Sprouts Farmers Market has aligned with L.A. Libations to test emerging, better-for-you brands in California as part of an ongoing partnership that will feature products in the beverage incubator’s SoCal Incubation Program (SIP), the retailer announced this week.
As part of the agreement, Sprouts will feature “special innovation displays” in 50 select stores throughout California, including 20 stores in Northern California, 20 around LA and 10 in the San Diego area. The displays will be placed near checkout and will refresh three times a year with all new products which are enrolled in SIP. According to Sprouts, the displays will feature seven or eight new emerging beverage brands at a time, in addition to new food products, and will be merchandised by Relentless Trade Solutions, the merchandising arm of L.A. Libations.
“Sprouts shoppers are enthusiastic about sampling the latest food trends, and that includes beverage trends, too,” said Kim Coffin, Sprouts’ SVP of Nonperishables, in a press release. “We’ll rapidly launch a series of innovative, ready-to-drink beverages in a new display that will support consumer demand for functional beverages.”
The first round of beverages to be featured in the set include curcumin-infused sparkling water ARYA, keto-friendly milkshake Space Shake, bottled waters SZENT and Hawaii Volcanic, Hawaii-based Shaka Tea, functional shot MoreLabs and better-for-you meal replacement shake Don’t Quit!
According to Sprouts senior category manager Mark Wilkins, the program will help the retailer to showcase new innovations, which he said fits with the company’s mission to sell unique and differentiated products.
“We don’t want to be like every other chain out in the world, we want to be a unique grocery chain, that has fun items, that is almost like an explore-and-discover type store where customers walk in and find new items that they’ve never seen before,” Wilkins said in a phone call with BevNET. “And so that’s what we really are hanging our hat on and this will help us to find items that sell well.”
Each brand will have three months on shelf to hit predetermined performance goals and could later be picked up for regional or national distribution within Sprouts. Although the retailer only does full category resets once per year, Wilkins noted that the products can be plugged in at any time through Sprouts’ ‘Speed to Shelf’ program, which can expedite placement for new brands.
Bonnie Shah, VP of marketing and innovation at L.A. Libations, said that the brands selected for the displays already have a “proven track record” within SIP, which is a six month program that provides mentorship to startups and places products in independent trendy accounts and smaller chains such as Erewhon, Bristol Farms, Gelsons and Lazy Acres. However, she noted that Sprouts will mark the first time many of them are available in a national premium retailer.
“We’re making sure that the brands that we bring to Sprouts are ready and stable, can financially support a marketing program and have what it takes to perform on Sprouts shelves,” Shah said.