Reading shelf prices before you quote a distributor
Why export-oriented businesses should reverse-engineer foreign retail prices before locking wholesale and distributor margins.
Exporters sometimes set overseas wholesale prices from domestic logic plus freight. Buyers then politely disappear. A better habit is to start from the shelf.
Walk the category with a notebook
Note pack sizes, claimed origins, and promotional strips — not only the ticket price. A “premium” New Zealand product may sit beside a local hero priced for weekly family shops.
Work backwards through margins
From shelf price, subtract typical retailer margin, distributor margin, duties, and landed freight. The residual is your realistic FOB ceiling. If that ceiling sits below your cost, the market needs a different channel — or a different SKU.
Use the finding in negotiations
Showing a buyer that you have done this homework changes the conversation from “your price is high” to “which channel can carry this price architecture.” That is often where a Market Scoping Visit earns its keep.