The RangeMe Discovery Hub is a special program designed exclusively for RangeMe suppliers who have never attended a previous Efficient Program Planning Session (EPPS), hosted by ECRM.1Did you know? RangeMe is an ECRM company. ECRM helps buyers and suppliers increase productivity, optimize product assortments and enhance collaboration efforts via its service offerings that include product discovery, category development, and category planning. Participating brands get their own meeting space to display their products and signage, as well as pre-scheduled, 10-minute, face-to-face meetings with dozens of relevant buyers from key retailers in their category. The Discovery Hub is a great way for newer suppliers to get a sense of what EPPS sessions are all about and is an exciting opportunity to make valuable connections with buyers.
Read on to hear from three stand-out suppliers on their experiences with the RangeMe Discovery Hub!
Nom Noms
This innovative, specialty food brand focuses on healthy, international flavors with their prepared meals designed for “taste buds that love to travel.” Each meal from Nom Noms highlights a different type of world cuisine, with options for both children and adults. They are designed to be easy, healthy, and—most importantly—bursting with delicious flavors from around the globe.
CEO & Founder Lisa Sohanpal was excited to attend her first EPPS as part of the RangeMe Discovery Hub at the Natural, Organic & Specialty Foods EPPS in San Diego, California, and start making valuable connections with key buyers.
“I didn’t know what to expect at all,” Sohanpal admits, “but every meeting has been fantastic. It’s given me exposure to a lot of companies and buyers that I probably wouldn’t have ever approached myself.” She adds, “It takes time and money to travel around the country, so having them all in one place for a few days is so convenient.”
“It’s given me exposure to a lot of companies and buyers that I wouldn’t have approached myself.”
Sohanpal’s experience at the Discovery Hub also demonstrates the importance of networking at the sessions, not only with buyers but also with other suppliers. Due to all of the interest Nom Noms generated with buyers at the Discovery Hub, Sohanpal realized that she’ll need to find more manufacturers to increase production—and she was able to get tips from her fellow Discovery Hub participants!
“Just by taking a walk around the room and connecting with other suppliers at the session, I was able to learn from them and get leads for five new manufacturers for Nom Noms,” she says.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Sohanpal says of her overall experience, and she is eager to see where the connections she made at the Discovery Hub will lead.
Active Wow
This natural beauty and personal care brand shot to online popularity with their best-selling charcoal teeth whitener. With so much online success, co-founders and co-CEOs Cal Chan and William Mcmacken were ready to take their products in-store — but they weren’t sure where to start. With the help of RangeMe, Active Wow landed a deal with Target. You can read more about Active Wow’s success on RangeMe here.
After experiencing success with RangeMe’s online platform, Chan and Mcmacken decided to attend the RangeMe Discovery Hub at the Personal Care, Grooming, Oral & Travel/Trial EPPS in Miami, Florida.
“The Discovery Hub is a great complement to RangeMe,” says Chan. “RangeMe is where buyers go on a 24/7 basis to browse products at their leisure, and they can contact you when they are ready. At the sessions, the buyers are brought to you.”
In addition to having the opportunity to pitch their products in-person, the Active Wow team was also able to leverage the Discovery Hub meetings to get instant feedback from buyers on a new item they have in development. “I got some great insights into what buyers in general are looking for, what they are doing, and how they are doing research,” says Mcmacken.
“The Discovery Hub is a great complement to RangeMe.”
Active Wow found the Discovery Hub to be an incredibly valuable experience, even with their existing success online and on store shelves, as the session helped them gain even more exposure. “Even if we just get one of these accounts,” Chan says of the connections they made from the Discovery Hub, “it will all be worth it.”
Golden Krust
This food brand has big goals: they want to be known as the leader in Caribbean food in the US with their delicious, easy, and convenient Jamaican patties. Golden Krust has cemented their success with big box retailers; venues like movie theaters, schools, and amusement parks; and with their 250 restaurants throughout the country. The brand is now looking to expand to more grocery retailers and into the convenience store space, which is what motivated them to attend the RangeMe Discovery Hub at the Natural, Organic & Specialty Foods EPPS in San Diego.
Larry Mead, Food Services Sales Director at Golden Krust, has a lot of experience with traditional trade shows, but he was excited to give the Discovery Hub a shot because of its uniqueness. “It was intriguing to me because it’s different from trade shows,” he says of his decision to attend the session. “It’s one-on-one meetings, so it’s more intimate.”
He was also able to dispel any concerns about the seemingly short meeting length. “With the time restriction, it makes the meetings very directed,” he explains. “I was surprised to find that 10 minutes is actually plenty of time to get your point across and get to know the buyer. You can really learn whether or not it’s going to be a good match very quickly.”
“10 minutes is plenty of time to get your point across and get to know the buyer.”
“It’s been great. It’s been so smooth,” Mead says of his overall experience at the Discovery Hub. He enjoyed his experience at the Discovery Hub so much, he decided to sign up for a RangeMe Premium account at the event. As a Premium supplier, he will be able to keep up the momentum he generated with retailers at the Discovery Hub, and make sure Golden Krust is visible to those buyers year round, not just while attending sessions.
Interested in attending a RangeMe Discovery Hub? Explore upcoming sessions here.
