Distribution Without Middlemen: A Playbook for Maximising Brand Control

For most drink brands, distribution looks the same: hand your product to a distributor, watch your margin disappear, lose visibility into where it's going, and hope it ends up in front of customers. It's the way it's always been done. But that doesn't mean it's the way it has to be.

The traditional distribution model was built for a different era — one where shelf space was scarce, routes to market were controlled by a few gatekeepers, and brands had no way to reach consumers directly. That world is gone. Yet most brands are still operating as if it exists.

The result? Unnecessary margin erosion, zero control over pricing, no customer data, and a supply chain so opaque you can't tell where your stock is or who's buying it. You're essentially renting access to customers through someone else's infrastructure, paying handsomely for the privilege, and getting very little in return.

There's a better way. One that gives you back control over margin, pricing, customer experience, and data — without sacrificing reach or scale. It's not about eliminating distribution entirely. It's about eliminating the layers that don't add value.

The Middleman Problem

Let's be clear about what happens when you hand your product to a traditional distributor.

Your margin gets cut in half. Or worse. Distributor takes 30-40%. Retailer takes another 30-40%. You're left with 20-30% of the final retail price. If your product sells for £30 in a shop, you're getting £6-9. The rest goes to people who, in many cases, are doing very little beyond moving boxes and sending invoices.

You lose pricing control. Once your product is in their hands, you have no say over what it sells for. Discounting, promotions, price wars — all outside your control. Your premium £40 bottle ends up on a shelf for £25 because someone needed to hit a quarterly target. Your brand equity takes the hit.

You have no idea where your stock is. Distributors don't give you real-time inventory visibility. You don't know what's in their warehouse, what's on a retailer's shelf, what's moving, and what's not. You're flying blind, unable to plan production or respond to demand shifts.

You get zero customer data. Who's buying your product? How often? What else do they buy? What do they care about? You have no idea. The distributor knows. The retailer knows. You don't. Which means you can't market effectively, you can't build loyalty, and you can't create recurring revenue.

You're dependent on someone else's priorities. Your brand is one of dozens — or hundreds — in their portfolio. Unless you're their biggest account, you're not getting attention, you're not getting support, and you're definitely not getting strategic focus. Your success is entirely contingent on their effort, which is almost always minimal.

This isn't a distribution model. It's a margin extraction model. And it only makes sense if there's no alternative.

What Actually Adds Value?

Not all middlemen are useless. Some distribution functions genuinely matter:

Regulatory compliance. In alcohol especially, you need proper licensing, age verification, and compliant storage. This is non-negotiable and legitimately complex.

Fulfilment infrastructure. Warehousing, pick and pack, dispatch — someone has to do it. The question is whether that someone should also own your pricing, margin, and customer relationship.

Channel access. Getting onto Amazon, Tesco, Ocado, or other platforms requires technical setup, onboarding, and operational know-how. There's real value in partners who can open those doors efficiently.

Demand generation. Marketing, content, paid media — driving actual customer demand rather than just moving stock from A to B.

The problem is that traditional distributors bundle all of this together, charge you for the whole package, and deliver inconsistent results. You're paying for channel access you could get directly. You're paying for fulfilment you could outsource more cheaply. And you're paying for "marketing" that's often just a listing fee or a spot in a catalogue no one reads.

The New Distribution Model

Here's what modern distribution should look like:

You own the customer relationship. Whether someone buys on Amazon, your website, or a marketplace, you control the experience, you capture the data, and you set the pricing. No intermediary deciding what your brand is worth.

You use infrastructure, not intermediaries. Fulfilment, compliance, and platform management are services you plug into — not gatekeepers you hand control to. You pay for logistics and execution, not for someone to "represent" your brand.

You sell across multiple channels simultaneously. D2C, Amazon Vendor, Amazon Seller, Tesco, Ocado — all pulling from the same inventory, all under your control, all feeding you data. No exclusivity deals that lock you into underperforming partnerships.

You retain your margin. On D2C, you keep 100% of the retail price minus fulfilment and platform fees. On marketplaces, you're typically keeping 60-75% depending on structure. Either way, you're 2-3x better off than handing it to a traditional distributor.

You scale with variable costs, not fixed overheads. Pay-as-you-go fulfilment. Performance-linked storage. No massive upfront commitments or minimum order volumes. You only pay for what you use, which means your cost base scales with revenue, not in advance of it.

