Deep vs. Wide: Choosing the Right Retail Growth Strategy for Your CPG Brand

Deep and wide distribution strategies require different operational capabilities, financial planning, and buyer relationship management approaches. The choice between maximizing existing partnerships and pursuing new accounts affects everything from inventory forecasting to trade marketing budgets. After working with Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands at nearly every stage of growth, I've seen how choosing the right path at the right time can make the difference between sustainable momentum and a costly reset.

Here's a walkthrough on how to evaluate the deep vs. wide approach for retail expansion.

1. Understand Deep vs. Wide Retail Strategies

There are two primary approaches to retail expansion, each with distinct advantages and challenges.

A deep strategy means investing more resources, attention, and support into the retail partners you already have. This might include increasing store count within a single retail chain, gaining additional shelf facings or launching new SKUs, improving in-store execution or shopper engagement, and supporting sell-through with account-specific marketing or field teams. Depth is about maximizing velocity, refining operations, and building buyer trust. For brands early in their retail journey, it's often the smartest way to learn, optimize, and grow profitably.

A wide strategy refers to expanding distribution across multiple retail banners, geographies, or channels. Instead of deepening your presence with existing partners, you're increasing your reach by securing placement with new retailers. This might include securing national or multi-regional accounts, entering multiple chains in the same category (natural, conventional, mass), selling through different formats (grocery, club, specialty, etc.), and supporting broader trade marketing and merchandising execution. While this can accelerate brand awareness and top-line growth, it introduces greater complexity and a significantly higher cost structure. Each new retailer adds unique requirements for logistics, compliance, pricing, trade support, and execution standards, all of which carry financial implications. Many emerging brands underestimate the level of resources required, especially the mandatory marketing investments needed to drive consumer awareness and product trial. Without adequate preparation, performance can quickly suffer, putting retailer relationships and brand credibility at risk.

Many brands try to do both at once. On paper, this looks like growth. But in practice, it often stretches teams too thin, leads to inconsistent performance, and damages relationships with buyers who are watching your numbers closely. The right approach depends on your brand's current stage, retail readiness, consumer traction, and ability to manage complexity.

2. Assess Your CPG Retail Readiness Before Expanding

Before you decide whether to grow deep or wide, take a hard look at how well your business is set up for retail success. This means more than having a great product and strong direct-to-consumer sales.

To grow deep, your operations need to support increased volume, tighter inventory turns, and higher merchandising expectations. To grow wide, you need the systems and staffing to manage multiple buyer relationships, shipping schedules, promotions, and compliance checklists.

If you haven't yet standardized forecasting models, stress-tested your co-manufacturer, or documented trade spending processes, that's a sign to go deep. Use this stage to build muscle before multiplying complexity.

3. Understand Your Velocity and Margin Drivers

Growth without performance won't last. Retailers evaluate your brand based on data, not your intentions, origin story, or marketing capabilities. Before expanding into new accounts, assess your sales velocity at the store level using CPG retail analytics.

Focus on:

• Units per store per week (UPSPW)

• Repeat purchase behavior and basket build

• On-shelf availability and in-stock rates

• Promotional lift and execution compliance

• Return on investment from marketing and trade spend

Also evaluate where your margin is coming from as part of your revenue growth management CPG strategy. Are you depending on premium pricing that may not hold across all retailers? Have you built in enough room to support promotions, free fills, and seasonal fluctuations?

Without margin discipline, wide expansion can erode profitability quickly. If your velocity is inconsistent or your product isn't moving when on display, expanding won't fix that; it will only make it harder to manage.

4. Align Your Retail Growth Plan with Long-Term Goals

Your channel strategy should reflect your brand's long-term goals, not just short-term wins. Understanding current CPG industry trends shows that successful brands align their distribution strategy with their intended positioning and market dynamics. For some brands, deep retail partnerships offer a path to category leadership. For others, wide exposure helps unlock wholesale partnerships, marketplace access, or direct licensing opportunities.

Ask yourself:

• What do I want my brand's retail footprint to look like in 12–18 months?

• Am I building a premium brand that needs selective distribution and curated storytelling?

• Or am I building a mainstream product that thrives on broad exposure and access?

The deep vs. wide decision is rarely permanent. You might start deep to build a foundation, then expand wide once you've built the infrastructure and proof points. Or you might test wide early, then narrow your focus based on performance data. The key is choosing a strategy that your team, operations, and cash flow can support without compromising performance or brand equity.

5. Evaluate Your Team and Execution Capacity

Every retail account you add comes with its own expectations. That includes compliance paperwork, promotional calendars, broker communication, replenishment planning, and field execution. If you can't give each retailer the attention they need, performance will suffer.

When advising clients on how to grow their retail business, I ask:

• Do you have the capacity to support every retailer equally?

• Can you execute shelf-level strategies in multiple banners simultaneously?

• Do you have account-specific marketing budgets and materials prepared?

• Are your brokers or sales partners equipped for different formats and geographies?

• Do you have account-specific marketing plans, content, and budget in place?

If the answer is no, focus on optimizing your current partnerships. That might include stronger store-level execution, targeted shopper marketing, or refining the supply chain to improve in-stock rates. Scaling execution matters more than scaling reach.

6. Test Depth Before You Stretch Width

Before recommending a brand go wide, I often push for more depth within a key account first. It's the most effective way to:

• Validate consumer pull

• Fine-tune pricing and margin scenarios

• Experiment with marketing tactics

• Build trust with buyers

• Strengthen your case for expanded placement

Wide distribution without a strong proof of performance creates risk. Deep retail partnerships, on the other hand, give you insights, data, and leverage.

Intentional Growth Builds Sustainable Brands

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to retail growth. What works for one brand might create chaos for another. That's why I spend so much time with my clients reviewing retail data, modeling different expansion paths, and pressure-testing what their team can realistically support.

Deep and wide are both valid strategies, but they require different types of planning, investment, and execution. If you're not sure which direction to go, start by grounding your decision in data and aligning it with your brand's unique goals.

If you're navigating your next phase of retail growth and want a strategic partner to help you model expansion scenarios and build the right operational foundation, let's connect.