This post is presented by our media partner Stratcann
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SampleDirect is a cost-effective solution for brands to effectively promote their products and gain traction in a market that’s constantly evolving with new offerings in streamlined product marketing, sampling, and education opportunities.
The platform serves as a hub for producers to showcase and promote their new products and available samples to an audience of over 3,000 private retail stores. Additionally, it provides a channel for announcing upcoming product launches in any privatized retail province across Canada before the product has launched at the provincial wholesaler. Retailers benefit from gaining insights into upcoming products and even have the opportunity to ‘try before they buy’.
“What sets us apart is our strategic partnership with Canada’s leading point-of-sale providers: Cova, Greenline, and TechPOS. By integrating with their systems, SampleDirect becomes instantly accessible to over 3,000 stores nationwide.”
Ryan Lalonde, Founder of SampleDirect
Ryan Lalonde, Founder of SampleDirect, explains that the platform was created to acknowledge the challenges brands encounter in consistently engaging with retailers amidst a highly competitive and dynamic market landscape.
“We see SampleDirect as the next evolution in the sampling and trade marketing space,” he explains. “We envision it as a virtual hub to facilitate real-time exchange of information and sample offerings between brands and retailers across virtually all licensed stores in Canada.”
Notably, he adds, SampleDirect provides complete visibility into ROI on marketing initiatives, addressing a longstanding concern for brands in the industry.
At its core, the digital platform offers sampling, pre-sale marketing, and education tools to brands and sales brokers, enabling interested retailers to learn about and sample products. This can happen even before they hit the shelves of major wholesalers like OCS, AGLC, and BCLDB.
“What sets us apart is our strategic partnership with Canada’s leading point-of-sale providers: Cova, Greenline, and TechPOS,” explains Lalonde. “By integrating with their systems, SampleDirect becomes instantly accessible to over 3,000 stores nationwide.”
Lalonde is also the founder of Buddi, a complimentary retail e-commerce platform supported by brand-sponsored ad placements on their menus.
This experience, he explains, has provided his team with firsthand insight into the unique intricacies of marketing cannabis in Canada, which is baked into SampleDirect.
“Throughout our tenure, we’ve closely collaborated with brands, recognizing their goal to carve a niche in a competitive landscape while increasingly having to adhere to strict budgetary constraints,” he says. “This firsthand experience has honed our understanding of the intricacies of cannabis marketing and the necessity of differentiation in a sea of seemingly similar offerings.”
“The confidence we hold in SampleDirect is underscored by the trust bestowed upon us by our partners Cova, Greenline, and TechPOS. Their decision to integrate SampleDirect as the first third-party solution directly into their point-of-sale backend UI speaks volumes.”
For retailers, these partnerships with industry-leading point-of-sale providers make SampleDirect easily accessible.
“It’s a testament to our, and their, commitment to delivering a valuable solution to the market—one that we’re immensely proud of and hope will be embraced by retailers and brands alike.”
A customizable platform, SampleDirect can serve the needs of large and small producers alike.
“Whether a brand relies on internal sales reps, brokers, or word-of-mouth marketing, our platform offers valuable benefits. For brands with sales teams, it serves as an amplifier for their marketing messages, enabling them to quickly reach a large audience, generate inbound leads, and identify promising sales opportunities.
“Conversely, for brands on tighter budgets, SampleDirect enables virtual operation of marketing and sales departments. From there, they could even send samples via direct mail to those potential or existing accounts.”
Interested parties can learn more at https://www.sampledirect.io/.
Sponsored content by: SampleDirect
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