Chocolat Lamontagne
Expertise
Chocolates
Website
lamontagnechocolate.com
The Company
Based in Canada, Chocolat Lamontagne is built on a 40-year tradition of excellence. Whether it be individually wrapped chocolates, bars, or seasonal chocolates, Lamontagne promises quality in every bite. Their chocolates are sold under their brand or as private label products both in bulk and as a selective variety. With a high production capacity and flexibility in packaging, Lamontagne offers excellent service to their customers across the globe.
Learn more about Chocolat Lamontagne here.
The Challenge
With a strong presence in Canada & the U.S., Lamontagne decided to focus their expansion on international markets including Europe, China, and Mexico. Their strategy was to find distributors and importers in each region so that their customers could have a more reactive customer service. However, finding reliable foreign distributors can be both challenging and time-consuming.
The Strategy
To overcome the challenges of finding competent distributors, Lamontagne called on Wabel, a company that puts suppliers in contact with head buyers of international retailers, importers, and distributors. Together, Lamontagne and Wabel came up with a plan:
1. Identify target prospects
Wabel took on the responsibility of finding ideal prospects for Chocolat Lamontagne. Out of the hundreds of buyers in the Wabel community, Wabel was able to narrow down the best-fit groups for Chocolat Lamontagne based on their needs, and ended up identifying 13 groups for Chocolat Lamontagne, which included retailers & distributors that had already expressed interest in quality chocolates in the targeted locations.
2. Set up a meeting with the decision-maker
Next, Wabel arranged times for Chocolat Lamontagne to meet with the head buyers and decision-makers of these groups in one-on-one, 30-minute meetings. Wabel was able to schedule meetings for Chocolat Lamontagne with all of their 13 targeted groups within 2 days at the upcoming Wabel Summit.
3. Let decision-makers try the chocolates for themselves
On November 12th & 13th, Chocolat Lamontagne then met with their target groups including Jumbo, Giant Eagle, Sonae, Lulu Group Intl and with many others. Chocolat Lamontagne was able to let the buyers taste their chocolates during their B2B meetings, as well as display their products for hundreds of other buyers in the Wabel Community.
Results & Future Plans
Today, a few months after the Summit, Chocolat Lamontagne is seeing very positive results. The 30-minute meetings gave Chocolat Lamontagne solid relational foundations with their prospects. This made it easier to continue their negotiations in the following weeks. Lamontagne is currently completing contracts with several groups and expects to finalize them in the next few months.
“It was fantastic to be able to meet face-to-face with interested retailers and distributors. Since buyers were able to select us, we had several quality, dynamic meetings.”
Martin Cournoyer, Chocolate Lamontagne General Manager
Chocolat Lamontagne will continue their search for new distributors, and plans on returning to the Wabel Summit next year.
If you are a buyer interested in suppliers like Chocolat Lamontagne, contact us to see all the advantages that come with being a buyer in the Wabel Community. If you are a supplier and would like to meet buyers during B2B meetings, register now for our upcoming summits.
