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Building a modern food brand demands strategic branding, high-quality products and a strong marketing approach – all while navigating an increasingly challenging economic landscape. With rising costs, limited shelf space and the looming threat of tariffs from major consumer markets, brands are under pressure to find smarter distribution solutions. Tony Lee, CEO and founder of Speciality Food Partners (SFP), explains how B2B marketplaces are transforming distribution and driving sales for modern food businesses.

Up to now, creating a national brand has required years of relationship-building by food and beverage manufacturers, forging new sales channels with brokers and distributors on a region-by-region basis, investing in complex systems to manage the diversity of demands from customers, managing multiple contractual relationships and creating new infrastructure to cater to the diversity of logistical challenges.

The implications extend even beyond manufacturers.

Distributors have struggled with cost, risk and space issues when attempting to expand their product selections to include new brand offerings for their retail customers, relying instead on traditional best-sellers to meet demand rather than introducing new, trending items that consumers are looking for and that differentiate one retail customer’s offerings from another. In a recent survey, 58% of distributors surveyed by FMI said they were over capacity and unable to sell new products from their warehouses. However, in today's market, this legacy approach to brand building is neither sustainable nor necessary.

Modern brands need the ability to scale quickly, adapt to changing consumer preferences, and reach new markets without the traditional pain points. This is where B2B marketplaces are transforming the industry landscape, making the task of building a national brand in the food and beverage industry more simple, less expensive, and more successful. This transformation is reshaping how manufacturers can approach brand building, opening up new sales channels, opportunities, and efficiencies that simply didn't exist a few years ago.

What is a B2B marketplace?

In simple terms, a B2B marketplace is a specific type of technology platform that enables distributors to sell items to their retail customers that they do not stock in their warehouse. It enables the distributor to construct a ‘virtual warehouse’ in the cloud (visualise a virtual warehouse sitting in the cloud above the distributor’s actual warehouse) and fill it with items from suppliers that the distributor would like to make available for sale to its customers, in addition to the items it sells from its actual warehouse.

Because the marketplace warehouse is ‘virtual,’ it is unlimited in the number of suppliers and items it can offer for sale. Customers can see the items on the distributor’s website and place orders, the marketplace technology then routes those orders to the various suppliers, who may be all over the country, who will then ship the orders directly to the distributor’s customers. The distributor bills its customers in the usual course for the sale, but the distributor never touches the items that ship directly to their customers. Meanwhile, the marketplace technology handles all ordering, shipping, billing and customer service issues.

In short:

• Distributors can offer more brands to their customers without having to stock them in the warehouse.

• Brands can easily dropship from their central location or their co-packers to the customer, and rely on steady payment from the distributor.

• Orders might be for just a single case or whole pallets; marketplaces allow brands for the first time to meet customer needs without being stretched on production.

• All logistics, pickups, drop offs, payments, reporting and customer service are handled by the distributor’s marketplace technology on an easy-to-use platform.

The case for B2B marketplaces

The data is compelling: according to a report from Digital Commerce 360, B2B marketplaces are growing seven times faster than traditional B2B ecommerce. This growth reflects the fundamental advantages of the marketplace model. Globally, B2B marketplaces were valued at $12.2 trillion in 2019, with continued rapid growth expected.

For manufacturers, the marketplace model transforms the cost of brand building. No longer do brands have to tackle new markets warehouse by warehouse. Instead, they can achieve national distribution from day one. Retail stores are no longer out of reach if your brand is not physically stocked in the distributor's warehouse.  

Because it costs the distributor nothing to upload products into their marketplace, there is a demand for new and innovative products to bring to customers. It takes a manufacturer just a couple of hours to upload their product details into the marketplace’s supplier portal, and they are ready to sell! Manufacturers can now enter new markets wherever the distributors have customers.

B2B marketplaces offer:

• Instant national reach: Access to thousands of retail locations through multiple distributor marketplaces eliminates the need for regional expansion strategies.

• Marketplaces allow for real-time insights into product performance and market trends, enabling better decision-making and strategy adjustment.

• Brands can now hyper-target retailers that match their profile, from high-end gift shop gourmet audiences to mainstream retail and commodity goods.

Technology as the foundation

The success of B2B marketplaces in food distribution relies on sophisticated technology that addresses industry-specific requirements. Turning complex into simple is a must when you’re dealing with brands and distributors who have different needs.

SFP powers the marketplaces of some of the largest grocery distributors in the country, providing state-of-the-art best practices that: 

• Automate order management and notifications so brands simply receive orders with everything the brand requires to fulfill it.

• Optimise routes and cost savings.

• Provide real-time visibility across multiple marketplaces for brands and buyers

• Provide brands with promotion and enhanced visibility tools, making it easier for brands to reach target customers.

• Provide analytics and reporting so brands can make better strategic decisions.

Building a modern brand strategy

The marketplace model fundamentally changes how manufacturers can build and scale their brands.

• Brands can maintain pricing control while reaching national distribution through multiple distributor marketplaces.

• Focus more resources on product innovation and quality rather than distribution logistics and sales teams.

• Grow brand presence across multiple markets simultaneously rather than region by region.

This creates a virtuous cycle where:

• Distributors can better serve their retail customers with expanded offerings.

• Retailers can differentiate themselves with unique product selections.

• Consumers gain access to a wider variety of products.

It’s easy to start in 2025

For manufacturers looking to build modern food brands, B2B marketplaces offer a compelling path forward. The future of food brand-building will be through a new digital supply chain, data-driven and marketplace-enabled. Those who embrace this transformation early will be best positioned to capture the opportunities it presents.