Chomps recently announced ambitious plans to expand into the convenience store space, with repeat purchase rates playing a central role in their go-to-market strategy, ensuring sustained success.

When it announced plans to expand into convenience stores last week, the move marked another pivotal step in its growth journey. At the heart of this strategy lies an overlooked pillar for go-to-market success: repeat purchase rates. It is betting on customer loyalty to anchor its expansion and fuel sustainable growth.

But this hasn’t always been the case. The brand’s trajectory is defined by trial, error, and recalibration. Early challenges forced it to rethink its go-to-market approach, ultimately placing deep consumer insights at the core of its strategy. What began as a mission-driven product idea at the gym has evolved into a textbook example of thoughtful, data-driven growth. 

Coca-Cola’s New Coke: A Cautionary Tale

One of the most infamous go-to-market failures in history is its introduction of New Coke in 1985. Hoping to regain market share from Pepsi, it reformulated a sweeter product. Despite early market research suggesting some preference for the new formula, the public backlash was overwhelming, leading it to quickly revert to the original formula just 79 days later. The failure cost it an estimated $4 billion in lost sales.  

The issue wasn’t just taste. Historian Andrew F. Smith notes it was trust, “it ignored the deep-rooted emotional connection consumers had to its classic formula.” It failed to understand and prioritize its loyal customer, costing it nearly 1% of U.S. market share during New Coke’s brief lifespan.

New Coke serves as a cautionary tale: neglecting customer insights can lead to uninformed go-to-market strategies, driving costly, high-profile failures.

The Chomps Playbook: Lessons from Setbacks

Like it, Chomps initially struggled with go-to-market missteps. Their co-founder Pete Maldonado has long highlighted the importance of starting small and testing concepts in niche communities like CrossFit gyms to gather feedback and build loyalty. However, in pushing for rapid growth and retail expansion, many early-stage brands forget to establish the foundational processes to evaluate and execute these strategies effectively. Chomp's early attempts to expand into smaller regional retailers would flounder due to weak foot traffic and poor brand alignment. 

Its turning point came when it pivoted to higher-performing retailers like Wawa and Sheetz. In an interview, Maldonado explains the reset, “it just wants to make sure that when customers see it — especially in a new channel — they can see it and, within two seconds, they understand what it is.” These partnerships provided the scale and distribution necessary to build momentum while also delivering critical insights into consumer behavior.

Armed with this knowledge, it refined its go-to-market approach to expansion. Today, its products are available in over 30,000 retail doors—a testament to how understanding consumer needs and aligning with the right channels can fuel growth.

Chomps: Building an Informed Go-To-Market Strategy

Customer insights are now the foundation of its go-to-market playbook. By deeply understanding its audience and leveraging repeat purchase rates as a key metric, it ensures that every expansion decision aligns with its premium positioning and value proposition.

From those very convenience stores, it learned the importance of repeat purchase rates when entering new markets. With a 40% repeat rate—well above the typical CPG sector average of 20-30%—it demonstrates strong customer satisfaction and brand alignment. And it is unrelenting in the use of these metrics:

“It’s a premium product,” Pete said. “It’s got to be an area where people actually understand the value proposition and are willing to pay for it.” 

This data-driven approach has consistently paid off. Maldonado revealed that initial purchase orders from Trader Joe’s were larger than its entire revenue from the previous year, necessitating a major production increase and additional fundraising.

Beyond Trends: Building Lasting Growth

For brands looking to break through crowded markets, the key isn’t just chasing trends—it’s about anchoring strategies in genuine consumer insights and ensuring every move aligns with the core values and identity that define their brand.  

The question isn’t whether its go-to-market strategy will succeed—it’s whether it’s equipped to lead with authenticity and depth, or whether it’ll fall victim to short-term noise and misplaced assumptions. For it, the answer was clear: a thoughtful approach rooted in customer loyalty and brand integrity drives lasting growth. For others, the challenge remains: 

Is it ready to build a strategy that drives real, lasting growth? Or is it simply following a process that leads to more failures?  

The one thing that’s true: don’t be the next New Coke.