Retailer listings: win the buyer, then the rate of sale
What the UK calls a food and drink brand, the US calls a CPG (consumer packaged goods) food brand or a beverage brand. Most of what follows assumes a brand that retailers stock, or want to stock. Online took 13.0% of take-home grocery sales in Britain in the four weeks to 22 February 2026, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. In the US, online's share of total grocery spending reached 19% in December 2025, a single-month survey estimate from Brick Meets Click. Both are market-wide figures, so your own brand's split depends on where it is ranged.
A listing is won with a retailer's buyer and kept by rate of sale, so the consumer marketing has a second audience. Go into a range review with evidence the product will move: rate of sale in the stores already stocking it, the promotion plan, and the demand your own campaigns will send to those stores. Stores ranging you and units per store per week (velocity, in the US) are the first numbers every later channel is planned against. Put launch support into the first weeks of a new listing and aim it at the stores that took the product, so the rate of sale the buyer reviews reflects it.
Promotions come with their own rules. Under the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, which the Groceries Code Adjudicator enforces between the UK's largest grocery retailers and their direct suppliers, a retailer must not require a supplier predominantly to fund the costs of a promotion, and must not require a supplier to make any payment to secure better positioning or more shelf space within a store unless the payment relates to a promotion. Judge each promotion by the extra units it sold, net of what it cost you. The protection runs to direct suppliers, so a brand sold through a wholesaler should not assume it applies.
In England, the location rules limit where less healthy products can be promoted, online and in store, for businesses in scope, and they came into force on 1 October 2022. Settle where a promoted product may sit before the display is agreed.
Retail media and delivery apps: paying for prominence on someone else's shelf
Supermarket websites and delivery apps sell sponsored and enhanced product listings. Buy them around a promotion or a new listing, keep the product title, images and pack size on each retailer's page the same as on your own site, and judge the spend by sales through that retailer in the weeks it ran against the weeks before.
The UK's less healthy food rules treat these placements apart from ordinary listings. CAP guidance says listings on retail sites or delivery apps are ordinarily out of scope, as communications in an advertiser's own media space, but where a deal buys prominence the ASA will consider whether a listing has been placed in a manner different to ordinary, organic product listings. A listing that counts as a paid ad falls under CAP Code rule 15.19, under which persons must not pay for advertisements for an identifiable less healthy food or drink product to be placed on the internet. The exemption for a sole payer that is a food or drink SME covers sponsored or enhanced listings on a delivery service or aggregator too, and the paid social section below sets out the test.
Paid social and search: send demand to the stores that stock you
Paid media for a shelf-sold product has one extra job: sending people to a shelf that carries it. Aim campaigns at the areas around stores that range you, time them to a listing or promotion, and put a where-to-buy link in the ad. Read the result as rate of sale in those stores beside direct orders, because an ad platform cannot see the till.
Since 5 January 2026 the UK has had a total restriction on paid-for online advertising of less healthy food and drink (HFSS, for foods high in fat, salt or sugar). A product is currently in scope only if it is deemed less healthy under the 2004 to 2005 nutrient profiling model, in categories that include savoury snacks such as crisps. Who pays is a separate test: the online restriction does not apply where the person paying is a food or drink SME, an enterprise in food or drink that employs fewer than 250 people on the first day of the UK financial year, counting international and franchisee staff. An SME's ads must still comply with the UK advertising codes' HFSS restrictions, and a business relying on the exemption should keep evidence of its eligibility.
Drinks brands add audience tests. UK alcohol ads must not be directed at people under 18 through the selection of media or the context in which they appear, and no medium should be used to advertise alcoholic drinks if more than 25% of its audience is under 18. A drink at or under 0.5% ABV that is intended to replace alcoholic drinks is an alcohol alternative, with its own rules, including that its ads must include a prominent statement of their ABV, and CAP Executive advice says that where an ad has the effect of promoting an alcoholic drink, the alcohol rules apply in full.
Creators: demand where the product is stocked
A creator post sells a food or drink product only if the viewer can find it. Brief creators with where the product is stocked, time posts to a listing launch or an in-store promotion, and ask for audience location and age as well as size. Creator-style content then runs in the same calendar as the retail plan.
Under CAP Code rule 15.19, paying includes any consideration, monetary or non-monetary, so for a payer inside the less healthy food ban a free parcel to a creator can count. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority guidance says a creator's posts about gifts they received must be labelled as ads, even with no obligation to post. In the US, TTB treats content as an advertisement when an alcohol industry member causes a social media influencer, for example by payment or other thing of value, to create content that advertises its brand, and such advertisements must, among other things, contain all mandatory statements required by the regulations.
Your own site: where to buy, what to buy direct, and the claims on both
A shelf-sold brand's website has two jobs: a stockist finder for shoppers who saw an ad or a post, and a direct shop for the products that travel well by post. Put the stockist finder one tap from every product page, and keep each product page answering what is in the product and where it is sold, so search and answer engines can quote it.
