Dalstons_Generic_Outer_v1

Source: Dalston’s

Dalston’s DTC box

  • Challenger brands have created stockupsmall.com to promote small suppliers offering online delivery

  • The list now includes over 200 DTC food and drink brands

  • 37% of SMEs have reported falling supermarket sales in recent weeks

 

Food and drink challenger brands have co-created a new website listing small suppliers still available to deliver DTC during lockdown, as they turn to e-commerce to offset plunging foodservice and retail sales.

Andrew Allen, Biff’s partner and non-executive director in a number of startups, started the list last week after texting a group of founders and discovering most were still able to ship their products.

From an initial Google Sheet, the list was turned into online site stockupsmall.com - which already includes 220 brands.

“I didn’t expect it to gain the momentum it has, I literally put it together to highlight to the public there’s still a huge range of brands you can shop with if you want to stock up on something from smaller suppliers,” Allen said.

As you cannot directly purchase from the list, there is no commercial gain associated with the site, he added.

Young Foodies is also working with its community to launch a solution which makes challenger brands’ online sales more viable, said co-founder Thea Alexander.

The web-list comes as startups and SMEs refocus their operations towards DTC after experiencing staggering levels of online growth, helping offset lost foodservice and retail revenues.

 

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According to an exclusive survey conducted by The Grocer, 37% of SMEs reported falling retail sales, with a further 15% having been contacted by supermarket stockists to advise of delistings as grocers rush to prioritise ‘essential’ products.

Natural energy drink Tenzing has reported a 1,900% sales increase from its own webshop in the last week, following a 158% uplift in visitors.

Independent brewery Northern Monk received over 1,200 orders in a week marking an increase of over 1000% compared to the same period a month ago. Northern Monk was forced to pivot its business online after losing overnight its entire bar division and beer distribution network, accounting for 60% of the business.

“Our online shop was only a very small portion of our total sales,” Eve Lindsay, communications manager, said. “Putting a clear focus on our online shop has been more successful than we could have hoped.”

And soft drinks brand Dalston’s went out of stock on Amazon after online sales tripled in the past two weeks, while juice pouches supplier Naturelly reported a near 700% increase in Fulfilled by Amazon sales.

“There won’t be a silver bullet to compensate for the foodservice decline in the short term, but in the long term we are confident this channel could explode for us in a similar way to how foodservice did pre-Covid 19 times,” co-founder Dan Broughton said.

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