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- [00:00]
Sree Rajagopalan
Retail media is rapidly becoming the go to channel for brands, aiming to engage consumers with measurable performance along the path to purchase. Retailers are increasingly empowering brands to accurately target meaningful audiences based on their longitudinal purchasing behaviors and execute media impressions across on site, off site and in store channels throughout the entire marketing funnel. For brand marketers, effectively incorporating retail media into their marketing budgets is essential for growth in today's omnichannel landscape. To address this critical need, Cornell University has partnered with the CPG Guys, along with leading industry executives and visionaries from around the world to launch the first ever retail Media Strategy Executive Education program. This immersive four day program at Cornell Tech May 5th to the 8th, 2025 brings together industry thought leaders and renowned faculty to share best practices for building compelling retail media platforms. You'll discover how to collaborate on creating best in class tech stacks, measure performance to ensure brands Access the necessary KPIs based on Campaign objectives and establish strong partnerships between brands and retailers. In addition, the program covers optimizing brand strategies using AI driven campaign design at scale to achieve marketing goals. By the end of the Retail Media Strategy program, you'll have gained a deep understanding of the retail media ecosystem and how both brands and retailers can accelerate organizational transformation to thrive in the future of performance marketing. See the link in the digital liner note to this episode to learn more about the Retail Media Strategy Executive Education Program at Cornell Tech May 5th through the 8th, 2025. Welcome to the CPGuys Podcast. Your hosts, Sree Rajagopalan and Peter Vs. Bond explore how brands and retailers engage in an increasingly digitally driven world. And now, here are the CPG Guys.
- [02:02]
Hello and welcome to this episode of the CPG Guys Podcast. I'm of course sri, co founder and co host of the CPG Guys and also co founder and partner at Think Blue Consulting. As builders, connectors and amplifiers. Think Blue shapes the future of commerce to drive your growth. Please do get in touch with us Sri thinkblueconsulting co. Please do listen to my older daughter Rhea Raj's music www.rearaj.com that's R H E R A J and a new song, Hot Couture has been out for a month and my younger daughter Lara Raj is a member of the Geffen Records universal music group Cat's Eye, who now has over 4 million followers in each of their social platforms. Not able to join me today is my fellow co founder Peter Vs. Bond and he's not co hosting this podcast. He serves as Head of Industry and Client Engagement at Flywheel, the E Commerce Acceleration Division of none other than Omnicom. And before we get to our esteemed guest today, let me ask you to ask, ask that you consider following us on Apple Podcasts and leave us a reading there because the reading tell us how we're doing as a podcast and the review tells us whether the quality of conversations we're having with our guests is exactly what you want to hear on the show. And now let's get over to our main event. A reminder, this was recorded live at the Commerce Media Brand Event Summit in Atlanta in mid March. And over to our guest now.
- [03:15]
Hi, this is SRI and I'm here at the Commerce Media Brand Summit, Atlanta, Georgia. And there was no way I was going to come by Atlanta without talking to Mr. Michael LA himself from IGA. Pleasure to have you. Thanks for making time. I know you had to drive 30 minutes, but I sincerely appreciate it, man. Hey, thank you for joining us.
- [03:34]
Michael LA
My pleasure, always.
- [03:35]
Sree Rajagopalan
And so, Mike, before we start with the Q and A segment and we get into the topics here that I have for you, can you tell me what you do for IGA and what does IGA do for grocers?
- [03:46]
Michael LA
So I'm the vice president of brand development at iga and what that means is I lead strategic initiatives, including partnerships. So working with brands and other vendors to help our retailers sell more, be more efficient, more effective in their operations. And ultimately, if we're doing that job well, then we're helping drive shoppers into the store trips and transactions and it works for the whole ecosystem. If you're not familiar, IGA is the largest voluntary network of independent grocery stores in the world. We have over 7,500 retail locations globally and 25.
- [04:24]
Sree Rajagopalan
That's larger than Walmart.
- [04:27]
Michael LA
I can't speak.
- [04:28]
Sree Rajagopalan
$7,500. It's the largest.
- [04:30]
Michael LA
Okay, so we are maybe then the largest grocer worldwide, which is great news. Everything from Australia, South Africa. We just brought on our retailer in Ireland and, you know, continuing to look for more independent retailers to work with during this conversation.
