Pepsi — Wholesale Supply

Two buyers order the same volume of Pepsi, one in loose trays and one in shrink multipacks, and end up with materially different containers: different pallet counts, different payload, different handling at the far end, and different work for whoever breaks the load down. Pack construction is the least discussed and most consequential part of a carbonate order. Iguazu Trading exports genuine EU-produced Pepsi in the manufacturer's sealed packaging from our Madrid warehouse, worldwide, as part of the beverage range we load for export, and this page is written about the pack rather than about the brand.

What each format actually costs you in the box

Format is not a preference expressed at the end of an order. It sets shelf position, price per litre, pallet build and how much liquid you can legally put on a truck. The table below is how we think about the ladder when we plan a load.

Format	Where it sells	What it does to the load
Standard can, loose in trays	Impulse, forecourt, vending	Dense and predictable to stack; simplest to re-sort at receipt
Shrink multipack	Grocery, promotional space	More cube for the same liquid; wrap condition matters in a warm hold
Slimline can	On-trade, hotel, food-to-go	Different case footprint; rarely interchangeable on a mixed layer
Single-serve PET	Convenience and forecourt chillers	Lighter per case, more cases to count, more handling at receipt
Take-home PET	Family grocery, wholesale clubs	Heavy; reaches the payload ceiling first and caps pallet positions

A typical load out of Madrid carries three or four of these together, since the buyer is feeding several channels from one warehouse. That is normal and it is quoted line by line, since each construction carries its own weight and its own build.

The multipack question nobody asks until it is too late

If your plan is to buy multipacks and sell the cans individually, check the pack before you buy the container. Individual units inside a European multipack are commonly marked to indicate that they are not intended for separate sale, and some markets take that marking seriously at retail level. It is not a customs problem, but it can become a listing problem with a modern-trade customer, and it is a poor moment to discover it after clearance.

The reverse case matters as well. Where your accounts want singles, loose trays are usually the cleaner buy even if the multipack looks better on paper, because splitting shrink at destination costs labour, produces waste and leaves you holding cans with no outer case to protect them in your own delivery run. We will tell you which construction suits the way you actually distribute, and we do not repack or re-wrap anything ourselves.

How a mixed pallet is built and described

Mixed pallets are standard here, across variants and across brands. The build rule we work to is whole layers of a single line stacked on one base rather than cases intermingled through the stack. That keeps the pallet countable on receipt, lets a warehouse break it to SKU without a full re-sort, and gives a clearance agent a packing list that maps to what is physically on the pallet.

Every mixed pallet is itemised line by line, so nobody has to cut wrap to establish what is inside. How many cases sit on a layer, how many layers make a pallet, how many positions a 20ft or 40ft absorbs and what that leaves as payload are all written into the offer once we know which stock is available. None of it is published as a generic figure. Buyers who want the mechanics set out in full will find our guide to pallet and container planning for FMCG loads more useful than any number we could put on a product page.

Weight before space

Carbonates are weight-limited cargo. A beverage container hits its payload ceiling with usable cube still empty, which is why so many of the loads leaving Madrid are mixed rather than single-category: the space above the drinks is free capacity, and filling it with a lighter category spreads the freight across more invoice value without touching the weight limit. Buyers who want the orange line on the same booking usually add Mirinda at the same time, and the whole thing still moves as one shipment on one set of documents.

Regular and zero sugar are two lines, not one

We quote sugar variants separately as a matter of routine, and it is worth modelling them separately too. Demand is the obvious reason. The less obvious one is that a number of markets, including several in the Gulf, assess duty on sweetened beverages by reference to sugar content rather than as a flat charge on value, so the ratio inside your container can affect what you pay to bring it in. The detail changes by market and by year, we are not tax advisers, and you should confirm the current position with your customs broker. What we can do is describe the goods on the export documents precisely enough for that assessment to be made without a query.

Terms, ports and the document set

Loading is from Madrid, which is inland. Valencia is around 355 km and Barcelona around 620 km, both roughly a day on the road, with Algeciras as the transhipment route and Coslada as the rail option. Incoterms 2020 apply: EXW Madrid means our premises rather than a port, and FOB, CFR, CIF and DAP are all available. DDP is not offered as standard, and if a competing offer quotes it, the difference is worth reading closely before you compare the two figures.

Consolidating does not multiply the paperwork. One commercial invoice covers the whole load with every brand, format and variant on its own line, one packing list maps to the pallets as they were physically built, and there is a single export declaration and transport document, plus a Certificate of Origin and a EUR.1 movement certificate where a preferential agreement between the EU and your destination applies. Stock is EU-produced and supplied in the manufacturer's own sealed packaging. We are an independent distributor, we hold no appointment from any brand owner, and we sell to trade buyers only.