Needle
Expertise
Gin
Website
needle-gin.com
The Company
Handmade in Germany, Needle is a Gin that mixes classic flavors with distinctive Black Forest aromas. Their entire creation and production process is carried out regionally to ensure ultimate quality and flavor. With fair cost-performance ratios, Needle offers excellent customer service, and an exquisite product that is available in Brand or Private Label.
Learn more about Needle here.
The Challenge
Over the past 3 years, Needle has seen 100% growth each year. In 2019, Needle hoped to continue this trend by extending their international expansion. Specifically, Needle was looking for resellers, distributors, and importers in target countries.
However, partnering with quality distributors, retailers, and other customers can be a challenging task. Since buyers change posts regularly, it was time-consuming for Needle to find and get in contact with the right buyers. Needle’s goal was to find effective ways to get in contact with the right customers and enter more easily into discussion.
The Strategy
Needle put several strategies in place to overcome these challenges and conquer new markets. One key decision Needle took was to partner with Wabel, a company that puts suppliers in contact with head buyers of international retail groups and distributors. Here is the plan Needle and Wabel put in place together:
1. Identify target prospects
Wabel took on the responsibility of finding ideal distributors and importers for Needle. Out of the hundreds of buyers in the Wabel community, Wabel was able to narrow down the best-fit groups for Needle based on their needs. Wabel ended up identifying 17 groups for Needle, which included groups in Needle’s target locations, groups that shared Needle’s vision, and best of all, groups that had already expressed interest in quality Gins.
2. Set up a meeting with the decision-maker
Next, Wabel arranged times for Needle to be able to meet with the head buyers and decision-makers of these groups at one-on-one, 30-minute meetings. Wabel was able to schedule Needle meetings with all of their 17 targeted groups within 2 days at the upcoming Wabel Drinks Summit.
3. Let buyers try Needle’s Gin for themselves
On November 14th & 15th, Needle then met with their target groups including Jumbo, CBA, Tesco, Eko Market and many others. The buyers tasted Needle’s flavorful Gin for themselves. At the Summit, Needle was also able to display their products to all the other attending drink buyers and resellers.
Results & Future Plans
Today, a few months after the Summit, Needle is seeing very positive results. The 30-minute meetings gave Needle solid relational foundations with their prospects, which made it easier to continue contact with their prospects in the following weeks. Needle is currently negotiating contracts with several groups and expects to sign their initial deals over the next few weeks.
“The Wabel Summit was an exciting opportunity to meet with the exact kind of partners we were looking for – all within a couple of days. ”
Nicolai Benz, Needle CEO
Needle will continue their search for new retailers and plans on attending next year’s Drinks Summit on November 4th & 5th, 2020.
If you are a buyer interested in suppliers like Needle, 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, discover our upcoming summits.
