GROSS. — free commercial calculators for UK FMCG brand teams

FMCG margin benchmarks

Indicative UK gross-margin ranges by category — confectionery, soft drinks, snacks, chilled, beauty — measured properly, dated, and honest about being ranges.

Indicative UK brand gross-margin ranges by category, measured on the right base and honest about being ranges.

Every founder asks the same question before a range review: what margin should I be making? The honest answer is a range, not a number — and anyone who gives you a point figure is selling something. The ranges below are indicative UK brand gross margins measured as a share of net revenue (what you bank, not the shelf price), collected from published accounts, industry commentary and practitioner experience. They are maintained on The Rate Card with their dates and sources.

Broad UK brand gross-margin ranges by category: general FMCG 25–45%; confectionery 30–50%; soft drinks 25–45%; snacks 30–48%; ambient grocery 20–40%; chilled and fresh 18–35%; health and wellness 35–55%; beauty and personal care 45–65%.

How to read a benchmark

A benchmark is a sense-check, not a target. Sitting below the range for your category tells you to look for the leak — cost of goods, trade spend, route to market — before a buyer looks for it. Sitting above it tells you to enjoy it while it lasts, and to ask whether the number survives a promotion-heavy year.

Measure on the right base. These ranges are gross margin as a share of net revenue after trade deductions and after landed cost (cost of goods plus inbound freight). Measuring off the shelf price, or before promo funding, flatters the number and ruins the comparison.

Scale changes everything. A challenger brand carries co-packing premiums, small production runs and full-price freight that an established brand does not. Being five points below the category range at year two is normal; the question is the trajectory.

Asked a lot

What is a good gross margin for an FMCG brand in the UK?

For most grocery categories, 25–45% of net revenue is the broad healthy band, with beauty and wellness higher and chilled/fresh lower. Below 20% there is usually no room for trade spend and growth; the specific answer depends on category — see the ranges above.

Are these margins before or after trade spend?

After. The ranges are gross margin measured against net revenue — the money that survives promo funding and back margin — less landed cost of goods. Measuring before trade deductions produces a flattering number that no investor or buyer will accept.

Why is my margin below the benchmark?

The usual suspects, in order: cost of goods at challenger scale, trade spend above 30% of invoice, freight not priced into the unit economics, or a wholesaler layer stacking a second margin. Work through them in that order with real numbers before concluding the category does not work.

Where do these numbers come from?

Published accounts, industry commentary and practitioner experience, held as ranges precisely because point figures in this territory are false precision. Each range is dated and sourced on The Rate Card, and corrected when someone shows us better data.

The other calculators

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• The Rate Card — Every default in GROSS., what it is, when it was checked and where it comes from. The maths is only as good as

Free, no sign-up. The maths is checked; the defaults are dated and sourced on The Rate Card. VAT number: not applicable. This is a website.