Supplier Spotlights: GSTV, InComm Payments & Old Trapper
NATIONAL REPORT — While it's important for convenience store retailers to market themselves, new products, services, promotions and other initiatives by c-store suppliers are a major part of capturing consumer interest. Convenience Store News will regularly highlight such efforts in this roundup.
Here are the latest supplier spotlights:
GSTV
GSTV teamed with social media food-based brand So Yummy, part of First Media, to release a new integration for shoppable video content. This brings actionable, shoppable content in the form of recipes and food hacks to millions of on-the-go consumers.
Advertisers on GSTV can now introduce branded content via some of the most popular food recipe content on social media. In turn, users can add ingredients to virtual shopping lists and carts, creating a seamless shopping experience.
The 20-second shoppable videos will consist of recipes for indulgent desserts, healthy snacks, colorful foods, savory favorites and more. Each video will utilize Flowcode's direct-to-consumer QR platform and data capabilities, including real-time analytics, geolocation and attribution across screens.
"At GSTV, we're always focused on how we can drive inspired interactions with viewers through true entertainment content," said Violeta Ivezaj, senior vice president, business operations, GSTV. "So Yummy is hands down the most viral food brand on social media, and we're excited to bring this new, shoppable content to GSTV viewers. It will create more opportunities for them to find new recipes and source the ingredients they need via local retail and ecommerce platforms. These videos will update weekly, creating regular opportunities for advertisers to organically convert viewers to shoppers."
According to GSTV, with the shoppable content, advertisers will have a more direct line for viewers to purchase what they see on screen, paired with success metrics from the company's measurement approach. Measurement partners that include Catalina, IRI and Foursquare.
InComm Payments
Global payments technology company InComm Payments acquired The Card Network (TCN), an Australian-based gift card provider that offers a suite of creatively themed, multibrand gift cards. The acquisition enhances InComm Payments' ability to create personable gift card products that consumers seek, while supporting business growth for its brand and retail partners, according to the company.
"TCN is a pioneer of the multibrand gift card category with a proven record of delivering reliable products to both the gift giver and their recipient," said Adam Brault, senior vice president of financial services and Asia-Pacific at InComm Payments. "We could not be more excited to welcome TCN's expertise and creativity to our global team."
TCN's multibrand gift card products aggregate leading consumer brands onto one card with the aim of providing greater flexibility and choice to the recipient. The gift card line includes several offerings based around a creative theme, such as The Active Card, which is redeemable at dozens of sporting apparel retailers; and The Home Card, which can be used at a wide range of homeware stores.
"InComm Payments has been a great partner to TCN, and we couldn't be happier to be officially joining the family," said Nick Sims, co-founder of TCN. "Together, InComm Payments and TCN have reinvented the gift card market in Australia, and we look forward to continue providing customers and channels with the best product selection in the market."
Old Trapper
Old Trapper renewed its sponsorship of the Big Ten Conference, which includes its designation as the conference's official beef jerky. The 2022 sponsorship covers the Big Ten football, men's baseball, men's and women's basketball, and hockey seasons.
"We are excited to renew our sponsorship with the Big Ten Conference this year and once again be the official beef jerky for football, basketball, and hockey fans," said Robert Leary, chief marketing officer of Old Trapper. "Last year's sponsorship was so successful that we expanded the 2022 sponsorship to include men's baseball. We are excited to cheer on all of the teams this year and are grateful to the fans for their support of the teams they love and their support of Old Trapper and our retail partners."
Through the partnership, Old Trapper will be highlighted as the official beef jerky of the Big Ten Conference in both televised and streamed event coverage on the Big Ten Network. The brand will also be features in 30-second spots across the network's linear and digital platforms, and included on conference signage at the Big Ten football championship game, hockey championship game and the Big Ten Conference basketball tournament.
The beef snacks brand also has rights to use Big Ten Conference logos throughout the season.
Rich Products
F'real, purveyor of on-the-go, blend-it-yourself milkshakes and smoothies, teamed up with Footprint, a global materials science technology company focused on creating a healthy planet, to leverage Footprint's fiber-based solutions to develop a sustainable replacement for f'real's signature dairy cup.
As part of its sustainable packaging goals, f'real is transitioning away from single-use plastics and moving towards fully recyclable and responsibly sourced packaging. The company aims for 100 percent of its packaging in the United States to meet these criteria by 2025.
"Like many sustainably minded companies, we're always looking to improve the impact we're making on the environment and that includes the packaging of our delicious products," said Nikkie McBrayer, senior director, global equipment platforms for Rich Products, parent company of the f'real brand. "The opportunity to collaborate with Footprint to create a positive change while upholding packaging performance for our f'real milkshake and smoothie cups is truly a win-win."
The cups will utilize Footprint's Print-to-Fiber Technology, a flexographic print process for molded fiber cups, to highlight the f'real brand. This process provides high-quality, color-rich printing on the fiber surface while eliminating the need for a separate plastic label on the product.
F'real foods is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rich Products Corp.
TradeBeyond
CBX Software, provider of multi-enterprise platforms for extended supply chain orchestration, changed its trade name to TradeBeyond. The new name represents a major milestone in the company's success over the past decade, helping many of the world's leading brands and retailers to increase private label volumes while reducing lead times and costs.
The new name underscores its continued mission to go beyond the normal to deliver powerful extended retail supply chain solutions that help supply chain partners maximize speed, scale and sustainability, the company said. TradeBeyond equips customers with data; intelligence and automation capabilities that shorten time-to-market, increase brand protection; and helps plan for challenges and opportunities.
Along with the new name, TradeBeyond will adopt that tagline "Empower Tomorrow." This is meant to embody the company's charter to empower retail businesses with the supply chain of the future, the company added.
"TradeBeyond isn't just helping our customers digitize and optimize their global supply chains," said Michael Hung, CEO of TradeBeyond. "We empower them to manage their supply chains more responsibly and sustainably."
TradeBeyond plans to continue investing in environmental, social and governance solutions that help customers ensure their merchandise is designed, sourced and produced to social and environmental compliance standards.