The big retailers want you to think you need them to make money. You don't. They've built a system that makes you dependent — and then charges you for the privilege. But the numbers tell a different story.
You're not paying for exposure. You're paying a retailer to own your customer relationship, remove your ability to advertise effectively, and cut off the data that feeds your growth.
And the ship is sinking. Retail is losing marketshare to online every year — and retailers can't stop it. They're squeezed from both sides: competing on price against massive international companies, and losing to D2C brands who still have the margins to advertise.
Meanwhile, the brands stuck in the system can't make enough noise either — because the retailer already took the margin they needed to do it.
They take 30-40%+ and then charge you more on top to advertise in their store. You're funding their business twice while yours stalls — because your customers go to them when you want to advertise.
Pick your best-performing retail store. Run the numbers.
What you're handing a retailer per week Their 30-40% cut on 100 units at $10 each + co-op marketing fees. You make $1,000 — they make $2,000 and charge you to advertise on top.$1,100
Revenue you're giving up per week 100 customers buy 1 product for $10. If they came to your website instead and were exposed to your other products, they'd spend $70. Our goal is to make this store do the same. That's $60 per customer left on the table — every week.$6,000
What it costs you per location ~$300-500 per week fixed fee per brand, per location. Covers rent, wages, power, insurance, POS — everything it takes to keep the lights on. No percentage of sales. No surprises.~$300–500/wk
And that's just one store. You're handing a retailer $1,100 a week and giving up $6,000 in lost revenue on top. With us, you pay a ~$300-500 per week fixed fee per location — no percentage of sales, no hidden fees. It doesn't take much to realise this doesn't make sense.
The flywheel: The more good brands we add, the more foot traffic everyone gets, the lower the operating costs per brand, and the more we can all spend on ads that actually drive growth.
$10
At a retailer One product, no cross-sells
$70
Your website / our store Flagship + 5 cross-sells — same experience
Advertising is fuel. Retail doesn't just take your margin — it takes the engine. No data feeding your ads, no feedback loop, no way to optimise. You're flying blind and paying for the privilege.
Think about what that $1,100 a week actually buys you in each world. In retail, you get foot traffic — maybe 2,000 people walk past your shelf, 700 of them actually stop. Untargeted. No data. No follow-up.
$1,100 in retail
700
people in the shop per day. A fraction of them are in your target market — and even fewer notice your product on a shelf among thousands.
$1,100 in online ads
100,000
targeted people at $11 CPM. By interest, behaviour, and purchase history. Already looking for what you sell.
Now imagine putting even half of that lost revenue back into advertising too.
The broken model
They win on convenience. But they strangle your growth.
Retail gives your customers a place to pick up your product. That's it. That's the only thing it does for you. And for that convenience, they put themselves in the middle.
They take 30-40%+ of your margin — then charge you more on top to advertise in their own store. They strangle growth by removing the one thing that scales a product: paid media that actually pays for itself. They bury your brand in thousands of SKUs where nobody can find anything. And they organise by category — so your customers can't find you, they just find a wall of competing products.
Meanwhile, retail's marketshare is steadily shifting to online — and the brands stuck in the old model are the ones losing ground.
We give you the same convenience. Without the middleman. You keep 100% of your margin. Your ads work again. And the store is organised by brand, not by category — your customers walk in and find your area, your products, your story. Not aisle nine behind someone else's promotion.
Traditional retail
What you get
30-40%+ margin gone — then pay more to advertise
Your data sold to competitors
Organised by category — you disappear
Ads stop working
30-90 day payment terms
Pay for your own sales data
vs
The anti-retail store
What you keep
100% of your margin
Your data — never shared
Your own branded area
Ads that actually pay for themselves
Flat fee — paid like any other bill
Real-time data included
What it actually costs you
It's not just margin.
The fee is the obvious part. Here's what nobody talks about.
Voice
You go silent online
Ads stop working the moment you go in-store. You can't run them without paying for the same sale twice.
Data
They sell your data
Your customer data is sold to your competitors. They use it to improve their own ads. You're funding their growth.
Range
Your range dies
They only want winners. The products your customers would cross-sell on never make it to shelf.
AOV
$70 becomes $10
A customer who'd buy the full range on your site walks into a retailer and picks up one item. Your cross-sells don't exist there. That $60 difference is gone forever.
Control
You become a number
Stop performing and you're off the shelf. Their size means you negotiate from weakness, not strength.
Customer
You lose the relationship
No email. No follow-up. No loyalty loop. Your customers belong to them, not to you.
Cashflow
They're slow to pay
30, 60, 90 day payment terms. You've shipped the stock, it's on their shelf, and you're still waiting for the money. Your cash is tied up, you can't reinvest, and you're more exposed if anything goes wrong.
Insight
You pay for your own data
They collect your sales data and charge you to access it. You're paying to see how your own products are performing in their store.
Attribution
You're flying blind on ads
You can't tell which ads drove the in-store sale. No attribution, no feedback loop. You're spending money on ads with no way to know what's working.
