Q&A: Rebekah Hall, CEO of Botanic Lab
Rebekah Hall is the CEO of Botanic Lab, pioneers of functional drinking and leaders in the new wave of cannabis consumer goods brands.
What does your company do? / What is your USP?
Botanic Lab is a functional drinks brand. We make healthy drinks that cater to the needs of the modern 21st century consumer where stress and anxiety are common problems. We think of our products as the antidote to modern life. We were the first brand in Europe to bring a CBD drink to market.
What’s special about the platform and your approach?
Our approach is unique in our appetite for innovation. We have always operated slightly ahead on consumer trends, but we are proud of the fact that we have played a part in the inception of a brand new cannabis 2.0 industry and are helping shape consumer knowledge and understanding of this space.
How does a product/service implementation actually look like and how do you measure success?
We create drinks so I guess it looks a look like a drink! Success for us is product in our consumers hands, repeat purchase and brand advocacy. We measure this through a number of metrics for simple sales data through to the engagement across our digital mediums, including how well our message is received on different digital mediums.
How are retailers using your systems to gain competitive advantage and what does best practice look like?
What we provide retailers with is an innovative edge. Product that shows the retailer has carefully considered and curated its product offering and is listening to the desires of its customer. Our purpose driven mission transmits to the retailer and they receive credit from the customer for being a part of that. Coupled with that, CBD is one of the biggest consumer trends to hit the shelves in centuries, but it isn’t simple. Therefore, working with brands that have deep regulatory, technical and product knowledge is imperative.
What challenges and opportunities do you see in UK retail for 2020 / What challenges are retailers facing in the year ahead?
Retailers are finding it ever more difficult to differentiate themselves and must therefore look to innovative products and experiences to draw in customers and be able to compete with discounters. This provides an opportunity for retailers to lead on discovering new brands outside of the dominant CPG businesses and provide consumers with products that fit with their desire for a more purpose driven consumer experience.
How will you address these challenges and turn them into successes?
With the inherent mistrust of big brand that has seeped into the modern psyche, smaller and innovative businesses can connect with consumers in a way that was previously not possible. This makes partnership between mainstream retailers and young innovative brands beneficial for both parties and a point of differentiation in a difficult high street environment.
What is on the horizon for you as a company?
Botanic Lab will continue to build understanding and knowledge amongst consumers and retailers about CBD whilst launching more innovative products and marketing campaigns to support this. This year will see our first product outside of drinks which is very exciting. We will also be rolling out our CBD on Demand text message ordering services to offices in the UK.
Rebekah Hall, co-founder and CEO of Botanic Lab is speaking at Retail Week Live:
Panel: How to be a purpose led organisation
26 th March from 13:55 – 14:35pm at the Intercontinental, O2.