- [04:48]
Sree Rajagopalan
We're going to discover more in chat. But one of the mistakes I made when I was cco, General Mills, I didn't pay enough time and attention to the independence. America is in the middle of a volume crisis. We're going to get to. But to all our listeners, of course, Michael's LinkedIn profile IG is LinkedIn profile. IG's website will be on the digital liner notes of this podcast. For those of you on the go who listen to us from your smartphones.
- [05:11]
Michael LA
Well, you know they say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. So independent grocers represent a third of the volume in the $150 billion. So appreciate that comment. I think one of the misnomers is if you're, if you're working with the top retailers in the US you've got everything covered. We know independently owned retailers provide a lot of volume in terms of both dollars and importantly units that we'll talk about in a little bit. And importantly, shoppers go there for some significant reasons. It's not all about price, community, it's about community. We're hyper local. We're very tied into the community. Some of our owners, they own the shopping center, they serve on city councils, they're mayors, they're deeply involved in the community.
- [06:01]
Sree Rajagopalan
And so Michael, that's a question I have for you. Let's start off right there, right? If you go back 10 years, 15 years before the huge prevalence of digital, which is really spawned last five years has gone crazy gangbusters, right? Communication from a brand was one too many. That's why TV was such an important channel. And it was one way. Today we are in a one to one and it's two way where consumers talk back. Is there a better place than a grocery store to do that? In a local, independent community grocery store?
- [06:31]
Michael LA
Of course, I would say no. I think, you know, what's the Ms.
- [06:35]
Sree Rajagopalan
Michael that America's brands are doing?
- [06:38]
Michael LA
Yeah. So last week I was attending the Southeastern Produce Council Expo and I went in a day early to drive 45 minutes outside of Orlando to visit with one of our National Retail Advisory Board members, Nicole Patel. He owns one store with his wife. He's Indian by way of England. And they're doing an amazing job. They're so connected to the community, the people that we saw while there. I intended to maybe spend an hour, I was there three hours. We had such conversations before I left. He's like, Michael, let's walk across the street. And I'm like, why are we walking across the street? He has a food truck that's permanently there. He's built out a parking lot, he's built out games, he's built out picnic tables. It really is a place where the community can come together. And from a business standpoint, it supports all the stuff he's doing besides his deli, gives him excess capacity and really makes a strong connection with that community in Mount Plymouth, Florida.
- [07:40]
Sree Rajagopalan
And to me, Michael, America is in the middle of a volume crisis for large brands. You know, Peter and I, Peter, of course My podcast partner and I, who.
- [07:48]
Michael LA
Never shows up when we talk.
- [07:50]
Sree Rajagopalan
It's bizarre, isn't it?
- [07:51]
Michael LA
It is.
- [07:51]
Sree Rajagopalan
Hey, Peter. That's actually bizarre. It's. It's happened multiple times that way.
- [07:55]
Michael LA
You don't want to get him to Atlanta without talking to me.
- [07:57]
Sree Rajagopalan
I know. It's not that he doesn't like you. It's just timing. He's with his mom, who's sick, with his daughter. She wanted to see a grandchild, that kind of thing. So that said, Michael, let's talk about the volume crisis. Right again. To me, one of the connections I made when I sat through the award ceremony at the iga, at the IGA award ceremony just two weeks ago during nga, or maybe it was a week ago at the time of this recording. One of the things that really touched me is, wait a minute. If I want to get back to volume, I'm going to have to do it at the community level. And I'm going to fit 7,000 outlets. I'm going to have to have a fighter's chance as a large brand at 7,000 outlets, rather than just one with 4,500, another one with 2,300, and then say, I'm only going to focus on 20,000 of those. So I'd love to hear, what are independents telling you about the volume crisis? Are they getting a fighting chance from brands?
- [08:49]
Michael LA
Let's go back a couple years. So the reason my job was created even before I showed up was because if you talk to brands about all the things you love about independence and all the things you hate about independence, unfortunately, at times there could be more things they hate. Right. Like you said, hey, a large national retailer, there's one call point, it might be a bitch to work with them, but if you make it happen, right, they can snap their fingers and get everything done at one time.
