Guide

How much does wholesale outreach cost for a CPG brand?

Every real number in one place: the in-house math, our published pricing, cost per buyer at each tier, and the honest overview of what changes the price.

Pricing pages in this industry are usually a contact form wearing a trench coat. This page is the opposite: every number we know, published, including the ones that argue against us. Bookmark it, screenshot it, take it into your budget meeting.

Option one: build it in house

The honest in house math starts with a person: $4,000 to $6,000 a month for someone competent, plus tools. Researching and personally writing to buyers takes about 40 minutes each done properly, which caps a focused person near 60 buyers a week. That works out to roughly $40 of salary time per buyer reached, and about 240 buyers a month of coverage.

In house is not wrong. It is right for brands with one small territory, or a founder who genuinely loves the grind and whose time is somehow free. The costs that ambush you are ramp time, the sending infrastructure nobody warned you about, and the day your trained person resigns with the process in their head.

Option two: our pricing, in full

Every ShelfConnect engagement starts the same way: a free 14 day pilot. We reach 500 qualified buyers in your name, at our cost, and you get the full results report. There is a qualification step first, because the pilot costs us real money and we only run it for brands we believe will convert. After the pilot:

$0
for the 14 day, 500 buyer pilot
$3,485
per month at Prove, the entry tier
$0.50
per qualified buyer reached at Grow volume
Cost per buyer, both options, side by side
In house: $5,000 monthly cost divided by 240 buyers reached is about $20 to $40 per buyer depending on how honestly you count the person's other duties. Grow tier: $4,985 divided by 10,000 buyers is about 50 cents. The gap is not because anyone works harder. It is because mapping, qualifying and drafting run as systems, and the humans only handle judgment. Note what the comparison does not say: it does not close orders for you either way. Closing is your team's job in both models, or our SDR add-on.

What actually moves the price

Three levers, no others. How many buyer types you target, because each needs its own qualification logic and copy. How many buyers you want reached per month, because volume drives infrastructure. And how many markets you sell into. Everything else, the research, sending domains and mailboxes, reply sorting, deliverability monitoring, weekly testing, is included at every tier, because outreach without those is not cheaper, it is just broken.

The commitment structure, stated plainly

No setup fee. Prove runs three months, and after it you continue month to month or stop. The phasing is deliberate: you should not sign six months with a vendor whose results you have never seen, and we should not have to discount to buy trust we can demonstrate in two weeks. The pilot exists so both sides can decide on evidence.

If a vendor cannot tell you their cost per buyer reached, they are selling activity, not coverage. Whatever you choose, us, in house, or someone else, demand that number.

What results look like, so the cost has context

Numbers from real engagements are published on our customers page, including a wave that turned 790 contacted buyers into 23 wholesale opportunities in ten days. Results vary by product, price point and market, which is exactly why the pilot is free: two weeks of your own data beats any brand's case study, including ours.

Start free

Skip the estimate. Run the free version.

The 14 day pilot reaches 500 qualified buyers at our cost. Your own numbers beat any pricing page.

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Common questions

Why is the pilot free when it costs you money?

Selection. Free plus qualification filters for brands likely to succeed and stay, which is cheaper for us than paid pilots for everyone. You get real results before spending anything, we get clients whose numbers we already believe in.

Are there long term contracts or cancellation fees?

No. Three months of Prove, then month to month. If the numbers do not hold, you leave with the data and the playbook, and you should.

What does the SDR add-on cost and when do I need it?

It is $950 monthly, and you need it only if nobody on your team can answer interested buyers within 24 hours. If you have a responsive person, keep the money.

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