Retail was built for big, mass distributed brands. We're building something different.

Getting your products into traditional retail can be expensive before you ever make your first sale.

There are booth fees. Buyer fees. Broker fees. Distributor requirements. Samples. Free fills. Inventory commitments. Marketing programs. Freight. Chargebacks. And sometimes, commitments to buy back inventory that doesn't sell.

Bubble Goods was built differently.

We're building a retail platform specifically for independent food brands, one where you can access customers nationally without writing a thousands-of-dollars check just to get through the door.

What does it cost to get started?

With Bubble Goods:

$35/month.

That's your platform fee.

You can list your products, build your storefront, and start selling without a large upfront inventory commitment, retail placement fee, or seasonal booth fee.

Then, when you sell, Bubble Goods takes a commission on the sale.

We put our money where our incentives are: we want you to sell.

Compare that to other retail channels

The biggest difference isn't necessarily the percentage a retailer takes.

It's how much cash you have to put into the channel before you know whether it's going to work.

🛒 Traditional Retail

Getting onto a retail shelf can mean spending money before your product has generated any revenue.

Depending on the retailer and program, brands may encounter:

$500–$5,000+ in new-item or placement costs
Free product for initial store placements
$1,000s in promotional commitments
Broker or sales-rep costs
Retail-specific packaging and merchandising
Samples and demos
Freight and pallet requirements
Inventory produced specifically for a retailer
Potential returns, deductions, or buy-back obligations if products don't sell

And that's before you know whether the retailer is going to generate meaningful velocity.

vs. Bubble Goods:

$35/month.

Test a new product. See what customers respond to. Scale what works.

You don't have to bet thousands of dollars on a shelf before you have data.

📦 Wholesale & Distribution

Wholesale can create incredible volume, but the cost of entering the channel can be significant.

A distributor or large wholesale account may require you to prepare for:

Pallet or case-level inventory
Minimum order quantities
Production runs
Warehousing
Freight
Samples
Broker support
Product onboarding
Trade promotions
New packaging or case configurations
Retail-specific insurance or compliance requirements
Potential deductions, returns, or inventory obligations

A single wholesale launch can easily turn into a $5,000–$20,000+ inventory and launch commitment for a growing brand, depending on the number of stores, case requirements, and production costs.

That's a very different proposition from testing a new channel for $35/month.

vs. Bubble Goods:

Start small.

List the products you already make. Fulfill orders as they come in. Learn what sells. Then scale production based on actual customer demand.

🌐 Big Online Marketplaces

Online marketplaces (especially one that rhymes with Schmamazon) can remove some of the physical retail barriers, but they often replace them with another kind of upfront spend:

You have to buy your way into visibility.

Brands commonly spend on:

Advertising
Sponsored placements
Photography and creative
Promotions and coupons
Fulfillment setup
Inventory sent to fulfillment centers
Storage
Returns
Product launch campaigns

For a brand trying to establish a new product, $1,000–$5,000+ in launch and advertising spend can disappear quickly before you have meaningful sales data.

And the more crowded the marketplace, the more you may have to spend to stay visible.

vs. Bubble Goods:

We don't expect independent brands to spend thousands of dollars buying visibility just to get started.

We curate the marketplace and actively merchandise independent brands.

Our goal is to help customers discover great products—not simply give the brands with the biggest advertising budgets the most visibility.

🧺 Farmers Markets

Farmers markets are one of the most accessible ways for a food brand to sell directly to customers—but they're also limited by geography and physical capacity.

A seasonal market can cost hundreds of dollars in booth fees before you factor in:

Your time
Staffing
Transportation
Tents and equipment
Signage
Samples
Permits
Unsold inventory

A $600 seasonal market fee is already equivalent to more than 17 months of Bubble Goods' $35/month platform fee.

And after that $600, you're still selling to people who physically show up at that market.

vs. Bubble Goods:

With Bubble Goods, your storefront is open to customers nationwide, 24/7.

The difference: Don't spend thousands to find out if the channel works.

This is what we want independent brands to understand.

Traditional retail asks you to invest in the channel.

Wholesale asks you to invest in inventory.

Distribution asks you to invest in volume.

Online marketplaces can ask you to invest in advertising.

Farmers markets ask you to invest in physical presence.

Bubble Goods asks you to start with $35/month.

Then we make money when you make sales.

That's a fundamentally different relationship.

We're behind independent brands.

Bubble Goods isn't just a place to upload your products.

We're building the retail infrastructure that independent food brands shouldn't have to build themselves.

We help customers discover you.
Through merchandising, collections, content, Shop Stories, social, and marketplace discovery.

We help you learn.
Through Seller Success resources covering pricing, shipping, subscriptions, merchandising, and more.

We help you scale.
Start with the products you have. Learn what sells. Add products. Build repeat customers. Grow from there.

We build around independent brands.
You don't need a 10-person sales team or a national distribution network to get started.

"But what marketing do you actually do for new sellers?"

This is one of the questions we hear most:

"How are you going to help me get sales?"

The answer is: we're building marketing into the platform.

When you launch on Bubble Goods, your products aren't sitting on an isolated storefront waiting for customers to find them.

Your listings are syndicated across our channels.

Your products can be featured across Bubble Goods' marketing ecosystem, including our website, email, social channels, content, collections, and other customer-facing discovery surfaces.

We run marketplace-wide advertising.

We invest in campaigns and advertising designed to bring shoppers to Bubble Goods and introduce them to our sellers.

That means you benefit from customer acquisition that you don't have to build entirely on your own.

And as you grow, more opportunities open up.

We're continually developing targeted marketing programs for sellers who demonstrate the products, traction, and customer demand to benefit from them.

That can mean specific campaigns, merchandising opportunities, promotional programs, content, and other forms of marketing support.

We don't promise every new seller a giant campaign on day one.

Our goal is to build a system where successful sellers get more opportunities to grow.