- [09:19]
Sree Rajagopalan
But I don't know if they snap. I've done this 30 years. No one snaps their fingers and gets it done.
- [09:24]
Michael LA
Good. So you're proving my point. But independents, they're by definition independent. So that could be a one store, like I just talked about in Mount Plymouth. They could be a 400 store or a 500 store. There could be a 50 store, eight store stores. That's complicated for brands. And as you talked about that one to many, that shift that CPG did and the marketing through tv, you know, we kind of move and gravitate towards the easy button. And so calling onesie twosies is complicated. And so when we started talking more recently with brands about the things that are difficult. That's kind of why we set up this role and the way we work at IGA with brands across those 2200 retailers and by sort of kins consolidating that volume, consolidating the conversation and activating as one really makes a difference in.
- [10:19]
Sree Rajagopalan
An impact, One important part of that, making the impact. So obviously you're running brand partnerships, so you're in the middle of helping drive volume for brands every single day. What about collective bargaining? Do y'all also help with cost structures for these independent retailers or is that done?
- [10:38]
Michael LA
So, yes and no. So all of the buying and selling either happens dsd, like my former company, Coca Cola, or through our wholesale partners. So the UNFIs, the CNS, the AWGs of the world are the mainline suppliers for our retailers.
- [10:55]
Sree Rajagopalan
And is that done independently by the independents or are you all part of those? Do you have a seat at the table? Are you helping in those conversations?
- [11:02]
Michael LA
We, I would say we enable those conversations. So a lot of times what happens is there's some opaqueness to the independent space because brands sell into the wholesalers. They don't necessarily know what's sold through at the retailers. And that's one of the, I guess, services we provide is really helping transform that sell in to sell through, using retailer education and shopper engagement to drive unit volume and dollar volume.
- [11:29]
Sree Rajagopalan
All right, let's talk about brand partnerships. Right. I first want to talk about the digital side of the fence because, man, you're one of those few in retail, grew up brick and mortar through a Coca Cola, through a brand system. Now you've come over to retail and I see you often engaging on digital conversation and it's a big part of your drummit, getting it out there to the independents. Do you feel the independents are getting what they want from a digital perspective, especially retail media? There's so many dollars to go around. How's that coming to iga? How are you helping independents? Because there's no real retail media network there. Are you guys building one?
- [12:05]
Michael LA
Yes. So, great question. In terms of retail media, we actually established the kernels of a retail media network about eight years ago. And we did that not to increase margin, but was really to drive trips and transactions for our retailers and for brands to create that virtual network that allows that easy button to be pushed and get your message out. And so we started that with off site. So a little bit different than most retail media networks because we didn't. We don't control what the retailers do. So we started by geotargeting around those stores to drive trips and transactions both to the physical store as well as to the digital storefront.
- [12:48]
Sree Rajagopalan
And when you say off site, are you referring to like social media channels.
- [12:51]
Michael LA
Or social media programmatic, weather channel, all.
- [12:56]
Sree Rajagopalan
The places, all kinds basically of inventory.
- [13:00]
Michael LA
Right. So we have an analytics team that goes in and will work with our retailers to understand their trading area. So it might be that, you know, in the olden days you said, oh, three mile radius from the store, so literally you could drop your compass, draw three miles. And we thought we were doing a good job. We've sophisticated, you know, has increased sophistication has increased to the point where we can literally find out that, hey, you know, 0.1 miles away is a railroad track and nobody crosses those railroad tracks. So we're not going to buy any print, we're not going to buy any digital.
- [13:34]
Sree Rajagopalan
We're going to be very precise, very contextual and precisely. Context. Is that such a, is that such a word? Precisely contextual.
- [13:41]
Michael LA
We can come up with whatever kind of words we want, but you know, hyperlocal targeting to make sure that we're finding the right shoppers who are coming into the stores to drive traffic in there and drive those transactions. Or conversely, as we've talked about, buy stuff online.
- [13:55]
Sree Rajagopalan
How do you communicate this to brands? Because most I'm imagining the MVP for you for that, that particular task is a shopper marketer with the budget, who's looking. I'd love to learn who is the mvp.
