Slotting fee
Slotting fees, also called slotting allowances or pay-to-stay, are payments that manufacturers make to retailers to get their products placed on shelves or into a retailer’s distribution system. The amounts vary by product, brand, and market. For a new product, the fee might be about $25,000 per item in a regional group of stores, but can reach as high as $250,000 in busy markets. Retailers may also charge extra fees for promotion, advertising, and stocking.
The practice is widespread in supermarkets. Some grocers earn more from carrying a product than they do from selling it to shoppers. Slotting fees aim to help allocate limited shelf space, share the risk of new product failure between manufacturers and retailers, let manufacturers signal how well a product might do, and expand distribution by reducing competition among retailers.
Critics say slotting fees can profit retailers at the expense of suppliers and create barriers for smaller companies that lack cash. There can be abuse, such as a bakery being asked for a six-figure fee with no guarantee the items would be carried in future periods. The practice has also been common in major bookstore chains in the United States since the mid-1990s.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:53 (CET).