Reading the shelf…
United Markets is a specialty independent running 1 Bay Area store, large-format at about 26,260 sq ft each.
Ekone is a brand that specializes in premium tinned seafood products, including smoked oysters, mussels, albacore tuna, wild octopus, and smoked Coho salmon.
Ekone isn’t on United Markets’ shelf yet. The opening: 3 categories where the shelf is already deep and the brand runs strong elsewhere.
Lead with Original Smoked Oysters in Canned Oysters.
United Markets stocks canned oysters thinly, so a differentiated snack stands out instead of becoming the Nth option on a crowded shelf. It already earns space at 5 other Bay Area grocers.
United Markets carries canned tuna in real depth, 48 SKUs against a fleet median of 17.5, so a new entry there is the Nth option, and its per-unit price would likely sit near the top of a crowded shelf. The more differentiated opening is canned oysters: United Markets stocks only 3 there, so Ekone Original Smoked Oysters stands out rather than blending in. Lead with the canned oysters, and position the canned tuna as a finishing or gift item.
United Markets merchandises 4 of the 5 categories the brand sells.
no strong clean/diet signal either way.
brand excitement 55/100.
enters a thin canned oysters shelf as a point of difference.
Every category Ekone plays in across the Bay Area grocers we track, and where it stands at United Markets. Depth is the distinct SKUs the store carries there versus the fleet median, shown next to the rival brands already on that shelf.
Not here yet, but the shelf is real: a clean first door into a category the brand runs deep in.
Not here yet, but the shelf is real: a clean first door into a category the brand runs deep in.
Ekone’s SKUs United Markets doesn’t carry yet, ordered by how many other Bay Area grocers already stock them.
Presence and depth are measured from United Markets’ current Bay Area storefront: its online catalog plus our shelf photos, a partial view. A widely-distributed brand shown as a new door may already be carried through channels we don’t index. United Markets profile →
Not here yet, but the shelf is real: a clean first door into a category the brand runs deep in.
The store barely carries this category, so it is a hard sell.
The store barely carries this category, so it is a hard sell.