Claims show up here first. In Great Britain, only authorised claims in the nutrition and health claims register may be used; the CAP Code allows only nutrition claims listed in the applicable register and health claims listed as authorised, or claims with the same meaning to the consumer, each meeting the conditions of use the register sets for it.
US copy runs on different words. For "healthy", the final rule published on 27 December 2024 has a compliance date of 25 February 2028; makers can use the new criteria from 28 April 2025, and FDA says placing the claim on a pack is voluntary, but a product that carries it must meet the definition. For "natural", an FDA page marked current as of 22 October 2018 says the agency has not engaged in rulemaking to establish a formal definition. Its longstanding policy reads the term as nothing artificial or synthetic, including any colour additive whatever its source, having been included in, or added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in it.
Selling alcohol direct to US buyers brings in the states. TTB says that apart from labelling, advertising and containers, it does not enforce laws about selling or serving to consumers, and for internet sales you still meet the same TTB requirements and also need to contact the state agencies where you and your purchaser are located.
Email: the reorder channel
Email reaches only people who gave you an address, and a shopper who bought you off a shelf has not. The invitation has to travel with the product: a recipe or offer behind a QR code on pack, or a first-order incentive on your own store. Build the post-purchase flow first, and time each reorder message to how fast that product runs out.
One scoreboard across retail, marketplace and direct
The same product can sell through a retailer, a marketplace such as Amazon and your own store, so one blended sales number hides which channel the marketing is feeding.
| Channel | The number to watch |
|---|---|
| Retailer listings | Stores ranging you, units per store per week, promotion uplift net of what you paid the retailer |
| Retail media and delivery apps | Sales through that retailer while the buy ran, against the weeks before |
| Paid social and search | Rate of sale in the targeted stores, beside direct orders and branded search |
| Creators | Rate of sale in stores near the creator's audience during the post window |
| Own site and direct sales | First-order margin after product, fulfilment and shipping, and repeat orders by cohort |
| Reorders by cohort and subscriber retention |
Check whether direct sales add to retail sales or take them: if your own store grows while the stores you supply slow down, the marketing may be moving sales, not adding them.
We take on food and drink brands in the UK and the US, work across both countries' time zones, and quote in GBP or USD. Since we started up in London in 2017, we have counted 600+ clients. Tell us about your brand and we'll send a real quote within 48 hours.
↳ Frequently asked
01My team is 40 people. Can I still boost Instagram posts for my crisps?
The UK online restriction on paid-for ads for less healthy food and drink does not apply where the person paying is a food or drink SME. The guidance defines that as an enterprise employing fewer than 250 people, counting international and franchisee staff, on the first day of the UK financial year. If 40 is your whole headcount on that basis, you qualify on size; you must also be the one paying for the boost, your ads must still follow the codes' other HFSS rules, and you should keep evidence of eligibility.
02Can I put 'natural' or 'healthy' on my snack bars in the US?
'Healthy' is voluntary, but a product that carries it must meet FDA's definition; the final rule's compliance date is 25 February 2028, and makers can use the new criteria from 28 April 2025. FDA has not defined 'natural' by rule. Its longstanding policy, on a page current as of 22 October 2018, reads it as nothing artificial or synthetic, including any colour additive whatever its source, included in or added to a food that would not normally be expected in it. Check FDA for anything newer.
03Can a supermarket make me pay for better shelf position?
Not if the Groceries Supply Code of Practice covers you, unless the payment relates to a promotion, and promotions have their own limits. The Code bars a retailer from requiring a supplier to pay for better positioning or more shelf space within a store. It covers the UK's largest grocery retailers and their direct suppliers, so check that your retailer and your supply route are covered before you rely on it.
04Do sponsored listings on a delivery app count as paid ads for my snacks?
They can. Standard listings on supermarket sites and delivery apps are ordinarily outside the UK's online restriction, but where a deal buys prominence the ASA will look at whether a listing is placed differently from ordinary, organic listings. If the deal makes it a paid ad, and the product is in a listed category and scores as less healthy, the restriction applies unless a food or drink SME is the only payer.
05Can my alcohol-free spirit use my gin's branding in its ads?
The CAP Code treats drinks at or under 0.5% ABV that replace alcoholic drinks as alcohol alternatives. CAP Executive advice says that where an ad for one has the effect of promoting an alcoholic drink, the alcohol rules apply in full. Shared branding may create that effect, so judge the whole ad, not just the product name. These ads also carry their own rules, including a prominent statement of the ABV. Read the CAP advice on alcohol alternatives before you run it.
06Can I ship wine or spirits straight to customers in the US?
Check state law first. TTB says that apart from labelling, advertising and containers it does not enforce laws about selling or serving alcohol to consumers. For internet sales you still meet the same TTB requirements and need to contact the state agencies where you and the buyer are located. Confirm each destination state before you switch shipping on.