- [14:09]
Michael LA
Yeah, so it, it varies. And that's one of the, you know, who's responsible for independence. I'll have to admit. You admitted not paying as much attention.
- [14:20]
Sree Rajagopalan
It was, it was a mistake, right? 7,000 outlets, are you kidding me, man?
- [14:24]
Michael LA
I'll admit the same thing. When I worked at Coca Cola, you know, obviously starting in brand and promotions and only belatedly making it into the retail world, we didn't look at independence as, you know, as I look at them now. And so there is a missed opportunity. And so quite honestly, we'll talk to whoever we should be talking to. We talk to brand, we talk to sales, we talk to Omni Commerce shopper.
- [14:52]
Sree Rajagopalan
But you are doing that today, are you primarily talking to sales teams on the independent side? Usually there'll be a director for the independent channel.
- [15:00]
Michael LA
Primarily, that's where it starts. And I'll tell you, like you said, the epiphany of working with independents and the opportunity to drive unit volume today, the most difficult thing in working with us is where do we sit? Is it a Sales conversation? Is it a shopper conversation? Is it an omni commerce conversation? Is it a brand, a media conversation?
- [15:24]
Sree Rajagopalan
If brands understood the importance of what you're saying, they bring all of cross functional to the table.
- [15:29]
Michael LA
Well, clearly I think they should.
- [15:33]
Sree Rajagopalan
I mean they should.
- [15:33]
Michael LA
There's an opportunity in terms of again, you know, if you think about growth, you know, if you were to chart out growth and opportunity, that top right box is where independence sit. Because for most brands it's an untapped opportunity for that upper funnel as well.
- [15:47]
Sree Rajagopalan
As the lower funnel.
- [15:48]
So let's talk to the brands biggest struggle. We were at Cagney. CEO after CEO after CEO said volume, top line, volume, top line, volume, top line, volume. You're walking in here on this show, you're telling me I'm on the top, right?
- [16:03]
Michael LA
Yep, it's.
- [16:04]
Sree Rajagopalan
Which means new to brand.
- [16:06]
Michael LA
Yeah, for, for most brands it is, it is a new thing. I mean we work, the partners that we work with are phenomenal partners. But you know, as I walk around shows like, like this or others, there's so many we haven't had conversations with. And you know, it's not because they're intentionally ignoring or discriminating. I think it's, they don't know it's.
- [16:29]
Sree Rajagopalan
The old school model. Don't talk to the independents because the sales team tells their leadership. I'm just telling you as it is, man, it's wrong, wrong, wrong. If you're top right, I'm sorry, it's wrong.
- [16:40]
Michael LA
Yeah. And I think if we, you know, some of that's on us right. As independents making sure that we can effectively aggregate and execute. Because if we can't do that, then we're not going to help.
- [16:51]
Sree Rajagopalan
So let's talk measurement. One of the most important things again volume crisis is large brands have lost approximately 500 basis points of household penetration. And guess who they've lost it from? They've lost it with the big ones. 4,700 stores, 2,300 stores. I can go on and on about 15,000 large store, large grocery stores. They've lost household penetration. Can you all help get household penetration through new to brand and can you measure it and show a brand?
- [17:20]
Michael LA
We're not as sophisticated as some of the top retail media networks.
- [17:24]
Sree Rajagopalan
I'm not even talking retail media. Right. I'm talking core targeting, not even digital. I guess all the targeting is digital at the end of the day, right?
- [17:32]
Michael LA
Yeah. So there's a ton of opportunities for using our retail media network in connection with offers that we are then able to Track back to are we seeing a lift versus the prior period? Are we seeing comp sales versus the prior year distribution? One of the biggest opportunities in independence is that because of this unintentional bias, if you will, or you know, your and my.
- [18:03]
Sree Rajagopalan
I said it Ben.
- [18:04]
Michael LA
Right, your and my former mistake. Distribution for most brands for core skus is not where it should be.
- [18:13]
Sree Rajagopalan
And so what's subbing it instead of those core brands? Is it more to second year brands, is it more store brands or is it just a miss?
