{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Startup CPG Podcast","title":"#273: Retail Pricing 101 with Matt Merson","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3182,"description":"\nIn 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.\n\nMatt 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.\n\nDaniel 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.\n\nListen in as they discuss:\n\nWhy 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\nHow to do day-one research with store checks and retailer websites, logging weights, SKUs, price points, and facings\nWhat “magic price points” are, and why pack size and common formats matter\nWhy you should model your costs at 10,000, 100,000, and 1 million units before you launch\nHow the pocket price waterfall works, from retailer margin and distributor markup to trade spend and marketing\nWhy Matt says brands will not survive on sub-50% margins, and why you need a clear path to 50%\nWhy retailers and club buyers check your website price first and Amazon second\nHow to model higher and lower price scenarios, and how NIQ Byzzer data can show expected...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/pMuUaMpWaAi3tfCEgC2OkLBVzokuLjLsIzwDIbGFqi4/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9hMTFl/MTgxNTNlZTAwZjU1/ZmNmNWM1ZjkwMDg5/NTU4MS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}