Acosta Sales & Marketing
Acosta Sales & Marketing is a privately held, outsourced sales and marketing agency headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, that represents consumer packaged goods brands to retailers across the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1927 and operating with 10,000+ employees, it delivers headquarter sales, merchandising, business intelligence, order-to-cash, and supply chain services.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1927
- HeadquartersJacksonville, United States
- Headcount5,001–10,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Acosta Sales & Marketing does
Acosta Sales & Marketing is a privately held, outsourced sales and marketing agency headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, founded in 1927 and operating with 10,000+ employees across more than 40 U.S. office locations and a Canadian subsidiary. The company represents consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers in front of retailers, delivering headquarter sales, connected commerce, merchandising, space and category management, business intelligence, revenue growth management, order-to-cash, and supply chain services. Marquee clients include The Coca-Cola Company, Tyson, Mars Food, Barilla, KAO, Kikkoman, The Honest Company, Hostess, and Freshpet, alongside a dedicated Ignite vertical for emerging natural and organic brands.
The company's service stack is supported by proprietary technology, most notably Acosta Relay — an Order-to-Cash platform that processes roughly 1.5 million claims and one million orders annually and manages $3.2 billion in trade dollars — plus the ForeSite UNFI Wholesale Power BI Dashboard, a Predictive Forecasting Engine built on historical point-of-sale data, and a National Shelving Study and Space Analysis tool. These systems, combined with a proprietary Shopper Community of 40,000+ respondents and IBM-powered analytics, underpin its business intelligence and revenue growth management offerings.
Acosta makes money as a professional services sales agency, earning fees for headquarter sales representation, in-store merchandising, business intelligence, revenue growth management, order-to-cash processing, and supply chain support across virtually every major U.S. retail channel (grocery, mass/club, natural, convenience, drug, military, wholesale, pet, independent, Hispanic) and the full Canadian retail landscape. Channel coverage includes Kroger, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Whole Foods, Costco, Albertsons, Ahold-Delhaize, Publix, H-E-B, Meijer, Sprouts, wholesalers UNFI/AWG/SpartanNash/C&S/Lipari, DeCA, and AAFES. Strategic actions over the past 15 years include the acquisitions of TrueDemand Software (2009), Anderson Daymon Worldwide (2014), IGNITE Sales Management (2016), Contemporary Foodservice Marketing (2017), and ESM Ferolie (2021), supported by an investment from Berkshire Partners in 2003.
Acosta Sales & Marketing firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Acosta Sales & Marketing
- Legal name
- Acosta
- Website
- https://acosta.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1927
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 5,001–10,000 employees
- Short description
- Acosta Sales & Marketing is a privately held, outsourced sales and marketing agency headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, that represents consumer packaged goods brands to retailers across the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1927 and operating with 10,000+ employees, it delivers headquarter sales, merchandising, business intelligence, order-to-cash, and supply chain services.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Acosta Sales & Marketing industry classification
Industry- Product category
- CPG Sales Agency Services
- NAICS
- Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services (5418)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Channel/Partner Sales Support (Reseller Enablement, Deal Reg) (BPAAADAH)
Keywords
Where Acosta Sales & Marketing is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Jacksonville
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices42 records
Markets served
Acosta Sales & Marketing business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Sales Agency Services: Acosta acts as a sales agency representing CPG brands to retailers, earning fees for headquarter sales, merchandising, business intelligence, revenue growth management, order to cash, and supply chain services. The company serves as an extension of brand sales teams.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels11 records
Marketing channels5 records
Acosta Sales & Marketing product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Acosta is an outsourced sales and marketing agency that represents consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to retailers, executing headquarter sales, in-store merchandising, space and category management, business intelligence, revenue growth management, order-to-cash, and supply chain services across grocery, mass, natural, convenience, drug, wholesale, military, and pet channels in the U.S. and Canada. The firm operates proprietary technology including the Acosta Relay order-to-cash platform and a 40,000+ member Shopper Community used to drive analytics and trade promotion execution on behalf of its brand clients.
Product overview
Acosta Sales & Marketing is an omnichannel retail growth catalyst offering a comprehensive suite of sales and marketing services. The platform combines core capabilities including Headquarter Sales, Connected Commerce, and Business Intelligence, supported by specialized verticals for Merchandising, Space + Category Management, and Revenue Growth Management. Operational excellence is delivered through Order to Cash and Supply Chain services. A dedicated Emerging Natural and Organic Brands division (Ignite) addresses the natural channel. The company operates proprietary technology including Acosta Relay for order processing and claims management, and ForeSite UNFI Wholesale Power BI Dashboard for wholesale analytics.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Ignite Sales Services: Sales services for emerging natural and organic brands seeking market expansion.
- Impact Natural
Products and services
- Headquarter Sales Connects brands with retailers through direct sales team engagement, executing go-to-market strategies and maintaining buyer relationships at the retail shelf level for CPG clients.
- Connected Commerce Converts shoppers at every stage of the purchase journey across physical and digital retail channels, optimizing brand presence in e-commerce and omnichannel environments.
- Emerging Natural and Organic Brands (Ignite) Specialized sales service delivered through Ignite Sales Services to fuel the successful expansion of natural and organic brands in natural and specialty retail channels. Originated via acquisition of IGNITE Sales Management in April 2016.