- [18:22]
Michael LA
So I think it's a little bit of all the above. I would say you know, private brands or I'd say brands because you know, private it shouldn't matter who owns the brand. So brands that retailers have do play a role. What I'd also say is because of the lack of attention, oftentimes the shelf sets aren't what they should be. We worked with one manufacturer coming out of COVID to look at assortment and what we found was many of the retailers had outdated shelf sets that included in fact a brand that was no longer in business. So there was a hole on the shelf. The retailer was not a disco, not.
- [19:05]
Sree Rajagopalan
Just a disco sku but a disco brand.
- [19:08]
Michael LA
I'm sure the retailers were smart and were shoving things over but there was a shelf tag for brands that had gone out of business. And so just by fixing the shelf, not doing any fancy, you know, screens in store or stuff like that, by fixing the shelf at a core basis, we were able to grow double digits for that brand just by giving it a little bit of love and attention.
- [19:30]
Sree Rajagopalan
You know, I'm not surprised on the double digit growth at all because it's under penetrated like you said. So big part of that is assortment planning. Do you all help independents with assortment planning? Because without that core muscle it'll be.
- [19:43]
Michael LA
Hard whole serve play a significant role in helping the independents do that. That being said, we work with our brand partners again in terms of, you know, they've invested, you worked at the brand level, right? They invest based on category opportunities, they invest based on shopper insights and oftentimes those insights don't work all their way back to the independents. And so we augment what the wholesalers do, we enhance it. Working with brands to highlight what's the category trend, what's the shopper insight, what's the brand opportunity. And importantly this last one, here's how to go buy the stuff and put it on your shelf.
- [20:23]
Sree Rajagopalan
That's the most important one. At the end of the day what are brands like? Let's Talk about your own career metamorphosis. Right? You came from hardcore brick and mortar just like I did. We were literally calling on who's who in the brick and mortar community where it was a relationship based business. You're now leading digital in some ways, although it's brand partnerships overall, digital is a big remit for you. How hard was it to make that transition in your own career and life?
- [20:51]
Michael LA
You said we started at cpg. Actually my first four years I worked for a direct marketing advertising agency.
- [20:59]
Sree Rajagopalan
I did know that.
- [20:59]
Michael LA
So and it's really somewhat unimportant right now, other than the fact that it taught me at an early age marketing's got to drive action versus perhaps that I worked at a big CPG brand that is one of the top brands and it was all upper funnel. I've always had a bias that marketing has got to drive an action. And so whether it was consumer promotions early on, whether it was brand, whether it was digital loyalty, my cook rewards shifted it closer to marketing. That's, that's not just meaningful, but marketing that drives that action. So to some extent that shift wasn't. I kind of came full circle and came back to, you know, back home to some extent because I think all marketing should drive in action, whether that's awareness, intent, purchase, connecting all those things is super important. And so the digital transition was digital added onto that as opposed to digital. And oh, by the way, I've got to go drive action.
- [22:06]
Sree Rajagopalan
So let's talk about the awards that I referred to at the beginning of this episode. It was very kind of you to invite me to the awards. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it. You threw in a surprise. You were first to go up on stage.
- [22:19]
Michael LA
Yes.
- [22:19]
Sree Rajagopalan
So tell us about the importance of these awards. Who do you actually award? What do you look for? What is a standout retailer in your mind? Just tell us about the awards. And if there's independents listening to this, which I know they are, or they're brands, should brands be talking to you about sponsorships for those awards?
- [22:37]
Peter Vs. Bond
Sure.
- [22:38]
Sree Rajagopalan
Tickle, tickle.
- [22:38]
Michael LA
Absolutely. Yeah. Thanks for the softball there. So we have an annual awards ceremony, the IGA Awards ceremony of excellence, where we award both US and global retailers of the year in conjunction with our wholesale partners who nominate them. So this year we actually had a tie. So it's a very numbers based approach where we look at the retailers. So we talked about things like assortment and cleanliness. We actually have an entire division who does store surveys and evaluates them. And so here in the US we had two very Very different retailers. We had Orno IGA up in Maine. Small market, small retailer, hyperlocal, very community focused. You saw on some of the videos, we talked to some of the shoppers, we got some amazing stories. People almost in tears about the retailer. It's a significant part of their life. The other retailer is actually here in Atlanta, Georgia. If you get a chance, go see Namdaemun. It's a Korean, basically 100,000 square foot stores. They're basically farmers markets. You can find more produce there than I would say at any large big box store. Gorgeous, unique, special. And they do a good job again of really catering to their local community. Well, that's Hispanic, Korean, very focused on ethnic and finding stuff that you cannot get anywhere else. Just gorgeous, gorgeous assortment, clean stores. Yet you go into those stores, go to the frozen food section and you'll find bags of IGA private label vegetables.
