Supermarket Together is DeadDevsTellNoLies' co-op shop management game, released on 9 August 2024, and it runs up to 16 players inside one store. You order stock, set prices against the market, stack shelves, work the tills and chase shoplifters, with difficulty scaling to how many people are connected. Solo works, but the game is designed around the moment four players realise nobody restocked the dairy fridge.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. Franchise Points come from levelling the store through checkouts rather than from raw profit, so keeping tills moving is the fastest route to perks
Franchise Points come from levelling the store through checkouts rather than from raw profit, so keeping tills moving is the fastest route to perks. A player standing at a register out-earns the same player wandering the aisles.
2. Storage capacity is the hidden bottleneck
Storage capacity is the hidden bottleneck. Deliveries that will not fit jam the restock loop, so buy Storage Shelves in the back room before spending on extra floor shelves you cannot keep full anyway.
3. Pricing above the market reference figure loses customers straight away
Pricing above the market reference figure loses customers straight away. Sitting a few percent under it moves far more volume, and volume is what levels the store and pays out Franchise Points.
4. Take the Employee perks on the board early
Take the Employee perks on the board early. Each one unlocks a hire, and a single restocker working full time is worth more than any individual speed upgrade you could buy instead.
5. Agree roles before opening rather than during a rush
Agree roles before opening rather than during a rush. The standard four player split is one on tills, one restocking, one on ordering and pricing, and one covering security and cleaning.
6. Shoplifters look identical to customers until they take something
Shoplifters look identical to customers until they take something. A Security employee with a broom at the entrance, plus metal detectors and CCTV, catches most of them without anyone sprinting across the shop floor.
7. Difficulty scales with connected players, so a store four people ran comfortably becomes chaos at eight
Difficulty scales with connected players, so a store four people ran comfortably becomes chaos at eight. Add tills, shelves and staff before you invite more people, not after they arrive.
8. The manufacturing department needs at least two Research machines at 3,500 each before it produces anything worth selling, so treat it as a mid game project rather than an opening purchase
The manufacturing department needs at least two Research machines at 3,500 each before it produces anything worth selling, so treat it as a mid game project rather than an opening purchase.
9. Demolish interior pillars once the money is there
Demolish interior pillars once the money is there. They chop the floor plan into awkward pockets and force customer paths into loops that slow checkout throughput for the whole store.
10. Footfall perks such as Wifi Connection and Air Conditioning only help if you already have the shelves and staff to serve the extra customers
Footfall perks such as Wifi Connection and Air Conditioning only help if you already have the shelves and staff to serve the extra customers. Buy capacity first and demand second, never the other way round.
Advanced Strategies
Build Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Cashier (A-Tier):
- Focus on Franchise Points board combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Product Shelf
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For Restocker (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Double Fridge
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how Supermarket Together's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
Franchise Points board + Ordering and restocking loop: Levelling the supermarket through checkouts pays out Franchise Points, which you spend on a blackboard of perks. Combined with Ordering and restocking loop, you order boxes on the store computer, they land in the storage room, and somebody has to move that stock onto the shelves before customers walk out.
Product pricing + Employee hiring and job roles: Each of the 300 plus products has a reference market price and you set yours against it. When paired with Employee hiring and job roles, eighteen employees are available across seven jobs: cashier, restock, security, technician, packaging, manufacturing and storage.
Shoplifters and store security scaling: Thieves walk in looking exactly like customers until they pocket something. An employee assigned to Security guards the entrance with a broom, and metal detectors plus CCTV cover what one person cannot watch.
Equipment Efficiency
| Equipment | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Product Shelf | Widening the range every time the Franchise board unlocks new products. | The basic floor unit, holding one product type per section. |
| Double Fridge | Stores whose chilled aisle runs dry before the restocker gets back around. | Twice the frontage of the Basic Fridge for chilled goods, which is where drinks and dairy volume lives. |
| Storage Shelf | Any store past its first expansion, ahead of buying more floor shelves. | Back room racking. |
| Checkout Counter | Adding a second and third till the moment queues reach four customers. | Comes in left and right variants so you can build a till bank customers can actually queue at. |
| Production Machine | Established stores with a spare player free to run the back room. | Costs 7,500 and turns the manufacturing department into a source of own brand products carrying better margins than resold stock. |
Location Efficiency
Produce Section (Store level 1 onward): Fruit and vegetables: low unit price, high turnover, and the shelves that empty first on a busy day. It is the department that teaches you how fast restocking has to be.
Pharmacy Department (Mid game store levels): Unlocked later through the Franchise board. Small items with strong margins per shelf section, which makes it excellent value for the floor space it occupies.
Electronics Department (Later store levels): The big ticket goods. Highest revenue per sale in the store and also the aisle shoplifters head for first, so it wants camera coverage before it wants more stock.
Storage Room (All store levels): Where every delivery lands. Its racking, not your bank balance, is the real limit on how much stock you can keep moving, and upgrades push capacity toward 49,000 items.
Checkout Area (All store levels): The till bank, the entrance and, once unlocked, self checkouts. Every scan feeds store levelling, so this small patch of floor generates the Franchise Points that pay for everything else.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- Buying more floor shelves while the back room is already overflowing with unplaced boxes.
- Pricing everything well above the market figure and wondering why the store empties out.
- Leaving tills unmanned during a rush until queues grow long enough that customers give up.
- Hiring staff without first taking the board perks that make those staff faster.
- Inviting eight players into a store built for four, then losing money to abandoned baskets.
Pro Quick Tips
- Franchise Points come from levelling the store through checkouts rather than from raw profit, so keeping tills moving is the fastest route to perks. A player standing at a register out-earns the same player wandering the aisles.
- Storage capacity is the hidden bottleneck. Deliveries that will not fit jam the restock loop, so buy Storage Shelves in the back room before spending on extra floor shelves you cannot keep full anyway.
- Pricing above the market reference figure loses customers straight away. Sitting a few percent under it moves far more volume, and volume is what levels the store and pays out Franchise Points.
- Start with Restocker, switch to Cashier when ready
- Invest in Product Shelf above everything else
- Clear areas in order: Produce Section → Pharmacy Department → Electronics Department → Storage Room → Checkout Area. See our maps guide
- Franchise Points board + Ordering and restocking loop together are stronger than either alone
More Supermarket Together Guides
- Supermarket Together Supermarket Together Overview
- Supermarket Together Best Builds
- Supermarket Together Tier List
- Supermarket Together Walkthrough
- Supermarket Together Beginner's Guide
- Supermarket Together Weapons Guide
- Supermarket Together Combat Guide
- Supermarket Together Boss Guide
- Supermarket Together Maps & Locations
- Supermarket Together Crafting Guide
- Supermarket Together Classes & Characters
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