C.A. Carlin

What C.A. Carlin does

C.A. Carlin is a privately held, family-controlled consumer packaged goods (CPG) sales agency headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, founded in 1962 and operating for more than 60 years. The company employs more than 400 associates across nine U.S. regional offices concentrated in the Midwest (Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and St. Louis), with additional Western coverage indicated by an SVP, West role. Its core offering is organized around four capabilities — Sales Management, Support Services (order entry/EDI and deduction management), Marketing & Analytics (syndicated data and Retailer-Specific Information (RSI) for category and brand insights), and Retail Services (merchandising and in-store execution delivered by trained associates with integrated technology).

These capabilities are delivered across ten distinct retail channels — Drug, Mass, Natural and Specialty, Grocery, Convenience, Limited Assortment, Retail, Fresh, Special Markets/Alt Channel, and Convenience Services/Vending — each staffed with a dedicated team of channel-specific category experts, SVPs, and in some cases Presidents (e.g., a dedicated President for the Kroger team). C.A. Carlin extends its reach through operating partnerships with C.A. Fortune (Natural and Specialty channel) and C.A. Ferolie, collectively forming the Carlin Group network of companies.

The business model is a B2B professional-services / sales-agency model in which C.A. Carlin acts as an intermediary between CPG brand owners and retailers, generating revenue through service fees or commissions. The company does not disclose pricing publicly; client engagements are quote-based. The leadership team is family-anchored (Brad Carlin as Chairman & CEO; Jeff Mahler as President & COO) with a bench of channel-specific SVPs and functional leads. The company is not funded by external institutional or PE capital and operates as an independent private firm.

Name

C.A. Carlin

Legal name

C.A. Carlin

Website

https://carlin-group.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1962

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

C.A. Carlin is a privately held CPG sales agency founded in 1962, providing sales management, analytics, and retail execution across 10 retail channels to consumer brands, with 400+ associates and 9 U.S. Midwest offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Schaumburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices10 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Sales Agency Services: C.A. Carlin provides sales agency services to CPG brands across multiple retail channels. The company acts as an intermediary between consumer packaged goods brands and retailers, providing headquarter sales management, category management, marketing, analytics, and retail execution services. Revenue is generated through service fees or commissions from brand clients.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels10 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

C.A. Carlin is a full-service consumer packaged goods (CPG) sales agency that provides headquarter sales management, category management, marketing and analytics, and in-store retail execution services to consumer brands. The company deploys dedicated channel-expert teams across ten U.S. retail channels (Drug, Mass, Grocery, Convenience, Limited Assortment, Retail, Fresh, Special Markets/Alt Channel, Convenience Services/Vending, and Natural/Specialty) to represent CPG clients and drive brand performance at retail.

Product overview

C.A. Carlin is a full-service consumer packaged goods (CPG) sales, marketing, and analytics agency that has operated since 1962. The company offers a unified suite of services comprising Sales Management (go-to-market strategy and execution), Support Services (administrative coordination, order entry/EDI, deduction management), Marketing and Analytics (syndicated data insights using RSI, category management), and Retail Services (merchandising and in-store execution). These core capabilities are delivered across 10 distinct retail channels—Drug, Mass, Grocery, Convenience, Limited Assortment, Retail, Fresh, Special Markets/Alt Channel, Convenience Services/Vending, and Natural/Specialty—each with dedicated category expert teams. The company also operates through affiliated partners C.A. Fortune (natural/specialty) and C.A. Ferolie, with over 400 associates and offices in 9 U.S. cities (Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Des Moines, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, St. Louis).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Sales Management
• Support Services
• Marketing and Analytics
• Retail Services
• Drug Channel Services
• Mass Channel Services
• Grocery Channel Services
• Convenience Channel Services
• Limited Assortment Channel Services
• Retail Channel Services
• Fresh Channel Services
• Special Markets and Alt Channel Services
• Convenience Services and Vending
• Natural and Specialty Channel Services

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• C.A. FortunecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOperating partner of C.A. Carlin that handles Natural and Specialty channel services. Together with C.A. Fortune and C.A. Ferolie, the company has achieved nimble growth and expanded its suite of services for CPG companies.
• C.A. FeroliecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOperating partner of C.A. Carlin that has enabled nimble growth and expanded the company's ability to build brand value for clients. Part of the Carlin Group network of companies.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Advantage Solutions: Largest publicly traded CPG sales and marketing agency in North America. Provides HQ sales management, category management, retail merchandising, and analytics across grocery, mass, drug, and convenience channels—directly overlapping with Carlin's service model and target CPG brand clients.
• Acosta: Privately held CPG sales and marketing agency with national coverage across grocery, mass, drug, and convenience channels. Competes head-to-head with Carlin for CPG brand HQ sales mandates and category management engagements, but operates at significantly larger scale.
• CROSSMARK: Sales, marketing, and retail services agency serving CPG brands across grocery, mass, drug, and convenience. Offers headquarter sales, in-store execution, and analytics—overlapping strongly with Carlin's channel-by-channel model.
• Daymon Worldwide: Specializes in private label and CPG brand services including retail strategy, sourcing, and HQ sales support. Comparable to Carlin in serving CPG brands with outsourced retail and category capabilities, with a heavier private-label emphasis.

Broad incumbents

• NielsenIQ: Global CPG data and analytics incumbent that supplies syndicated scan data, retail measurement, and consumer insights. Overlaps with Carlin's Marketing and Analytics capability, but operates as a much broader data vendor rather than a channel sales agency.
• Circana (IRI + NPD): Major CPG market research and analytics firm formed by the merger of IRI and The NPD Group. Competes indirectly through the data layer Carlin builds its analytics service on, and increasingly competes for advisory and category management work.
• Kantar: Global market research and consulting firm serving CPG brands with consumer insights, category analysis, and retail strategy. Comparable in the analytics/insights layer of Carlin's offering but operates at much broader scale and is not a sales agency.

Emerging players

• Footprint: Tech-enabled retail execution platform that digitizes in-store merchandising for CPG brands and retailers. Competes with Carlin's Retail Services and merchandising capability by offering software-led execution that bypasses traditional agency field teams.
• Repsly: Cloud-based field execution and retail merchandising platform used by CPG brands and broker agencies. Represents the technology layer that newer CPG sales agencies are built on, potentially pressuring traditional agencies like Carlin on cost and visibility.

Others

• C.A. Fortune: Operating partner of C.A. Carlin focused on the natural and specialty channel. Included as an ecosystem participant—affiliated rather than competing, but provides a useful reference for the partner-led expansion model Carlin uses.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CarlinGroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cacarlin

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about C.A. Carlin