Client Case Study · CPG Growth & Retail Analytics

Sales Visibility Before Scale: How IMA Consulting Helped an Ethnic Food Company Grow Smarter in Walmart and Costco

An emerging ethnic food company had won space on some of the toughest shelves in North America, with products in 42 Walmart stores and 4 Costco locations. The founder wanted to expand her customer base, but she was flying blind: there was no clear reporting or visibility into how the brand was actually selling, and the business was running on margins of roughly 2.5 percent. IMA Consulting gave her that visibility, built a reporting tool to measure retail performance, cut spending that was not earning a return, and helped reshape the leadership team so the business could scale.

The Challenge: Growing Without Visibility

The company had done the hard part: winning space in some of the toughest retailers in North America, with its flagship product alone moving roughly 150 units a week at Costco. But being on the shelf is not the same as knowing what is happening on the shelf. As the founder looked to expand her customer base and win new stores, she was missing the one thing that should drive those decisions, clear visibility into sales.

• No reporting or sales visibility. The brand could not easily see how individual products were performing across its 42 Walmart and 4 Costco locations, which made every growth decision a guess.
• Thin margins and wasted spend. Operating at roughly 2.5 percent profit, the business could not afford to lose money on activities that were not producing a measurable return on investment, yet it was.
• A founder wearing every hat. She was running marketing, sales, and daily operations all at once, which limited both her impact and the company’s ability to grow.
• Pressure to expand. The instinct was to chase new stores, when the bigger opportunity was to first maximize the ones the brand already had.

Our Approach: Get Visible, Get Lean, Get Focused

IMA Consulting started from a simple principle: you cannot scale what you cannot see. Before helping the company expand, we made sure the founder could measure and improve the business she already had.

Turn on sales visibility through the vendor portal

We helped the brand access and use the retailer vendor portal, unlocking the sales and store level data that had been sitting just out of reach. For the first time, the company could see how its products were actually moving inside Walmart and Costco.

Build a reporting tool to measure retail success

We created a reporting tool the team could use to track performance across the 42 Walmart and 4 Costco locations they were already in. Instead of expanding on a hunch, the founder could now measure what was selling, where, and how well, and use that evidence to decide when and where to grow next.

Cut spending that was not earning a return

With margins near 2.5 percent, every dollar mattered. We reviewed where the money was going and led a cost reduction, removing spend that was not yielding a return on investment, and set a clear target of a 3x return on marketing spend. That discipline protected margin and freed up resources to put behind the activities that actually worked.

Reshape the team so the founder could lead from her strengths

Finally, we recommended the founder stop trying to do everything. Her gift was marketing and brand, not day to day operations. She brought in her husband as CEO to run operations, and stepped into the role of CMO and the face of the brand. It was the right person in the right seat, and it freed the founder to focus on growth.

The Results: Ready to Expand From a Position of Strength

The engagement changed how the company made decisions. With real sales visibility and a reporting tool in hand, the team could finally measure success in its existing Walmart and Costco business rather than guess at it. A leaner cost base, guided by a 3x marketing return target, meant more of every thin margin dollar went toward growth instead of waste. And a restructured leadership team put an operations minded CEO in charge of the day to day while the founder focused on marketing and building the brand she is the face of. Instead of expanding blindly, the company was positioned to pursue an ambitious sales goal from a foundation of proven performance and clear numbers.

You cannot scale what you cannot see. We gave the company visibility into the stores it was already in, so it could expand with evidence instead of hope.

Why It Worked

Growth for an emerging brand is not about doing more, it is about seeing clearly and focusing tightly. IMA gave the company the sales visibility to measure what matters, the discipline to stop spending on what does not, and the team structure to let the founder do what she does best. Visibility, focus, and the right people in the right seats are what turn a promising brand into a scalable one.

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