Double-pay
You pay twice for every sale
Run ads that drive someone into a retailer and you've paid for the click and given up your margin. The retailer gets the sale, the data, and the customer. You get the ad bill.
The offer
A shelf spot. No strings attached.
We're creating three anti-retail stores — collection points for Kiwi wellness and natural product brands in key hubs across the country. Auckland. Wellington. Christchurch.
This is for established brands only. You need thousands of customers a month and a strong online following to qualify. We're starting tight — once the concept is proven, we'll open it up to more brands and more sites. Right now, this is a small group of founders who are ready to take back their customers.
01
Flat fee. Not a percentage.
You pay a ~$300-500 per week fixed fee per brand, per location. If your business grows, you don't pay more. We're not a retailer. We don't touch your margin.
02
Keep 100% of your margin.
Your flagship product sits at the lowest everyday retail price. The difference? Every dollar goes to you. The store is organised by brand, not by category — your products sit together in your own branded area, with five cross-sell spots next to your winner. Your customers know exactly where to find you.
03
Your data stays yours.
We will never share your customer data with competitors. Ever. You're included in shared marketing campaigns as part of the deal — if we all do well, we all benefit.
04
$10 becomes $70.
In traditional retail, a customer picks up your one flagship product for $10 and leaves. Here, they walk into your branded area and find your cross-sells right next to it. Same customer, same visit — but now they're buying the set, not the sample.
05
Your data. Daily. For free.
In retail, you're improving fortnightly or monthly — unless you spend tens of thousands for daily data. Online, you can improve every single day. Here, you get your sales data in real time. You know what's working, what to change, and how to grow — without paying someone else for the privilege of seeing your own numbers.
06
Get paid weekly.
No 60-90 day payment terms. You get paid every week. Scale faster, reinvest sooner, and leave yourself less exposed.
07
Advertise without paying twice.
Because you keep your margin, your ads still work. Point your campaigns at the store and capture the sale fully — not just a fraction of it.
How does the store get traffic without taking margins? Every brand in the store is pointing their own customers to the same place. We're all running ads, we're all driving traffic — and it compounds. Your magnet product sits at the lowest everyday retail price so your ads compete. Your cross-sells sit at full RRP right next to it. That's where the margin lives.
None of these are required — they're optional add-ons for brands who currently rely on retailers for these business operations:
Optional
In-store marketing
Paid placement, featured positioning and in-store campaign support.
Optional
POS to ad data
Our proprietary software connects receipt emails to the Facebook Ads API — telling your ad account exactly which ads resulted in an in-store sale of your products. Real attribution, not guesswork.
Optional
3PL fulfilment
Warehousing and logistics for brands scaling their online presence who are currently using retailers' infrastructure to do so.
Optional
Network & coaching
A community of founders doing the same thing. Trade notes, share wins, and get better together.
Optional
Marketing expertise
Optional access to expert marketers who've worked with product-based businesses making the transition from retail-dependent to brand-led growth.
How the ad attribution works
Our proprietary POS-to-ad software closes the loop between in-store sales and your ad account.
📱
Step 1
Add offer to ad
Attach a promo or affiliate code to your Facebook or Instagram ad
→
🏪
Step 2
Customer redeems in store
They scan the code at POS. Receipt captures their email
→
🔄
Step 3
Sale attributed to ad
Our software matches the email to the Facebook Ads API — the ad gets the credit
→
📊
Step 4
Optimise & scale
Your ad account learns which ads drive in-store sales. Scale what works
Why this exists
We don't need your margin to survive. We need shelf space.
Our products will be on the shelves right next to yours. We're doing this because we're passionate about giving our own customers a better experience — and because we want to fight for fair.
We went into two of the biggest chains in the country — 120 stores. Within two months they told us we were at the top of their dry skin category — but the volume wasn't close to what we were doing ourselves. And I quickly found myself with a boss again. I started this business to have control — and suddenly I was uneasy, stressed, and answering to someone who didn't care about my brand the way I do.
So we left. All 120 stores. Cold turkey.
They told us: "Do you really think you'll get your customers back if you leave retail?"
120 → 0
Stores dropped overnight
+40%
Revenue uplift in first week — online only vs retail + online combined
I saw how it works on the other side and was shocked. That's my why — the same as yours.
This is a transition for brave brands who don't like their current position but are too cautious to go fully direct on their own — and don't want to lose the benefits of a physical location. You keep everything that works about having a store, without everything that doesn't.
"Why should I justify shelf space if you're supporting other retailers too?" — That's what retailers say. But you're the one bringing all the customers. You're the one running the ads. They're not driving traffic to your product — you are. Point your customers somewhere that actually works for you.
Kiwi brands helping each other win.
We're not competing with each other — we're competing with massive international companies who have unlimited budgets. The only way to win is together. Trade notes, share what's working, get better as a group. Your win is my win.
This isn't for passive, set-and-forget business owners. This is for founders who love the game — who move fast, take control, and actually build something. If that's you, let's talk.
Limited spots
Ready to take back your business?
This is for NZ wellness and natural product brands who want a voice, a real connection with their customers, and a physical presence that doesn't clip their wings. Spots are limited.
