Retail-Ready Checklist: 12 Buyer Questions

Getting a first meeting with a UK grocery buyer is hard. Turning that meeting into a listing is harder. The brands that convert are almost always the ones who walked into the room having already answered the questions the category team was going to ask anyway.

1. What consumer need are you solving that isn't already met on shelf?

Buyers don't want another SKU in an already crowded fixture. Come with a clear, data‑backed articulation of the whitespace: category growth pockets, dwell time on shelf, or a shopper mission that is currently under‑served.

2. Who is your target shopper and how big is the prize?

Persona sketches are not enough. Buyers want a household penetration estimate, an average basket contribution, and a sensible view of rate of sale per store per week.

3. What's the category rationale for stocking you?

Show incremental value: switching, trade‑up, or new occasions. If your product simply cannibalises an existing brand, expect a hard sell.

4. Is your commercial construct workable?

Cost price, list price, promotional funding, retailer margin — every number needs to land cleanly on the buyer's margin model without heroic assumptions.

5. Can you supply?

Depot cover, MOQs, lead times, contingency stock and shelf‑life on delivery. Buyers will not list a brand that has a plausible risk of going out of stock in week six.

6–12. The rest of the list

Packaging compliance, allergen and regulatory sign‑off, launch activation plan, D2C signals, existing distribution, marketing budget behind the launch, and what happens if the first trial store range under‑performs. Each deserves a slide.

Get every one of these right and you're not guaranteed a listing — but you'll be in the top 10% of pitches that buyer will see this quarter.