- [24:22]
Sree Rajagopalan
Now I have to go and I've got to send you a picture. I'm going to put it up on the show.
- [24:26]
Michael LA
Absolutely. But you can find, you know, there's fish swimming around in tanks that they will filet for you. There's a bim and bop in store. Pretty much anything you would want at a modern retailer you can find there.
- [24:39]
Sree Rajagopalan
Is it a shortcut then for brands given the changing nature of our population? I'll be the first one to tell you. Large retailers are still figuring out how best to ethnically market. I shouldn't even say ethnic anymore. Changing population. And while some of regional grocers are good at it, most aren't. There are exceptions to the rule though that I've experienced myself. One down in Texas is exceptional at this. That said, are you therefore offering the shortcut for partnerships to, you know, be contextual towards that changing population?
- [25:16]
Michael LA
Yeah, you know, our goal is to be the easy button. And you talked earlier about our award ceremony and working with partners. When I was on stage, I was awarding two of our partners. So our partners get highlighted at the same time as our retailers. And so Coca Cola, this year, my alma mater was our Red Oval manufacturer of the year. I saw that they brought a global Olympics program to help our retailers. Retailers in Australia grew significant double digit growth over the course of the, of the period and are maybe perhaps now trying to figure out how to cycle that unit growth. So global program there. And then we worked on the supplier side with, with Instacart because they've helped us significantly in terms of bringing insights and a focus on independence that others aren't doing.
- [26:06]
Sree Rajagopalan
I gotta imagine Instacart is playing a huge role for you given exactly what you said. Right. That in store at independence that most others aren't even paying attention to. So that is actually a big plus to have Instacart as a partner. So I want to talk about Michael the person.
- [26:22]
Right.
- [26:22]
Let's talk about leadership. Right. You work with a lot of people. You work with retail, you work with brands, you work with your own teams and people at iga. And then you have to encounter people like me. So what is your approach to leadership like? What matters to you the most? Is it authenticity? It is trust. You've been in this industry as long as I have. Love to hear what's on your mind.
- [26:46]
Michael LA
Yeah. So great question. I think we were talking earlier before the podcast about the virtuous mission that we're on at IGA of helping family owned and operated stores build their businesses. And that really resonated with me. And I think from a leadership standpoint, being authentic, being transparent being is critically important. But I think another thing, and I've heard you talk about this too, is having a curiosity mindset and saying, well, just because I'm in whatever position doesn't mean I don't have a lot to learn.
- [27:25]
Sree Rajagopalan
That was my biggest cigarette. Right. I didn't spend enough time with seven until I got to know you. I didn't take independence seriously. Once I got to know you, I'm like 7,000 population changing. I could have gotten brand penetration in places I didn't have.
- [27:41]
Michael LA
Yeah. And again, that virtuous mission, IGA operates as a not for profit. So anything that we, any revenue that we bring in ahead of costs, so salaries, technology, data, all that stuff, buying media, all that stuff, anything above that gets reinvested for the benefit of our retailers.
- [28:01]
Sree Rajagopalan
And that reinvestment, is it typically just a dividend or is it actually capabilities?
- [28:07]
Michael LA
Media services, media like we talked about our retail media network, that was something we went out and did on behalf of our retailers without a, without a, you know, quid pro quo. We want them to have more choppers into their stores. And so we did that in partnership with, with brands and brands participate 52 weeks of the year, but we won't talk about it on camera. But I would imagine that most brands who are paying for retail media right now, if we were to tell them, you can be on ad with IGA 52 weeks a year. If I were to tell them the.
- [28:43]
Sree Rajagopalan
Cost publicly, they'd probably be like 4,7000 outlets.
