When One Window Closes, Another Opens!

61% of shoppers say they’d rather buy from local independents. That’s the good news! People don’t just want products, they want businesses that care.

The bad news? One of the few companies that understood this and was willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with those independents… is gone.

The company I gave nearly forty years of my life to is gone. Out of business. Just like that.

Of course, I feel sad. But more than that, I keep asking myself: Who will do what we did?

I don’t mean ship stuff. There are plenty of people who ship stuff, and more have stepped up to ship stuff, too. I mean the service—the value-added approach to account management we built from the ground up. That was the real key to our success.

It wasn’t transactional; it was strategic. Four simple areas of focus that helped retailers not just buy product, but start businesses, grow businesses, and sometimes even keep their doors open. We were there with our customers every step of the way.

So who’s going to do that now? Who’s going to obsess over assortment planning, keep a laser focus on inventory performance, and bring data and strategy to POS merchandising? Who will help do the demos, training, and promotions that actually move the needle—building demand, accelerating growth, and keeping small retailers alive?

Who will bother first to understand what’s essential to a retailer’s success, and then support it—not by throwing products and programs at them, but by caring enough to stand with them? Who will take the bad with the good, stick with a retailer through tough years, and believe almost as much as they do in the value they bring to their communities?

Maybe the answer is in the hands of brands. What if brands stepped up—not just with product, but with collaboration, marketing support, and a genuine commitment to independent retailers?

But will the brands step into fill the vacuum? If undecided, they should consider the opening line of this article. 61% of shoppers say they prefer local independents because of the unique selection and the confidence that the store will have it in stock. Add to that 49% choose Indies because they couldn’t find what they needed from bigger businesses, and almost half of shoppers want to support the community or small businesses. This is a very compelling reason to pivot and redefine their relationships with locally owned independent retailers.

There is a window of opportunity for an industry to remake itself. The time has come for brands to rethink their go-to-market strategies, to stop treating retailers as “doors” and start treating them as partners.

The future belongs to the brands that show up and care. To the brands that know that by forging strong partnerships with independent retailers based on mutual support, their sales will take care of themselves.