#273: Retail Pricing 101 with Matt Merson

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, host Daniel Scharff sits down with Matt Merson, President of Once Upon A Coconut, for a deep, practical primer on retail pricing: how to set a shelf price, what it means for your wholesale price, and what actually lands in your pocket.

Matt has spent about 35 years in food and beverage. He started with 15 years of classic CPG at Dannon Yogurt, Sara Lee, and Coca-Cola, then joined his first startup at Glaceau Vitaminwater and has focused on better-for-you, disruptive emerging brands ever since. Daniel’s first CPG role was global pricing and promotions at Mars Chocolate, and he shares his own research methods alongside Matt’s on-the-ground experience negotiating with retailers and distributors.

Daniel and Matt walk through how to do store and online price research, why you should price-slope across every channel you might one day sell in, and how to model your cost of goods at scale. They break down the pocket price waterfall (retailer margin, distributor markup, trade spend, and marketing), how promotions work with distributors like KeHE and UNFI, and how to handle price increases and buyer pushback.

Listen in as they discuss:

• Why Matt says to think broadly across channels and long term, and why price missteps in the first couple of years cause pain in mass and club later
• How to do day-one research with store checks and retailer websites, logging weights, SKUs, price points, and facings
• What “magic price points” are, and why pack size and common formats matter
• Why you should model your costs at 10,000, 100,000, and 1 million units before you launch
• How the pocket price waterfall works, from retailer margin and distributor markup to trade spend and marketing
• Why Matt says brands will not survive on sub-50% margins, and why you need a clear path to 50%
• Why retailers and club buyers check your website price first and Amazon second
• How to model higher and lower price scenarios, and how NIQ Byzzer data can show expected promotional lift
• The difference between off-invoice and scan-back promotions with KeHE and UNFI, and why an anchor account can protect you from heavy promo commitments
• How to change prices, from distributor lead times to how buyers react

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Startup CPG Retail Tracker, with retailer margins, store lists, and estimated distributor markups: bit.ly/4idan1T
• NIQ’s Byzzer™, with three free reports through Startup CPG’s partnership: bit.ly/4jAHAl9
• Circana: bit.ly/4yafl5h
  
  

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Episode Links:

• Matt Merson LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-merson
• Once Upon A Coconut LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/onceuponacoconut
• Once Upon A Coconut Website: www.onceuponacoconut.com
• Once Upon A Coconut Instagram: @onceuponacoconut
  
  

Don’t forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

• Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (40K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danscharff/
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics