The cost of getting on the shelf, 2026.

A new food brand doesn't sell to shoppers. It sells to a chain of companies that each take a cut before a shopper ever sees the product. This report puts every published charge in one place, so you can price your product for the whole trip to the shelf and not just the first order.

Every number comes from a named public source, listed at the end. Where sources disagree, we show both. Where a source sells something related, we say so.

Every charge on the way to the shelf

The shelf math: what you keep per unit

Buyers work backward from the shelf price, so this calculator does too. Start at what the shopper pays, take out the retailer's margin and the distributor's, then your own deductions: broker, freight and trade spend. What's left after cost of goods is what you keep.

The example is set to a $9.99 shelf price and $2.50 cost of goods, with mid-range figures from the sources. At those numbers the brand keeps $0.62 a unit, about 6% of the shelf price, before paying any of its own overhead.

Now take the distributor and the broker out. Same $9.99 shelf price, same $2.50 cost, same freight and trade spend, selling straight to the store. The brand keeps $2.05 a unit. That's the math behind starting with stores you can reach directly.

How to lower the cost of getting on the shelf

Start where fewer people take a cut

Independent grocers sell 33% of U.S. groceries, $253.6 billion, by a 2021 study for the National Grocers Association. Many buy direct, and one person decides. That's the cheapest place to prove a product sells.

Pay for results, not for access

A slotting fee is owed before anything sells. A scan-back is paid on units that do. When a buyer offers a promotion, ask for scan-back terms. We explain the difference in scan-based trading and scan-backs.

Let someone else buy the inventory

In Spotlight Shelf, our distribution buys your product and places it in the store. You don't pay slotting. You fund marketing, promotions and scan-back credits, with campaigns from $10,000, across 10 or more stores for 90 days.

Hold your price for the whole chain

Run your own numbers in the calculator above before your first buyer meeting. If the brand keeps too little at a full distributor and broker stack, fix the price or the cost now. It only gets harder after you're listed.

Method and sources

We compiled published figures from public sources in November 2026. Ranges are what each source reported, not quotes from any retailer or distributor. Some are older: the FTC study is from 2003 and the slotting example from 2016. The trade spend figure of 45% to 50% comes from the CEO of a trade-management software company. The calculator uses your inputs and simple percentages, not any contract’s exact terms.

1. 01Federal Trade Commission, Slotting Allowances in the Retail Grocery Industry (2003)
2. 02CBS MoneyWatch, How grocers wring extra cash out of shelf space (2016)
3. 03Eightx, CPG broker and distributor fees (2026)
4. 04Montana Department of Agriculture, Selling to grocery stores: pricing
5. 05New Hope Network, How brands can get their trade spend under control (2022)
6. 06T-ROC, In-store demo services: complete guide and pricing (2026)
7. 07Grocery Dive, NGA study: independent grocers hold 33% of U.S. grocery sales (2021)

This report is general information, not financial or legal advice.