Finding the Right Merchandising Partner

by Jenna Movsowitz

Aura Bora entered the crowded sparkling water category in January 2020 with a major point of diferentiation: the most wild and whimsical favors on the market. Bored with the standard few fruity favors found in big-name sparkling waters, Aura Bora decided to introduce new fruits, herbs and fowers to the category. “We wanted to take favors you may recognize from other mediums of your life, like a lavender or basil, and bring them to the tired sparkling water category,” says founder Paul Voge.

With a vision and an at-home carbonator in San Francisco, Paul and his wife Maddie began experimenting with herbs, fruits, and fowers to concoct unique sparkling waters. Teir resulting zero-sugar, zero-calorie liquid separates itself from the category with funky favors and bold branding. Te team was also passionate about keeping the cans under $2, so those with fancy taste buds can still enjoy Aura Bora on a budget.

To kick of their retail strategy, Aura Bora decided to aim for natural retailers that would have the consumer who is already familiar with these unique herbal ingredients. In their first year, they got on shelves at a handful of independent natural grocers. Though their price point could allow for expansion into traditional grocers, the team prioritized getting into these smaller stores prior to expanding their retail strategy to include national channels. “We saw these initial markets as an opportunity to gather data and learnings. This data would be essential to secure bigger retailers like Whole Foods, Metropolitan Market, Fresh Tyme and Erewhon as second movers.”

Afer a few months of successful launches in independent grocers, by the third quarter of 2020, Aura Bora got a yes from a major natural channel: Fresh Thyme Market. As a natural store, they anticipated doing well there – but this would also be their frst time selling in the Midwest. “When going into a new region or channel, it is critical that your frst store is an A+. Your success in your first placement in a new region will determine your opportunities at future retailers in the region. Buyers are looking to your region-specifc consumer data to ensure that you will be a safe bet in their store,” says Paul. And Fresh Thyme had a catch: they would be the first retailer taking only two of Aura Bora’s fve SKUs.

Fresh Thyme is known to have a large, competitive beverage set, typically taking no more than three SKUs of any brand -- Coke and Pepsi included. To Paul, this indicated that the Fresh Thyme buyer values variety over brand afnity: a shopper strategy that was new to Aura Bora. Historically, Aura Bora would have fve to ten facings and be noticed for their branding, bright colors and fun favors. “With only two SKUs, I feared that we could get lost in a crowded fridge. I immediately knew that we needed a great partner to help us stand out on the shelves, keep us in stock, and make sure we were top of mind for buyers and store employees,” Paul says.

When Aura Bora was launching in California, the Aura Bora team members were the ones merchandising local shelves and speaking with managers and buyers. With a Midwest expansion, however, they needed local representatives to do the merchandising work on their behalf. “When you have a very important regional retailer away from your home market, you need to succeed. But there aren’t many options that can adequately merchandise your product. Your merchandising partner needs to already have relationships with store managers, to know the shelves, to know when the planograms are coming out – and we found that with Survey.com.”

Survey.com – now known as Dynamic Merchandising by Trax Retail – came highly recommended to Paul and his team. Tey were Aura Bora’s boots-on-the-ground representatives who ensured regional success. The Dynamic Merchandising reps acted as core Aura Bora brand ambassadors, handing out free product to managers, cashiers and buyers in the stores to keep the product top of mind. They placed IRCs (on-pack coupons) to draw attention and inspire trial, replenished inventory from store back-stock, and maintained brand visibility in the crowded beverage set.

Tina Adolfsson, VP of Marketing at Trax, points to nationwide feld reps, timely data, and a focus on delivering on each brand’s retail-specifc priorities for their reputation as a growth partner in retail merchandising. “We break down the priorities of a brand, and serve the information real-time via mobile app to our reps. All in-store actions are based on prior data and experience,” says Tina. Trax measures facings, assortment, inventory, placement on the planogram, the manager we connected with in-store, and any comments or advice they ofer. Dynamic Merchandising ofers speed and scale for new product launches, plus store-level data to continue improving retail performance and expansion.

They offer two-fold data: game-plan data – or shelf-level, endcap and secondary location data – and scorecard data, which is traditional data based on cash register receipts, sales and market share. In combination, the Trax team was able to understand the context and indications of corrections or improvements for Aura Bora’s success in Fresh Tyme. Within just three waves of placement, Trax was able to apply 2000 IRCs in 90% of the Fresh Tyme stores, and identifed the ones that were already selling through.

For the growing ready-to-drink waters category, it is essential to have a merchandising team that can stay up-to-speed. With the help of Survey.com’s Trax, Aura Bora is one of the fastest-growing sparkling water brands on the market.

Survey.com is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG. To learn more about partnering with Startup CPG, please contact partnerships@ startupcpg.com.