5 minute read
Product Guru
Simon Coyle, founder and CEO of Product Guru tells Tableware International why his company – who specialise in connecting brands with buyers – is targeting the homewares market
Simon, explain the Product Guru concept to us? Product Guru is an award-winning platform that connects challenger brands with leading retailers, helping them to find their route to market. We provide a central hub for a thriving community of over 10,000 brands, and over 1,600 buyers from independent stores through to some of the largest retailers, with the mission to get innovative products on shelves.
Our events and digital tools offer opportunities for challenger brands and buyers to find each brands close to retailers, through a variety of packages including inperson interactions, video pitching and product sampling. Integrating Product Guru’s technology in our events means that buyers can not only test out products live, but also combine the experience with instant access to product details on the platform, to shortlist products, connect with brands, provide feedback and more.
other and initiate conversations. All our products and events are anchored around our powerful digital platform. Whether a buyer searches for you on our platform, discovers you through a digital campaign, samples your products at a Pop event, or meets you at a Huddle – they have instant access to your product’s data and the opportunity to connect with your brand and take next-step actions.
We’re known for pioneering valuable and innovative experiences for both brands and buyers to find each other, and we’re very excited to take our expertise to the global stage with events taking place across Europe, the Gulf and beyond next year.
In terms of connecting retailers and buyers, are you focused on the UK or is there international reach too? We’ve always had an international reach, and whilst most of our community is UK-based, more than a third is from overseas. Our Huddles events have attracted brands from all over the world including Italy, USA, and Brazil. These events have been an invaluable resource for international brands trying to break into the UK retail market, providing them with guaranteed interactions with major UK retailers.
Huddles hold an international appeal for both brands and retailers. Our events offer a hybrid approach to bring local and global
Did you know?
Product Guru will host a variety of events set to launch next year catered specifically to homeware brands, including their Kitchen, Cooking & Dining Huddle happening Q2 2023.
How important is kitchen/ home sector to Product Guru, has it been identified as a growth area? Our research indicates the homeware market in the UK has expanded the last decade, going from 10.8 billion to 13.6 billion in value in 2019 and continuing to grow into this year, so we’ve placed special emphasis on this category, as we witness its growth. We’ve placed special focus on the home sector through a combination of targeted events and supporting our kitchenware brands. We are always engaged in conversations with buyers, as it is our aim to remain at the heart of their buying operations, and to evolve our tools to make the process of finding new products that fits their needs as easy as possible.
We also have a variety of events set to launch next year catered specifically to homeware brands, including our Kitchen, Cooking & Dining Huddle happening Q2 2023. Tell us about some of the retailers who already use Product Guru to source product? We work with a variety of large and specialist retailers, with buyers regularly attending our events and using our platform to source for their ranges, including John Lewis, B&M, Wilko, Lakeland, TK Maxx, Home Bargains, Waitrose, Magasin, Harrods, Oliver Bonas and QVC to name just a few.
Did you find the digital market space grew significantly over the course of the pandemic and how do you plan on maintaining momentum? Over the past couple of years, we have worked closely with disruptive brands and retailers, supporting them in the journey to get innovative products discovered and listed.
During the pandemic, we launched and developed a series of virtual pitch events, and our online platform has helped brands and retailers to stay in touch and develop close relationships. We’ve harnessed these connections by offering brands a life-time opportunity to engage with buyers live with our new in-person events, Huddles. Our digital platform serves a major role to enable interactions, feedback, and follow-ups for brands and buyers with a view to bring something new and innovative to the market.
The future is hybrid and with Huddles, we are combining the best of virtual with in-person experience, technology, and product sampling, bringing something really exciting, effective and unique, for both brands and buyers. Our partners in the industry were as excited as we were to get involved in this experience at our inaugural events in March 2022, and we received positive feedback across the board telling us that we’re on the right path. Both brands and retailers highlighted how the format of Huddles streamlines the process to get to the heart of their respective needs in a succinct way.
We’ve even heard back from buyers who have already started onboarding several brands as a result of attending Huddles. We are really looking forward to hosting more Huddles events for Chocolate & Confectionery, Snacking, Wellbeing and other categories at the end of September and beginning of October this year and Kitchen, Cooking & Dining in 2023.
www.productguru.co.uk
Explaining Product Guru
Product Guru provides an end-to-end solution for producers and makers looking to break into market, and they are continuously developing unique opportunities for brands to get in front of retailers in both exciting and cost-effective ways. Brands and retailers can engage with each other in innovative and resultdriven formats, whether that’s through Product Guru’s platform or event offerings.
The events series – Huddles, Virtual Pitches and Pop – offer brands multiple ways to get access and engage with leading retailers in their category. At the core of each of the events is the Product Guru platform, with brands able to present their entire range by uploading searchable digital product cards, track key interactions, and follow-up directly with buyers.
Retail buyers can search for products, record notes, request samples, and collaborate with members of their team directly on the platform, during and after the events. The hybrid approach guarantees curated and relevant interactions between brands and buyers.
