How CPG brands should manage a 3PL: the KPIs to track, how to onboard, control costs, and avoid retail chargebacks so fulfillment runs smoothly.

Retail compliance is more than chargebacks. See the operational and product rules CPG brands must meet to sell into retail, and how to stay compliant.

If you are moving product as a growing brand, you have probably heard both terms tossed around by your co-packer, another founder, or someone at your 3PL, and maybe wondered which one you actually need. Let us break it down for you.

Getting EDI right comes down to a handful of unglamorous moves, done in the right order and early enough that nothing catches fire during your retail launch. Most founders learn that order the hard way, after the first stack of chargebacks land, but it most certainly doesn’t need to be that way. Hence, this mini master class!

The brands that get chargebacks under control share one belief. They stopped seeing chargebacks as random bad luck and started seeing them as a process they can audit, fight, and mostly prevent. That's the whole game.

Retail compliance is more than chargebacks. See the operational and product rules CPG brands must meet to sell into retail, and how to stay compliant.

A retail chargeback is a fee a retailer like Walmart, Target, or Kroger deducts straight from what it owes you when a shipment breaks the rules laid out in their vendor manual. The money is gone before you see an invoice, usually tagged with a reason code that tells you what they say went wrong….

We interviewed a number of COOs and Directors of Operations, and we documented what they feel are the best use cases for AI in supply chain and CPG operations.

3PL vs 4PL explained for CPG brands. Compare cost, control, and retailer compliance to pick the right logistics model for your stage.

Out-of-stocks cost retailers roughly $1.2 trillion a year globally, according to IHL Group's 2025 inventory research. For a growing brand, the sting can be painful. A stockout can cost you a retail slot, tank your Amazon ranking right when you've built momentum, or teach a buyer that you can't be trusted with more doors.