of our data sits around the scan data, so the actual consumer purchasing data, and that's really getting a sense on what's working well, how consumers are interacting within that category and understanding that. So, while I don't focus on what the competitor's doing, it's important to know what they're doing in regards to units per store, per week, because that gives you the insight and you need to become well aware to build trust, because that B2B buyer or the category manager on the other side of the table, he or she already knows and they've got probably more access well, not probably they have got more access to data insights, consumer behaviors trends and what's happening within that category than what you do.
Speaker 3:We understand the data's expensive, so it's really trying to get an understanding on that. But also being fluent, you need to understand. Ie, if I'm entering in a category, what is that? Units per store, per week. So if it's 10, you're going to have brands that are doing 30, 40. You're going to have some that are doing one or two. We need to be above that average to be sexy and exciting and build trust with that B2B buyer. Oh, good.
Speaker 2:So imagine that I've been creating my new product whatever it is in FMCG and now I feel there's a market for it and I'm getting ready to go to market and I want to start creating my strategy, and so I need all of those ingredients. What's your recommended approach?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, taking it right back to basics Assessing what it is, who it is and where it's going to sit, so shelf placement and pricing. So when I talk about pricing, one obviously your back end, but also your retail price. If you're too high, consumers aren't going to interact. If you're too low, there's no trust. You know you've got to win that trust, especially if you're a new product to market.
Speaker 3:So, how am I going to cut through the noise and get that new consumer engaging with my product? And then we analyze the pricing, but then you've got to cross-reference that against promotionals and promotional frequency.
Speaker 3:Consumers sort of click onto the four weeks on or the four weeks off. So then if they know your promotional pattern, they're going to buy to your promotional pattern. So a true product should sell, regardless if it's on promotion or not. Yes, you'll have dips because essentially when you're on promotion you're bringing new consumers into your category. So it's again how do we do that? How do we educate consumers and drive that conversion?
Speaker 3:So, again where does our product fit? The category, the price in regards to retail price point for that consumer and end consumer and shelf placement We've got to be aware of where we fit into the category again to build trust. So, taking that client on that journey and the why the why is so important and making sure they're fluent and comfortable and they trust the underlining strategy, so when we do pitch to the B2B buyer that we're delivering on all fronts.
Speaker 2:It seems to me that if I'm devising a strategy or go-to-market strategy, I'm gonna need a lot of support because there's a lot of things that I don't know. I don't know the B2B buyers, I don't know the data becauseB buyers. I don't know the data because how do I access the data? And there's all the things that I don't know because it's just out of my skill set, so it's not that easy to go to market.
Speaker 3:No, no, it's not.
Speaker 2:It looks very, very complicated to have as a startup to actually be successful in that um, in that market. What kind of support can I get? Where do I get support? How do I go about?
Speaker 3:that well that that that is always the question and I challenge any founder or startup or the next guy with the big idea to navigate that. And while we've got information at our fingertips, there's so much it's hard to cut through that. So my recommendation there is to find again those specialists in those fields. Go to an agency or go to a store. Engage with buyers and actually ask the questions and don't be afraid to not know what you don't know. So really explore and ask for feedback. Kiwis are cool. We will share. You know SCP's trying to define what or redefine what agency means within retail and supermarkets, where we will sit down with you, take you through and guide you and you don't have to put a penny on the table anymore.
Speaker 3:You know we're open and we're willing to share that. The purpose of scp is kiwis, helping kiwis. Yeah, as you're aware, um, we do work right. So Blue Ocean is a great external partner of SCP, where you specialize in your marketing, your strategy and the story behind the brands. You work with those clients on a different level and that's fantastic, because that's not what SCP does. We've got the contacts and understand retail. You've got the contacts and understand retail. You've got the contacts and understand marketing and strategy. So that's where you've got to lean into those people that specialise and understand their fields and don't try and do everything Again.
Speaker 3:reach out. You've got LinkedIn, instagram. There's a lot of resources out there, and there's a lot of resources out there and there's a lot of people that are willing to help, guide and educate without a hefty fee.
Speaker 2:Is there any organization, is there any membership that I can, as a founder, becoming a member of and get some more information and better understanding of the industry?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I believe so. I'm not in any groups or anything like that, but I'm well aware that there are, you know, founders groups and that through the likes of WhatsApp, instagram.
Speaker 2:But what about for FMCG? Like any magazine publication, anything that I should actually start learning from, yeah, Wow, yes, there's Supermarket News or FMCG magazines, yep.
Speaker 3:So there are, yeah, and they publish articles regularly throughout the month. They'll educate you on trends and what's hot yeah, that is the word. You know what's new and invigorating categories and giving you insights. Jump online, just Google. You know whatever category you're playing in and I'll go back to keep the consistency. But beverages right yeah, we're seeing a massive change around, or trends around, protein and collagens and epigenes. You know, tap into that and what's happening Just before we started. You're talking about a protein water. It's water, but now it's got that functional added benefit. So educate yourself on that. If you're going into that category. Understand it, understand the consumer and what's driving that category. In regards to understanding B2B and the workings of it and how to navigate that, I definitely suggest going to an agency and navigating that, and any good agency will be able to guide you through that strategy and what's required and lead you on that journey Fantastic.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much. We learned a lot and, like I said, it seems to be a complex arena to play in, but with people that really knows what they are doing, you're really increasing your chance of success 100%.
Speaker 3:That's definitely. Thank you, Jay Cool. Thank you, Roland. Thank you.
Speaker 1:That's that. Thanks for listening to we Do. B2b by Blue Ocean. Now brace for CTAs. If you want to join and grow the community, make sure to subscribe. Wherever your eyes and ears absorb information, don't forget to switch on notifications so you know when the latest episodes drop. And for more B2B goodness, be sure to follow Blue Ocean, the b2b agency, on linkedin. Now look, you know how this next piece works. The more reviews we get, the faster this thing grows. So please do for us what you hope your customers would do for you leave a review and share your thoughts. Let's stay connected and keep the b2b marketing conversation going.