How to get your product into grocery stores, starting with independents

Why independent grocers come first

An independent grocer chooses their own range. The owner or the grocery manager can look at your product on Tuesday and put it on the shelf the following week. Orders are small, so you can supply them, and there are no slotting or listing fees to pay for the privilege.

Independent grocery stores also give you the proof a chain will ask for: sales history, reorders and a list of stores that keep buying. Our guide to why supermarkets start with independents explains how that proof gets you a meeting with a category manager.

What a grocery buyer needs

Grocery is more practical than hospitality. The buyer has a shelf to fill and a till to run, and they want the boring answers before the story.

• A barcode. Most grocers scan everything. Get registered barcodes before you pitch.
• Shelf life and storage. Ambient, chilled or frozen, and how many weeks it lasts. Chilled and frozen space is tight.
• Retail price and margin. Grocers work on margin, and many want 30% or more. The wholesale price calculator shows what that means for your price.
• Case size and minimum order. Small cases help a store try you without risk.
• Delivery. Do you deliver direct, ship by courier or go through a wholesaler? How often?
• Labelling that meets the rules, with ingredients, allergens and nutrition information.

Who decides

In a small independent grocer, the owner decides. In a bigger one, there may be a grocery manager or a buyer for each department, such as chilled, grocery or health. In an owner-run supermarket, the owner or the store manager decides what local lines to take.

Owner-run stores in smaller towns are worth a look. They are often the only grocer for miles, they know their customers well, and a local product is an easy yes for them.

Write to one person per store. When we find grocery stores for a brand, we look up a named decision-maker and skip shared inboxes like accounts@, which nobody reads with a buyer's eye.

How to pitch a grocer

Lead with why your product will sell in their store: it fills a gap on their shelf, it is local, or it already sells in stores like theirs. Give the margin in one line. Offer a sample or an in-store tasting, and ask them to reply. Leave the price list, the photos and the spec sheet for when they do.

Send from a separate domain so your main one stays safe for orders and invoices. We buy and set up that domain for you. Then follow up two or three times. Grocery buyers get a lot of supplier email, and most replies come on the second or third.

Where it sits on the shelf

In a grocery store, placement is half the sale. Eye level sells more than the bottom shelf, and the end of an aisle sells more than the middle. A new brand rarely gets the best spot, but you can ask for a fair one, and you can offer a shelf talker that tells shoppers what is new about you.

Ask the owner where shoppers would look for a product like yours. If you make a hot sauce, you belong with the sauces, not in a local-products corner nobody visits. If you have a chilled line, ask whether there is room in the fridge before you ship it.

Getting the reorder

A first order is a trial. What happens in the next few weeks decides whether there is a second one. Ask where it will sit on the shelf. Offer a tasting day in the store, since grocery shoppers rarely buy a new brand without a reason. Check in after two weeks and ask how it is moving.

Keep the first order small. A store that sells through one case reorders. A store stuck with three cases asks for a discount, or quietly delists you. Flow tracks which stores are due a reorder and which have gone quiet, so you know who to call.

Some grocers ask for sale-or-return terms on a new line. That is your call, but a small first order often does the same job with less risk.

When the orders outgrow you

Once you supply more grocers than you can deliver to, you will need a wholesaler or distributor. Arrive with your list of reordering stores. Our guides to finding a distributor and to food brokers versus doing your own outreach cover the options.

Start with one city

Pick one city, and grocers that fit your product: specialty and organic grocers for premium lines, ethnic grocers for a cuisine, owner-run supermarkets for local staples. Delis and health food stores often take the same products and decide even faster. In Australia, our Australian guide covers IGA and the independents. In the US, see the United States guide.