CPG and Food and Beverage: Teardown Pack
Load this pack when the target makes consumer packaged goods sold mainly through retailers: grocery, convenience, drug, club, and mass stores, plus their online versions. Growth here is distribution first: winning shelf space, keeping it with sales velocity, and paying for both through trade spend and retail media.
Contents
- How to recognize it
- What drives growth here
- Signals to collect
- Going inside
- Rules that limit copying
- Plays that usually transfer
- Metrics to ask about
How to Recognize It
- A store locator or "Where to buy" page, often powered by a third-party locator widget, and retailer logos on the homepage.
- Product pages with nutrition panels, ingredients, and UPCs, but little or no checkout (or a small DTC shop next to retail).
- Links to retailer product pages (Target, Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods, Instacart, Amazon).
- Job posts for "category manager", "key account manager", "broker", or "trade marketing".
teardown.mjs detect <domain>flags store locators and retailer links.
What Drives Growth Here
- Distribution: growth comes in steps as the brand gains new retailers, regions, and shelf placements. The "where to buy" count is the curve that matters more than web traffic.
- Velocity: retailers keep products that sell per store per week. Promotions, demos, and retail media exist to lift velocity so the slot survives the next reset.
- Trade spend: discounts, slotting fees, and promotional allowances paid to retailers are often the biggest marketing line. Frequent price promotions show where it goes.
- Retail media: ads inside retailer sites and apps (Walmart Connect, Amazon Ads, Instacart, Kroger, Target Roundel) drive the digital shelf.
- Brand demand: social, creators, sampling, and PR create the pull that makes shoppers look for the product in store. Brand search and social buzz lead new retailer wins.
Signals to Collect
| Signal | Where or how | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| ★ Store count over time | The store locator, and its archived captures | Distribution growth; each jump becomes a move dated to the capture |
| ★ Retailer announcements | Press releases, LinkedIn and X posts from founders ("now in 2,000 Target stores"), trade press | Dated retailer wins, the real inflection points. Founder claims are "reported" |
| Retailer list on the site | Homepage logos and "Where to buy" retailer list over time | Which channels they won, in what order |
| Retail media ads | Sponsored listings on retailer sites and Instacart for their category terms | Where they pay for the digital shelf |
| ★ Shelf resets and line reviews | Retailer category review timing in trade press, and new SKUs appearing on retailer sites | Wins usually land on a retailer's reset calendar, so distribution steps cluster at reset dates |
| Product launches and flavors | Product pages and teardown.mjs sitemap-growth <domain> |
Line extensions, which retailers often request for resets; dated moves |
| ★ Retailer reviews and ratings | Ratings shown on Walmart, Target, and Amazon product pages, over time | A velocity proxy per retailer, and review sampling programs |
| Price and promotion frequency | Retailer product pages and circulars, checked over time | How much trade spend goes to price promotions |
| Sampling and demos | Event pages, social posts about in-store demos, sampling platforms | The in-store activation they pay for |
| Creator and UGC programs | Social, TikTok, and creator link pages | The demand engine behind retail velocity |
| Trade shows | Exhibitor lists at Expo West, Expo East, and the Fancy Food Show | When they pushed for distribution and to which buyers |
| DTC shop | teardown.mjs shopify <domain> if on Shopify |
Whether DTC is a real channel or a sampler and data source |
| Category and broker hiring | Job posts, dated | Expansion into new channels or regions |
Going Inside
With approval, under the user's real identity:
- Buy the product at a retailer and through their DTC shop (within budget). Note packaging, on-pack offers, QR codes, and inserts. On-pack QR codes often show the loyalty or data capture play.
- Email capture: subscribe and log the welcome series and coupons.
- Rebates and coupons: check rebate apps and digital coupons in retailer apps for the brand.
- Don't contact retailers' buyers or the brand's brokers pretending to be a buyer, and don't buy or move product in ways meant to distort a store's sales data.
Rules That Limit Copying
- FDA labeling rules (US): nutrition facts, ingredient lists, allergen labeling, and claims are regulated. The FDA updated the "healthy" nutrient content claim in a final rule in December 2024, and structure-function claims on supplements need a disclaimer. Don't copy a claim without checking the current rules.
- FTC substantiation: taste, sustainability, and "natural" claims need evidence. "Green" claims fall under the FTC Green Guides.
- Alcohol: TTB rules govern labels and advertising in the US, the three-tier system limits direct sales, and state rules vary. Platform ad policies also restrict alcohol targeting by age and country. Check with counsel.
- Retailer agreements: slotting and promotion terms are private contracts. You can see the result (price, placement), not the terms.
- Creator disclosure: FTC Endorsement Guides apply to paid and gifted creator posts.
Plays That Usually Transfer
| Play | Run it with |
|---|---|
| Creator and sampling program to build pull | influencer-marketing, events |
| Retailer launch announcements and PR | public-relations, launch |
| Store locator and "where to buy" pages for search | programmatic-seo, seo-audit |
| Email capture with coupons and recipes | emails, lead-magnets |
| Social content formats that drive store visits | social, video |
| DTC bundles and subscriptions as a sampler | offers, pricing |
Metrics to Ask About
- ACV or points of distribution: how many stores and how much of the market carries the product.
- Velocity: units per store per week, by retailer.
- Trade spend rate: trade spend as a share of gross sales.
- Retail media ROAS: sales from retail media ads divided by their cost.
- Promo lift: extra units sold during a promotion compared with the base.
- Repeat rate: share of buyers who buy again, from panel or loyalty data.
- Brand search and social share of voice: demand signals that lead new retailer wins.