24 min
How Blk & Bold capitalized on Target and Amazon's coffee shortcomings The Modern Retail Podcast
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- Entrepreneurship
It's hard to find good coffee online, and roaster Blk & Bold found that to be a competitive advantage.
The company saw huge growth over the last year, thanks to its placement on retail shelves at stores like Target -- as well as being a top-selling brand on Amazon. On the Modern Retail Podcast, which was recorded live during our Modern Retail Summit this week, co-founder and CEO Pernell Cezar Jr. spoke about how he has grown the company.
Being on Amazon became a competitive advantage -- especially once the coronavirus hit. More people were buying groceries online, and supplies like coffee were selling out. Thanks to being on national shelves, he said, Blk & Bold was able to gain authority. "When we looked at Amazon and e-commerce we were allowing that authority we were able to gain by brick and mortar to tie that back into scaling and acquiring new consumers on e-comm," he said.
Still, coffee is a hard business. "We were entering into the second highest commodity beverage space -- being coffee, right behind water," Cezar Jr. said. He approached growing the company by finding ways to differentiate. "When you are shopping in a coffee aisle in any grocery store, let's say excluding Whole Foods, there is not a premium assortment experience," he said. Ditto Amazon. The bet was that he could grow a coffee business by becoming a rarely-seen premium brand on those shelves.
Cezar Jr. described how he was able to capitalize on all of these elements to grow the business. Amid a pandemic it grew from two people to twelve, and got a brand new warehouse as well. "Our whole business is can we convince these consumers that they can also make great quality coffee at home," he said.
It's hard to find good coffee online, and roaster Blk & Bold found that to be a competitive advantage.
The company saw huge growth over the last year, thanks to its placement on retail shelves at stores like Target -- as well as being a top-selling brand on Amazon. On the Modern Retail Podcast, which was recorded live during our Modern Retail Summit this week, co-founder and CEO Pernell Cezar Jr. spoke about how he has grown the company.
Being on Amazon became a competitive advantage -- especially once the coronavirus hit. More people were buying groceries online, and supplies like coffee were selling out. Thanks to being on national shelves, he said, Blk & Bold was able to gain authority. "When we looked at Amazon and e-commerce we were allowing that authority we were able to gain by brick and mortar to tie that back into scaling and acquiring new consumers on e-comm," he said.
Still, coffee is a hard business. "We were entering into the second highest commodity beverage space -- being coffee, right behind water," Cezar Jr. said. He approached growing the company by finding ways to differentiate. "When you are shopping in a coffee aisle in any grocery store, let's say excluding Whole Foods, there is not a premium assortment experience," he said. Ditto Amazon. The bet was that he could grow a coffee business by becoming a rarely-seen premium brand on those shelves.
Cezar Jr. described how he was able to capitalize on all of these elements to grow the business. Amid a pandemic it grew from two people to twelve, and got a brand new warehouse as well. "Our whole business is can we convince these consumers that they can also make great quality coffee at home," he said.
24 min