What sits between the factory price and the price you pay?
Tracing how a price builds from producer through import, logistics, wholesale, platforms and retail to you — separating what is verified, estimated and still unknown.
Between what producers get and consumers pay, which stage adds how much. For Korean produce on average, the rise in distribution cost came at wholesale and retail.
Bottleneck examined: Price · causes checked: distribution margins, market power
A hypothetical: buying at ₩4,000 and selling at ₩12,000 does not mean ₩8,000 profit: logistics, storage, cold chain, staff, rent, power, card fees, waste, returns, promotions, apps, head office and tax sit in between. We separate markup, gross, operating and net margins, and never invent unpublished values.
Applied to the Peacock skewers, only the estimated VAT is attributed; the rest stays unresolved rather than being forced to 100%. See Peacock
PB VS NB
Did a PB cut the middle steps — and who kept the saving?
Private brand
OEM factoryRetailer PBConsumer
National brand
Manufacturer brandDistributorRetailerConsumer
A saving from fewer steps can go to shoppers (lower price), to the retailer, or be shared. Without a same-time NB price and the manufacturing terms we mark it Unknown. Peacock skewers: unknown
PRODUCER SHARE
The producer’s share of the final price
Producer share
Producer revenue ÷ consumer price, computed only from official or reliable data. E.g. ₩10,000 paid, ₩2,000 to the farm → 20%.
Distribution spread
Consumer − producer price: every cost and margin in between, not “distribution profit”.
Price multiplier
Consumer ÷ producer price. 4.0× means the price grew fourfold, not “4× profiteering”.
Markup · gross margin
(sale − acquisition) ÷ acquisition · (sale − acquisition) ÷ sale, only from a documented acquisition cost. Gross margin is not net margin.
Factory price (FOB) plus freight and insurance gives CIF; tariff is added and VAT is levied on CIF plus tariff. Food adds inspection, chilled/frozen goods add cold-chain cost, and a weaker won raises import cost.
Real example: per its label, the Peacock skewer pack is made by a Thai OEM (Betagro group) and imported directly by E-Mart, which is both importer and seller. See the path
Average import unit values from Korea Customs, UN Comtrade or KITA are category averages, not a specific brand’s import price, and are labelled as such.
RetailerShelf and selling, small packs, store costs, promotion, waste and returns
PlatformListing and ads, payment, fulfilment, delivery — fees must be split by item
When a step disappears, someone else does its job. A study of the online wholesale market estimated lower wholesale costs and 5.1% higher farm-gate value; whether that reached final shoppers is not yet known. See comparison
PRICING POWER
Who controls the price?
Each stage is a price setter, taker, negotiated, regulated or unknown. We note factors like concentration, exclusive distribution, brand power, shelf access, platform power, supplier dependency and contract structure with evidence — no invented “pricing power score”.
WE DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING
Unknown is an answer
Most distribution contracts are private. We connect what public sources confirm, mark the rest as estimated or unknown, and fill gaps with verifiable insider reports. The aim is not a perfect cost calculator but a 60–70% view into the black box.
Which rules shaped this price?Regulation Detective · not built yet
SOURCING
The cheaper way to buy: same quality, lower unit price
Lower prices come two ways: changing the channel to skip middle margins (same quality), or cutting ingredients to hit a price (quality trade-off). We keep them apart and compare only unit prices of products confirmed to be the same. Bigger packs are not always cheaper, so every comparison is per unit. See Peacock unit prices
Melon soda
Difficulty: EASY · No cooking step, only mixing (AMS structural judgement).