The past few years have presented countless challenges for CPG companies. From the pandemic causing retail stores to shut down because of lockdowns to supply chain issues that drove up prices and resulted in shipping delays, companies large and small saw sales decrease and costs go up.
That’s why understanding your retailer and distributor margins is so important—it allows you to see how much your partners expect to make and what you can do to help them—and your brand—succeed.
Understanding and effectively managing retailer and distributor margins is vital for any emerging CPG brand. Your company's profitability is directly tied to these margins, and getting it right could be the difference between sinking or swimming in the retail industry.
Gross profit margin is your total sales revenue, minus the cost of goods sold (COGS), divided by the total sales revenue, expressed as a percentage. This metric gives you an idea of how much of your total sales are retained after accounting for the direct costs involved in making your product.
Understanding this margin will help you understand how your COGS are impacting your business, and where you might need to make adjustments.
After understanding your gross profit margin, it's essential to take into account your operating expenses, including business expenses like payroll, rent, marketing costs, and more.
These expenses, when subtracted from your gross profit, leave you with your operating profit. If you subtract any other expenses or taxes from your operating profit, you'll end up with your net profit.
Your net profit margin is then calculated by dividing your net profit by total sales revenue, providing a clear picture of your business's profitability after all costs.
Business owners should strive for a good profit margin; however, what's considered "good" can vary. For the retail industry, the average profit margin can range from 2% for supermarkets to 60% for jewelry and cosmetic stores.
As an emerging CPG brand, you should understand the impact of retail price on your profit margins. The retail price is set higher than the cost of production to allow room for both the retailer and the brand to make a profit. It's also influenced by the pricing strategies of competing products.
Both in-store and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon have their own set of considerations when it comes to retail pricing.
For in-store sales, physical factors such as shelf space, location, and point of sale (POS) system can influence the retail price. For ecommerce, factors such as shipping costs, platform fees, and competitive online pricing play a significant role.
Your retail profit margin, therefore, is your net sales revenue after deducting retail costs and the COGS.
Distributors make money by purchasing your product at a slight discount and selling it at a markup. The distributor margin is the percentage of the sale price that the distributor pockets—but it’s not pure profit, since distributors also have several costs they must cover, such as:
Knowing these things, the distributor margin calculation is easy to calculate.
Distributor Margin = ((Sell Price - Purchase Price - Additional Costs) / Sell Price) * 100
Margins can vary a lot, depending on the size and location of your distributor. In general, you can expect distributor margins to fall between 3% and 30%. The actual margin depends on your product category and whether you sell to a national or regional company.
A retailer’s margin for CPG products is the percentage of profit they make when selling them. The retailer buys a product at a wholesale or discounted price (the cost of goods sold), sells it in their store at a markup, and keeps the difference.
Like distributors, retailers have additional costs beyond the purchase price, which affects their margins:
Knowing these things, we can calculate the retail margin.
Retail Margin = ((Selling price - Cost of Goods Sold - Trade Promotions/Allowances) / Selling Price) * 100
The margin a retailer will see depends on its store type—different types of stores have different operational costs and order quantities that impact their gross margins.
Retailer and distributor margins can vary greatly—even if they’re buying products at the same price. Here are a few factors that influence margins:
Markdowns are an inevitable part of the retail business, especially for perishable goods or products with a short lifecycle. While markdowns can increase retail sales and clear out inventory, they also lower your profit margin.
Therefore, business owners need to strike a balance between maintaining a steady sales revenue and preventing excessive markdowns that can eat into your profits.
Benchmarking your margins against industry averages is crucial. This will give you an understanding of where you stand and which areas need improvement. As a small business, especially in the CPG space, it might be challenging to meet the benchmarks initially. However, don't be disheartened; instead, focus on understanding your business needs and continuously improving your margins.
Understanding and navigating retailer and distributor margins is a critical aspect of running a successful CPG brand. With these insights, you can better strategize for a profitable and sustainable business.
Although many of the factors that drive retail and distributor margins are out of your control, there are a few things you can do to maximize your own profits.
Building good relationships with your retail and distributor partners is one of the best ways to maximize the bottom line for everyone. When there’s trust, you can be more flexible with terms and work together to create win-win situations for each party. A high level of trust makes it easier to:
Experiment with different pricing models to see how they impact your margins:
Measuring how various actions and variables impact your margins is essential for knowing what improvements you can make to maximize profits. The more data you gather, the better you can understand what impact your actions have and make changes to lower your costs and increase profit.
A great place to start improving margins all around is with your trade spend. Vividly makes it easy to monitor your trade promotions and collect valuable data that can help you identify ways to tighten up your operations, negotiate better deals with your retail and distribution partners, and increase margins all around.
Learn more about how Vividly makes a difference to see how it fits with your CPG business.
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