The Playbook: How to Do This

If you're ready to take back control, here's how to actually make it happen.

1. Get Your Compliance Right

You can't sell alcohol D2C in the UK without the proper legal setup. That means:

• Premises licensing for your storage location
• Age verification systems at point of sale
• Compliant labelling and product information
• Proper duty handling if you're storing in bond

This isn't optional. If you're not legally covered, you're not selling — you're creating liability. Work with a partner who has this infrastructure in place, or build it yourself if you have the scale to justify it.

2. Centralise Your Fulfilment

All your channels should pull from the same inventory pool. One warehouse. Real-time stock visibility. Unified dispatch. Whether an order comes from your Shopify site, Amazon, or Tesco, it ships from the same place with the same experience.

Fragmented fulfilment — where you're using different 3PLs for different channels — leads to stock mismatches, delayed shipping, and unhappy customers. It also makes your operations significantly more expensive and harder to manage.

3. Build Channel-Specific Strategies

Each platform has different economics and customer expectations:

D2C (Shopify, your website): Highest margin. Full control. Best for brand storytelling, subscriptions, and loyalty. Requires you to drive your own traffic, but the unit economics are unbeatable.

Amazon Vendor: Amazon buys from you wholesale and handles everything. Lower margin, but massive reach and credibility. Good for volume and discovery, especially if you're optimising content and running Vendor-funded ads.

Amazon Seller: You sell directly to customers via Amazon's platform. Better margin than Vendor. More control over pricing and inventory. Requires more operational involvement, but worth it for most brands.

Tesco/Ocado Marketplaces: Access to grocery customers who are already buying food and drink. Strong basket attachment. Generally higher AOV than standalone purchases.

You need pricing and promotional strategies tailored to each. Protecting your D2C margin while staying competitive on marketplaces is an art, but it's doable with the right structure.

4. Own Your Customer Data

Every sale should feed into a CRM. Every email captured. Every order tracked. This is the foundation of long-term value.

Use this data to:

• Build email flows that drive repeat purchase
• Create segmented audiences for paid media
• Test new products with your most engaged customers
• Understand seasonality and demand patterns

Brands that own their data grow faster, retain better, and make smarter decisions than brands flying blind through wholesale-only routes.

5. Invest in Content That Converts

Your product page is your shelf presence. Your imagery, copy, reviews, and brand story are what convince someone to buy — or not.

This means:

• High-quality product photography (including lifestyle shots)
• Clear, benefit-driven copy that explains why someone should care
• Social proof: reviews, ratings, user-generated content
• Video where relevant (especially on Amazon)
• Brand storytelling that builds emotional connection

Cheap out here and you'll lose to brands that don't. This is where the battle is fought.

6. Build for Repeat Revenue

One-time purchasers are fine. Subscribers are better. A customer who buys once is worth £30-50. A customer who subscribes is worth £150-300+ over their lifetime.

Focus on:

• Subscription models for regular consumption products
• Email flows that bring people back
• Loyalty mechanics (points, discounts, early access)
• Gifting strategies that drive seasonal spikes and new customer acquisition

The brands that win online aren't just optimising for acquisition. They're building engines for retention.

The Infrastructure Partner Model

None of this requires you to build an internal team of 10 people. You don't need a head of eCommerce, a fulfilment manager, a compliance officer, and an agency on retainer.

What you need is an infrastructure partner that centralises execution:

• Provides compliant storage and dispatch
• Manages onboarding and operations across platforms
• Gives you real-time visibility into stock and sales
• Charges transparently with variable costs, not fixed retainers
• Lets you retain control over pricing, data, and customer experience

This is the model Shelfdrop was built for. You get the infrastructure, we handle the operational complexity, and you keep the margin and control. No middlemen extracting value. No fragmented service stack. No dependence on partners whose incentives don't align with yours.

The Bottom Line

Distribution doesn't have to mean handing over your product, your margin, and your customer relationship to someone who doesn't care as much as you do.

The brands that are winning today are the ones that treat distribution as infrastructure, not as a partnership. They're using services, not intermediaries. They're building direct relationships with customers, capturing data, and retaining margin. They're scaling profitably without being dependent on gatekeepers.

This isn't theory. It's happening now. And the longer you wait, the further behind you fall.

Shelfdrop gives drink brands the compliance, fulfilment, and multichannel infrastructure to distribute without middlemen — keeping margin, control, and customer data where it belongs. If you're ready to cut out the layers that don't add value, let's talk.

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