It began as a passion project. Steve Graf and Co-Founders, Baron Ziegler and Emily Peterson founded Valkyrie Selections with two primary goals in mind: sell enough wine to fund their consumption and bring a few new wines to market.
In just six years, Steve and his team transformed Valkyrie Selections into a multi-million dollar business. Valkyrie’s portfolio now features 150+ wines from family producers across Spain and France. Their 50+ trusted distributor partners move up to 90,000 cases per year across 42 states.
Here are three ways Valkyrie Selections uses SevenFifty to scale their national import business:
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1. Identify and Secure New Distributor Partners
“Finding the right distributor is kind of like dating. You’re looking for someone with whom you share a lot of common interests and viewpoints. It’s about finding a partner that’s growing at the same pace as you, one that has a similar trajectory as yourself.”
“When you approach a new distributor, you want to know if they have something already competing with what you’re offering. You want to know how your products fit into their overall portfolio. SevenFifty is very handy because those distributors who use it list all of their products so you can see if you’d be a good match. It’s an invaluable filtering and refinement tool.”
Securing the right distributor partners is essential for long-term success. With SevenFifty, you get direct access to 1,000+ national distributor portfolios. Search for products in any category or price range to understand how your product fits into potential partner portfolios.
2. Maintain Product Presence and Positioning in the National Marketplace
“I oversee the curation of our portfolio as a whole. With SevenFifty, we can upload labels and technical information about each wine. It’s beneficial for when on and off-premise buyers search for particular categories or wines; they can see the most up-to-date information.”
“If I’m visiting multiple accounts, I can easily create a list of the wines I’ll be showing that day, put them in the order that I want, and include pricing and technical information. It’s important to have as much information as possible. Especially when we deal with large corporate buyers, they want to know pricing for particular products across multiple states. SevenFifty is a one-stop shop for all of that.”
Locate your products in the national market. Make sure buyers only see accurate product information in markets where your brands are sold. Suggest corrections or changes to your product listings on SevenFifty at any time.
3. Learn How Competitors Price and Position Their Products
“With SevenFifty, I get a good sense of how many products are in a particular category and what the pricing looks like. In New York, I can search by supplier, look at each of their products, and see their pricing. It’s really handy, especially in a price posting state because you get a real sense of where everyone is in the market.”
“SevenFifty is great as you consider bringing new producers into the market. You can see what else is out there and how you need to go about your strategy.”
Find out how your products stack up against your competitors across 39 states. Search for competitor pricing and positioning information in key markets. Learn how you can make your products stand out in the national marketplace.
SevenFifty is an online marketplace and communications platform that helps importers, producers, distributors, and retail buyers connect with each other and do business in a modern world.
