October 3-7 | Starting at $500How to Get Retailers to Sell Your CPG Products: A Practical Guide to Retail Success
Emerging CPG brands often hit a wall when trying to land retail placements; retailers are picky, focusing on items that sell fast and match their shoppers. As they should, retail space is limited and velocity is critical. This guide walks you through the essentials, from grasping what buyers prioritize to crafting pitches that work and using shelf analysis to spot opportunities. We'll cover strategies to secure shelf space, sidestep mistakes, and build on real examples. If you're searching for ways to convince a retailer to carry your product or wondering what shelf analysis involves, this lays it out step by step.
Understanding Retailer Priorities: What They Really Want
Retailers stock shelves to drive profits, not to experiment with unproven ideas; they seek high-velocity products that boost margins and attract repeat customers. Research their assortments first; identify gaps in categories or trends they're chasing, like clean-label snacks in natural grocers. If you come prepared with the research of the category and where you see gaps, you dramatically increase the odds of a “yes”. Buyers are constantly inundated with hopeful founders trying to sell their products; every ounce of friction you can reduce in the process increases your odds.
Tailor your approach to their demographics; a value-focused chain might want budget-friendly staples, while a specialty store looks for premium, niche items. Show how your product fills a void or complements their lineup; that's the hook that gets attention. You should be reaching out to category managers and asking what their category strategies are and if you fit into them. We detail how to reach them here on our buyer outreach page. Understand that a retailer will look at a winning category and want to expand it with local, organic, or whole ingredient products; they will also look at a weak category and ask what can we add to bolster this category in our customer’s basket.
What Is a Shelf Analysis and Why We Recommend It
Shelf analysis examines in-store product arrangements, competitive setups, pricing, and gaps; it reveals how categories function in the real world. Retail shelves reflect consumer attention, retailer preferences, and market dynamics. Dominant brands claim prime spots for a reason; gaps signal opportunities.
We recommend it because it arms you with data for buyer meetings; vague enthusiasm fails, but insights into unmet needs succeed. It helps position your product as a strategic fit rather than another SKU. Founders who skip this step risk poor placement or quick delisting.
How to do a Shelf Analysis
Conducting a shelf analysis takes time and attention to detail; rushing it defeats the purpose. Plan to spend at least two to three hours per retailer across multiple stores. The more locations you visit, the clearer the patterns become.
Prepare before you go. Identify the target category or closest adjacent categories. Bring a notebook, phone for photos, and a checklist. Decide in advance what you are measuring: brand names, pack sizes, price points, number of facings, shelf position (top, eye-level, knee-level, bottom), promotional signage, adjacency products, and any out-of-stocks or empty hooks. Don’t forget end caps can be active also!
Pick the target retailer and identify the most relevant aisle or section (or the closest adjacent sections if your category is not obvious).
Visit at least two stores of that chain; patterns only show up when you see multiple locations. If you sense something is off with one layout, add more locations.
Enter the aisle and take wide photos of the entire section first so you can see the full layout later.
Move methodically down the aisle. For every relevant product or brand cluster, record:
Exact retail price and unit price if shown.
Package size or count.
Number of facings (how many units side-by-side).
Shelf position (top, eye-level, knee-level, bottom).
Packaging standout features (color, key claims, design style).
Any secondary placement (end-cap, wing, floor display, signage).
5. Note the dominant brands and how much space they control; the golden zone (eye-level) almost always goes to the highest-velocity or highest-margin items.
6. Map the pricing tiers; look for good/better/best structure or obvious voids (e.g., nothing between $4 and $10).
7. Identify assortment gaps; missing formats (large family size, single-serve), flavors, ingredients, or claims that shoppers want but cannot find.
8. Check adjacencies; what is placed next to what and why (cross-sell opportunities).
9. Photograph everything you can; stores are public. Use the photos to annotate later.
Once you finish in-store work, organize everything. Transcribe notes into a spreadsheet or document. Group findings by theme: assortment gaps, pricing voids, dominant players, visual hierarchy. Add your own product into the analysis; ask where it would fit best and why it would improve the section (incremental sales, better margin for the retailer, filling a consumer need).
Real-World Example: Conducting Shelf Analysis When No Clear Category Exists
Your product sometimes does not have an obvious home; that is exactly when shelf analysis separates winners from the pack.
A frozen Indian sauce brand targeted Fresh Thyme, the founder wanted to attempt a slack out program with the retailer. Walks showed zero frozen Indian sauces and zero fresh Indian sauces. Ambient shelves had legacy shelf-stable brands; budget priced, mild flavors, highly processed ingredients, nothing bold or whole-food. Frozen had mass-produced prepared Indian meals and bagged Asian noodle dishes; clean labels were nowhere and bold flavors were not an option.
She then checked fresh prepared foods. Ethnic sauces like tzatziki, chimichurri, and labneh sat there at solid prices; all in 12- or 16-ounce sizes, none at her 32-ounce format. Demand for convenient fresh ethnic sauces was clear; supply had not caught up. This also signaled that her packaging size might be suited for DTC but not for retail shelves.
She locked her analysis on that fresh prepared section. Documented every sauce by size, price, ingredients, placement. The gap jumped out: no large-format, premium fresh Indian sauce with real ingredients. She brought the photos and notes to the category manager and positioned her product as a natural expansion of an already winning ethnic sauce segment. Focus stayed on unmet demand; placement followed.
Shelf Placement and What a Planogram Is
Placement drives sales; eye-level spots can generate two to three times the velocity of knee or bottom level. End-caps and secondary displays explode numbers during promos.
Retailers control this with planograms; precise visual maps that dictate exact product location, facings, shelf height, and quantity per bay across every store. Planograms are built on sales data, supplier deals, category goals, and sometimes slotting money. They enforce consistency and squeeze maximum profit per linear foot. Planograms are so prevalent that there are multiple software offerings that manage these and every retailer. Here is an example of what a planogram looks like.
Emerging brands rarely get ideal placement at first; use shelf analysis to show why you deserve better. When your data proves higher velocity potential or stronger adjacency, buyers adjust the planogram on the next reset.
Another Real-World Example: The Natural Cleaning Brand
A natural cleaning brand wanted to jump from independents to national chains. Shelf audits across multiple retailers told the same story. National brands and private labels owned eye-level with aggressive pricing. A massive pricing void sat between budget ($1.75-$4) and true premium ($10+). Mid-tier was weak or missing.
Ingredient gaps were glaring; mainstream relied on harsh chemicals, premium went ultra-niche. The brand’s plant-based, effective formula landed squarely in the underserved middle.
The founder rebuilt the pitch around those facts. No head-on war with giants; instead, fill the pricing and ingredient hole, drive incremental category dollars, capture the growing better-for-you shopper who balks at premium prices. Data turned a generic ask into a business case. Placements followed; performance expanded them.
Retail shelf space goes to founders who do the homework. Understand buyer priorities, conduct rigorous shelf analysis, handle missing categories with smart scouting, and learn how planograms actually work. Walk the stores, document relentlessly, present clear opportunities. That is how unknown brands become stocked brands. Skip any of it and you stay on the outside.
Next:
Explore pricing strategies now that you know your category
Learn all about KeHE & UNFI, and why you need a retail partner before a distributor