Focus on What Works

Days 1–30 — Logistics first, not sales. Make sure your product actually arrived at every store. Make sure warehouse inventory is healthy. Sales in this period are taken "with a grain of salt."

— Track your numbers and turn on marketing. Now you measure units per store per week. You also turn on your own marketing: tell your email list, social, and creators that you are in stores. If you sell faster than expected, order more inventory immediately.

Day 60 — Run your first promotion. Even a small test promotion. Show the buyer you can fund a discount and that your customers respond. You will need to do this 4 times a year, so practice now.

Improve your main product photo, title, and description based on what you learned.

Get your first 10–20 reviews from real customers before you spend more on advertising.

Track your Best Seller Rank, how many visitors buy your product (your conversion rate), and your number of reviews.

Look at where customers leave your website without buying. Fix that part.

Set up automatic emails for new visitors: a welcome email, your brand story, and a small discount to encourage a first purchase.

Visit your stores. Talk to the manager. Ask what customers are saying about your product.

Track velocity — how many units you sell per store per week. For snack products, Whole Foods wants to see 6–10 units per store per week.

Run your first promotion (a temporary lower price) before the end of Phase 2. In Whole Foods, promo products get a yellow price tag. You pay through "scan-back funding" — you pay the store back for each discounted item they sell.

If your sales are too low, the Whole Foods buyer (or "forager") will call you to talk about it. Do not ignore this call. It is your chance to fix the problem.

Social media creators: pick your 2–3 best creators and build a long-term relationship. Give them a discount code to share. When they earn money from each sale, they try harder to promote.

Email: send a welcome email to everyone on your list. Tell your brand story. Offer a small discount for the first purchase. Set up at least 3 automatic emails for new subscribers.

Paid ads: take the ad that worked best in Phase 1 and run it with more money. Start with $1,500–3,000 per month.

Press and media: contact 2–3 local food, beauty, or lifestyle writers. Local media is easier to reach and often brings more customers than national media for a new brand.

Rothea: after pop-up events, online sales went up 3x. Customers tried in person, then bought on Amazon.

Cabifoods: events and tastings were their best way to meet Whole Foods buyers.

Onigiri Kororin: farmers markets gave them cash right away and honest customer feedback.

Misomaru: workshops where customers learn to make miso balls are their best marketing. Classes sell out in 2 days. 80% of attendees found them on TikTok.

Zabu: in-person pop-ups and a showroom are the single most important sales driver. One hotel partnership came directly from the showroom.

Look at how fast your product is selling. If it is not selling, figure out why: Is the price wrong? Are you selling in the wrong place? Is your message not working?

Order your next batch of products now. Shipping from Asia takes 2–3 months. Order before you run out.

Check if your warehouse or Amazon is doing a good job. Are customers complaining about slow shipping or damaged packages?