- Merchandising Brings brands to life at shelf across thousands of stores nationwide through in-store execution, product placement, and visual merchandising services.
- Space + Category Management Increases accuracy, saves time, and uncovers sales opportunities through planogram optimization, shelf space analysis, and category planning services.
- Business Intelligence Optimizes decision-making with deep insight into retail trends through data analytics, predictive forecasting, and actionable business intelligence powered by IBM analytics and the 40,000+ member Shopper Community.
- Revenue Growth Management Boosts profitability and improves market competitiveness through pricing strategy, trade promotion optimization, and revenue growth analysis.
- Order to Cash Streamlines operations and speeds up cash flow through promotional contract generation, order processing, claims management, and deduction resolution powered by the proprietary Acosta Relay technology platform.
- Supply Chain Seamlessly manages inventory movement for accurate forecasting and delivery through supply chain scorecards, inventory tracking, and logistics coordination.
Quantifiable outcome
- Mars Food saved $1.3M in slotting fees with 34% increase in distribution points
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Acosta Sales & Marketing
Customer profileNamed customers17 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Acosta Sales & Marketing technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Acosta Sales & Marketing partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators12 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Acosta Sales & Marketing competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- The Integer Group: The Integer Group is a sales and shopper marketing agency that combines brand marketing, retail activation, and shopper insights for CPG brands, comparable to Acosta's omnichannel sales and connected commerce offerings.
- Crossmark: Crossmark provides retail services including headquarter sales, in-store merchandising, and analytics to CPG manufacturers, overlapping directly with Acosta's core service lines and customer base.
- Anderson Merchandisers: Anderson Merchandisers provides retail merchandising services to mass merchandisers, drug, and grocery channels, competing with Acosta for in-store execution mandates from CPG brands.
- Premium Retail Services: Premium Retail Services is a specialized retail-merchandising and in-store execution firm serving CPG manufacturers and retailers, overlapping with Acosta's merchandising service line.
- Advantage Solutions: Advantage Solutions is the largest direct competitor to Acosta, offering outsourced sales, merchandising, and marketing services to CPG brands and retailers across the U.S. with a comparable headquarter-sales, in-store execution, and category management offering.
- SAS Retail Services: SAS Retail Services delivers retail merchandising, resets, and field execution support to CPG brands, competing head-to-head with Acosta for in-store execution mandates.
- Driveline Retail Merchandising: Driveline is one of the fastest-growing direct competitors in retail merchandising and resets, serving many of the same CPG and retail customers that Acosta targets with field execution services.
Broad incumbents
- Daymon (now part of Advantage Solutions): Daymon provides brokerage and consumer intelligence for retailers and CPG brands, historically overlapping with Acosta's headquarter sales and shopper insights service lines within the Advantage Solutions portfolio.
- News America Marketing: News America Marketing offers a broader suite of in-store advertising, digital media, and shopper marketing services to CPG brands and retailers, with overlapping shopper insights capabilities relative to Acosta.
Regional players
- Centris (Canada): Centris is a Canadian retail sales and marketing services provider comparable to Acosta Canada, offering headquarter sales and merchandising services across Canadian grocery and convenience channels.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Acosta Sales & Marketing social profiles
Digital presenceAcosta Sales & Marketing financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Acosta Sales & Marketing leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles22 records
Acosta Sales & Marketing subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries5 records
Acosta Sales & Marketing funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Acosta Sales & Marketing M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A10 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Acosta Sales & Marketing
What does Acosta Sales & Marketing do?
Acosta is an outsourced sales and marketing agency that represents consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to retailers, executing headquarter sales, in-store merchandising, space and category management, business intelligence, revenue growth management, order-to-cash, and supply chain services across grocery, mass, natural, convenience, drug, wholesale, military, and pet channels in the U.S. and Canada. The firm operates proprietary technology including the Acosta Relay order-to-cash platform and a 40,000+ member Shopper Community used to drive analytics and trade promotion execution on behalf of its brand clients.
Is Acosta Sales & Marketing a public or private company?
Acosta Sales & Marketing is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Acosta Sales & Marketing founded?
Acosta Sales & Marketing was founded in 1927. It employs 5,001 to 10,000 people.
Where is Acosta Sales & Marketing based?
Acosta Sales & Marketing is headquartered in Jacksonville, United States, in the North America region.
How does Acosta Sales & Marketing make money?
One revenue line is on record: sales Agency Services.
Who are Acosta Sales & Marketing's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are The Integer Group, Crossmark, Anderson Merchandisers, Premium Retail Services, Advantage Solutions, SAS Retail Services and Driveline Retail Merchandising. Broad incumbents are Daymon (now part of Advantage Solutions) and News America Marketing. Centris (Canada) is listed as a regional player.
Does Acosta Sales & Marketing have an API?
No public API is recorded for Acosta Sales & Marketing.
What industry is Acosta Sales & Marketing in?
Acosta Sales & Marketing's product category is CPG Sales Agency Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAAADAH, Channel/Partner Sales Support (Reseller Enablement, Deal Reg). Its NAICS code is 5418.