- [28:47]
Michael LA
Well, 2,200 in the US but yes.
- [28:49]
Sree Rajagopalan
2200 in the US but you represent arguably a much larger penetration than the US alone. The volume crisis is worldwide. It's not just Cagney. CEOs talked about the whole world. So let me summarize a couple things and then I want to ask you one last question.
- [29:03]
Michael LA
Okay.
- [29:04]
Sree Rajagopalan
So to me the reason why one would partner with you is the reach in the US to those 2,200. You're probably under penetrated in a role like mine previous like mine cco, we probably didn't pay enough attention. Brands are struggling for volume growth. Penetration is the way to get it. Household penetration, working on contextual marketing is one way to chase it. Then also the introductions you make to wholesalers, the connections you make to wholesalers, et cetera is another one. And to me it's a great place for brands to come look for new to brand and household penetration. Let me ask you in closing, Samara, if I were to ask you to tell our audience, right, brands, why should they come to iga, what would you say?
- [29:48]
Michael LA
I think it's all about opportunity for growth. And again, you understand that selling at wholesale, you don't understand the sell through at retail and making that opaqueness more transparent. Whether that's as you mentioned, distribution. Right. If a brand has 80% distribution on their top 10 SKUs in the marketplace and a 50% at IGA, perhaps closing that gap is not that hard. Right? Because you don't have to convince independents of doing something heroic. You just have to help them.
- [30:23]
Sree Rajagopalan
You don't have to work with massive procurement teams of 70.
- [30:26]
Michael LA
Right. You just have to have and fill.
- [30:27]
Sree Rajagopalan
30 forms just to say hi.
- [30:29]
Michael LA
They just need to understand the opportunity that they're missing out on. And when you explain that opportunity to them of what they can get and what they can do and how they can increase sales, the brands will increase sales. And as I said, you know, my job really is a consultant to the brands to help them sell more. And if I can do that, I help our retailers sell more. And again, that's that virtuous mission that provides value for shoppers, retailers and the brands.
- [30:58]
Sree Rajagopalan
Now brands want to get in touch with you. More independent grocers who listen to us want to get in touch with you.
- [31:04]
Michael LA
What's the best way I think you're gonna include my, my email and link.
- [31:09]
Sree Rajagopalan
Your LinkedIn will be in the digital line.
- [31:11]
Michael LA
I'm happy to do that. Always up for a great conversation and like I said, it's kind of that curiosity mindset. So I'm always learning, always open to conversations and you know we can work with many more brand partners.
- [31:25]
Sree Rajagopalan
Let me wrap that up by saying pleasure to have you on the show. You are a repeat guest at this point.
- [31:31]
Michael LA
Do I get the best?
- [31:32]
Sree Rajagopalan
Like five gets you the Letterman one?
- [31:34]
Michael LA
Oh, okay. We got a few more to go. Maybe Peter will show up for one.
- [31:38]
Sree Rajagopalan
But we'd love to hear back often. We'd love to tell the story to brands of household penetration, new to brand, etc. This is a wonderful opportunity. I can't thank you enough for your driving 30 minutes, coming to see me, and doing this episode with me so sincerely. Thank you for joining me today.
- [31:55]
Michael LA
It's my pleasure and happy to do it and look forward to continuing to contribute with CPG Guys.
- [32:00]
Sree Rajagopalan
There's going to be a lot more conversations we're going to have with Michael, but if you or anyone you know wants to be on the CPG Guys and contribute to our ongoing community discussion, please drop us a line@contact guys.com again that's contact guys.com best way to find us go to web browser. Our URL is www.cpdguys.com to our followers, you matter. You shape the show. That's why we exist. We can't thank you enough for the clicks likes DMs. Peter and I are flattered when you say you want to take a picture with us so you can keep it coming. Thank you for doing what Michael is doing, which is shooting episodes with us at conferences, making time for us. I will request you to leave us a rating on Apple and a review to Reading tells us how we're doing. The review tells us are we having the right conversations. With that, it's a wrap. I want to thank Michael again for joining me today. We'll see you soon on another episode off Wait for it. The CPG Guys.
- [33:06]
Peter Vs. Bond
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