The Retail Launch Checklist: What Needs to Be Ready Before Your Product Hits the Shelf

Most Launch Failures Are Preventable

A failed retail launch is not just a missed quarter. It is a damaged relationship with a buyer who took a chance on your brand, a delisting that follows you into the next retailer conversation, and inventory write-offs that hit your balance sheet. Most of these failures trace back to the same cause: brands moved too fast before the foundational work was done.

This checklist is not theoretical. It reflects the actual requirements retailers and distributors place on new items and the operational gaps that most commonly cause launch problems. Work through it before your product ships to a single store.

Packaging and Compliance

Your packaging needs to be retail-ready before you approach any buyer. That means a GS1-compliant barcode that scans correctly at point of sale. It means accurate nutritional panels and ingredient statements that comply with FDA labeling requirements. It means a case configuration that matches standard retailer receiving processes, typically a case pack that divides evenly and fits standard pallet configurations.

Check that your label claims are supportable. Health claims, origin claims, and certifications printed on packaging need to be backed by documentation you can produce on request. Retailers and their compliance teams will ask. Have the paperwork ready.

If your packaging was designed without input from someone who understands retail shelf requirements, get a review before you print. Changing packaging after authorization is expensive and creates supply chain complications that can delay your launch by months.

Pricing and Margin Structure

Before you finalize any retail pitch, build a complete landed cost model. That starts with your cost of goods and runs through co-packer fees, freight, distributor margin, retailer margin, and your promotional funding commitments. The number at the end of that calculation is your actual net return per unit, and it needs to be positive at a retail price that consumers will pay.

Know what margin each channel requires before you enter any negotiation. Conventional grocery typically needs 35 to 45 percent at retail. Natural and specialty may run higher. Mass runs leaner but demands volume. If the math does not work at a viable retail price, do not force the channel. Either adjust your cost structure or reassess the target account. For a detailed framework on managing trade dollars without destroying your margin once you are in, read Trade Spend Strategy: How to Allocate Promotional Dollars Without Destroying Your Margin.

Sell Sheet and Sales Materials

Your sell sheet is the document that travels into every buyer meeting your broker has on your behalf. It needs to communicate your product clearly and efficiently: the item name, UPC, pack size and case configuration, suggested retail price, your wholesale cost, and your margin offer to the retailer. Add a brief product description, your brand story in two sentences, and any velocity data or distribution wins you can reference.

Keep it to one page. Buyers do not read multi-page brand presentations at the first meeting. They scan for the numbers they need to make an initial evaluation. Make those numbers easy to find.

If you have a formal pitch deck for larger retailer presentations, build it separately and keep it focused on data: velocity performance, category opportunity, promotional plan, and what you are asking the buyer to do.

Distributor Alignment

Retail authorization and distribution authorization are two separate things and both need to be in place before your product can actually reach store shelves. Confirm that your distributor has your product in their system, has it priced correctly, and has it designated for delivery to the authorized retail accounts before you announce your launch date to anyone.

Distributor onboarding takes time. New item setup, warehouse receiving, and route assignment all have lead times. If you have secured retail authorization but have not yet aligned your distributor, you are creating a gap between the store's expectation and actual shelf availability. That gap damages your brand's credibility with the buyer from day one. If you are still unclear on how the broker and distributor functions divide, read The Difference Between a Broker and a Distributor before you start building your launch team.

Promotional Plan

Most retailers expect new items to participate in promotional programs during the launch window. That might mean an introductory price reduction, an ad feature, or a display program. Understand what your target retailers require and build the funding for it into your launch budget before you commit to the authorization.

A promotional plan should cover at minimum the first two quarters of distribution. What events will you participate in, what is the discount depth for each, and what is the total trade spend commitment? Your broker should help you develop this based on what the specific retailer typically expects from new items in your category. Before you finalize those numbers, also budget for slotting. Most brands underestimate it or ignore it entirely until the authorization offer arrives. Read Slotting Fees Explained so that cost is already in your model.

Demand Forecasting and Inventory

Model your demand conservatively and make sure you have inventory on hand to support it. The worst retail launch scenario is a product that sells through faster than expected and goes out of stock in the first four weeks. Out-of-stocks in the launch window tell a buyer that your supply chain is not ready for retail. That impression is hard to reverse.

Build a safety stock buffer based on your production lead time. If it takes six weeks to produce and deliver a new run, you need six weeks of buffer inventory on top of your base stock before you open a new set of doors.

Tracking and Reporting Setup

Before launch, establish how you will track performance. Which data sources will you use for velocity reporting? How often will your broker pull and review store-level data? What thresholds will trigger a conversation about promotional adjustments or distribution changes?

Setting up the reporting infrastructure before launch means you are not scrambling to understand what is happening after the fact. You want to be making proactive decisions based on real data in the first weeks of distribution, not reactive ones after a buyer has already flagged a performance concern. Once the launch is live, visit our Go-To-Market and Launch Services page to understand how JDALL manages the post-authorization execution phase.