Stock Box celebrates one year!

Media Release
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Stock Box celebrates one year!
TEXT:
Stock Box, Australia’s first multi-channel product sampling service for independent retailers celebrates their first year in business, and we thought it was time to catch-up with the founder and Managing Director, Craig Matthews to see how business is.
Q. How did Stock Box start?
A. Stock Box started in my living room as I was watching my daughter open a beauty box that she had subscribed to. As I watched her ruffle through all the sample products, I saw the excitement in her eyes and I realized that no one was providing this service to the convenience channel. When I researched it in more detail, I found that this was a common problem across a multitude of business channels, and so Stock Box was born.
Q. What makes Stock Box unique?
A. We like to think that we are delivering a little bit of Christmas every time we send out a box, because everybody loves to receive a parcel in the mail. But what I think makes our program unique is that we are getting to retailers that most suppliers are unable to get to, and we are facilitating the introduction of new suppliers and their products to new potential business partners. Importantly our program talks to the business owners and decision makers, so suppliers know their products are getting to the right people, and our retail members are trying the products in their time, giving them more attention and time, which ultimately translates into better ranging intent.

Q. What challenges have you faced in the first year?
A. The short answer to that is many! Stock Box is a new way of introducing products to the market, and we are a new element to every suppliers business. This is not a traditional program and so anything new comes with a great deal of reservation. This is compounded by the fact that we cannot point to other competitors in the market and say “That’s how you do it”, because there is no one else doing what we are doing to the level that we are doing it. Our retail members have been amazing in their support and the weight of feedback from retailers confirms that we have hit a nerve in the market. The challenge now is to continue to improve our service and refine our operation.
Q. How has the program evolved?
A. In any start-up business the first year is always about development. You start out with a plan of how the world will look and inevitably it all changes. We have listened a lot to what our suppliers and retailers have been saying to us, and we now have a much more fluid program that has better targeting and flexibility for suppliers. For our retail members, they now get a box as and when we can deliver one, and the products in the box are more relevant to their business and state strengths.
Q. What do you see as the main challenges for the industry over the next 12 months?
A. I think that the biggest challenge we face is distribution. No matter if you are talking about foodservice and the growth in this area, or the emergence of the health and wellness segments, the issue of distribution and the consistency of supply across this great country, is still the number one issue. Consumers are saying that they want more choice in-store and we need to work on better ways to service more product lines in-store to keep the stores interesting, relevant and fresh. If we don’t start working on better ways to get more products to more stores, then the online retailers who are moving into bricks and mortar (Omni-channel) will eat our lunch, because they already have efficient delivery systems in place.
Q. How is the next 12 months shaping up?
A. The business is looking strong. We are already servicing the Convenience and Newsagent channels with our program, however we have already identified over a dozen more vertical channels that would benefit from our program. We are receiving more and more interest from companies looking to do their own branded programs with us under a service level agreement, which has created a new commercial division for our business, and we are also considering two other areas of expansion.
Q. What advice would you give other people looking to do their own start-up?
A. My advice would be to do your research, be prepared to adapt to changing conditions, be innovative in your thinking and understand that it will take you three times longer and cost you three times as much to achieve your goal.
Most of all have fun with it!