Monthly Category Review

Each answer is produced by an automated system built for that one job. The examples come from your sweet chili report.

01 · Benchmarks

Who is winning this category?

You see the leading packs in the world and in Iran side by side, each with its photo, size, price, ingredients and buyer ratings.

The system behind it

Automated searches cover 19 groups of sources, from Amazon and European grocers to Digikala, Basalam and Torob. Duplicates and multipacks are merged, and every size and price is made comparable.

What it showed for sweet chili

Frank’s RedHot leads the world shelf with 3,597 buyer ratings, ahead of Heinz, G Hughes and Best of Thailand.

Frank’s RedHot443 g · 3,597 ratingsmeasured

Heinz275 g · 2,515 ratingsmeasured

G Hughes510 g · 2,321 ratingsmeasured

Best of Thailand670 g · 1,672 ratingsmeasured

2,228 listings from 35 countries became 703 distinct packs: 645 worldwide and 58 in Iran.

02 · Segments

How does the category divide?

Every pack is sorted by what matters to the buyer: sugar, additives, heat, texture, pack type, size and price. You see each segment’s share of the world shelf next to its share of Iran’s.

The system behind it

Software reads the label first, then the pack photo, then the listing. Every pack is sorted by the same written rules, and anything the software could not see is marked as not seen.

What it showed for sweet chili

Retailer own-label is 17% of the world shelf and absent from Iran’s.

Glass bottle54.1%46.6%

Plastic (PET) bottle20.9%27.6%

Bulk tub, 2 kg and up10.5%17.2%

Organic and clean label11.6%1.7%

Hot and extra hot6.5%1.7%

Retailer own-label16.7%0.0%

World shelf, 645 packsIranian shelf, 58 packs

Six of the 15 segments. The twelve attribute tables are further down this page.

03 · Market

How big is it, and is it growing?

You get the market size from published reports, each with its publisher and year, and search growth measured in each market’s own language.

The system behind it

Published figures are collected and compared, and figures that contradict each other are flagged. Searches are checked market by market, term by term.

What it showed for sweet chili

Sweet chili is a $1.8 bn corner of a $166 bn sauce market. Searches grew 22% worldwide in a year and 4% in Iran.

Sauces, dressings and condiments$166 bn

Cooking sauces$63 bn

Asian sauces$62 bn

Chili sauce, all kinds$7.2 bn

Hot sauce$5.7 bn

Sweet chili sauce$1.8 bn

Sizes as published, 2023–25. Six published reports put sweet chili between $0.4 bn and $3.2 bn. Iran’s figure is for the Persian term for Thai chili sauce.

04 · Brands

Who owns the shelf?

You see which brands hold buyers’ attention in each market, and how much of it each one holds.

The system behind it

Ratings are counted once per product, because Amazon repeats the same reviews across countries and pack sizes. Each price is the median across the shops that sell the pack.

What it showed for sweet chili

In Iran, Delveseh and Kaleh hold 82% of all buyer ratings.

Delveseh470 g · 1,794 ratingsmeasured

Kaleh400 g · 1,511 ratingsmeasured

Ratings show popularity, not units sold.

05 · Gaps

Where is the opening in Iran?

Something missing from Iran’s shelf is not automatically an opening. You see each gap next to the Iranian facts that decide it: what buyers can afford, how they use the product, who already sells there and what they search for in Persian.

The system behind it

The two shelves are compared row by row. Each gap is then checked against Iranian prices, wages, uses, sales channels and Persian searches, and rows with too little data are marked.

What it showed for sweet chili

In Iran, sweet chili is a fast-food dip bought on price: 100 g costs 46 minutes of minimum-wage work, against 16 in the US and 4 in the UK.

GapWorld vs IranWhat Iran’s market says

Food-service tubs, 2 kg and up68 vs 10Already Iran’s thickest row: seven brands sell 4–9 kg tubs to kitchens, which take about 40% of the estimated volume.

Sugar-free on the pack31 vs 2Worth studying. Kaleh Pro is the only one made locally, with 147 ratings against 1,511 for Kaleh’s classic, and the Persian search term appears in 1 of 61 months.

Retailer own-label108 vs 0No Iranian chain sells its own sweet chili yet.

Hot and extra hot42 vs 1The Persian search term for a hot version appears in 7 of 61 months.

Organic and clean label75 vs 1Price comes first: Iranian-made sauce sells at a tenth of the world price.

Jam-thick, lime and fruit30 vs 0Iranian packs name fried chicken, fries, pizza and sandwiches as uses. The world also cooks with it: stir-fry appears on 140 packs worldwide and 7 in Iran.

Counts are packs worldwide vs packs in Iran. Wage minutes use each country’s statutory minimum wage. The volume share comes from the report’s size estimate.

06 · Demand

Are Iranian buyers looking for it?

You see the words people actually type into Google and Torob, in Persian, and which searches are rising.

The system behind it

Persian search trends, related searches and shop autocomplete are collected automatically. An English keyword never stands in for the Persian one.

What it showed for sweet chili

Buyers search for «سس تای» (Thai sauce) more than «سس چیلی تای» (Thai chili sauce). Torob already suggests «سس چیلی بهروز» (Behrouz chili sauce).

Searches related to «سس چیلی تای» (Thai chili sauce) in Iran, relative index

طرز تهیه سس چیلیhow to make chili sauce100سس چیلی تای دلوسهDelveseh Thai chili sauce69دلوسهDelveseh68سس چیلی تای چیستwhat is Thai chili sauce60سس چیلی تای دلپذیرDelpazir Thai chili sauce20+250%سس چیلی تای بیژنBijan Thai chili sauce18breakoutانواع سسtypes of sauce13+80%

07 · Iran

What is on the Iranian shelf today?

You see every pack on sale online in Iran, local and imported, with its price in toman and in US dollars.

The system behind it

We read Iranian marketplaces and chain stores directly. Every price keeps its shop and its date, and both exchange rates are shown.

What it showed for sweet chili

58 packs are on sale, 37 of them made in Iran. Iranian-made sauce sells at about a tenth of the world price.

$0.116median price per 100 g, made in Iran

$1.149median price per 100 g, world

15 packs are imported and 6 are of unclear origin. The first 36 photos are shown.

08 · Cost

What would it cost to make?

You get a recipe, the cost of ingredients and packaging, the legal margins between factory and shelf, and the co-packers who could make it.

The system behind it

The recipe is rebuilt from the market leaders’ ingredient lists and priced line by line with current Iranian input prices.

What it showed for sweet chili

A 400 g bottle costs at least 30,750 toman in ingredients, bottle and cap. Sugar alone is 64% of the ingredient cost.

Classic recipe, ingredient cost per 100 g6,638 toman

400 g PET bottle: ingredients, bottle and cap30,750 toman

Legal margins: distribution + retail, then VAT12% + 14%, then 10%

Co-packers named (two offer private-label sauce)4

The bottle figure is a floor: it excludes filling, label and carton.

09 · Conclusion

What should you do?

You get the openings ranked: where to build, where to test first and where not to go, each with the conditions it depends on.

The system behind it

Before you see a conclusion, separate automated reviewers try to knock it down. Every correction is logged.

What it showed for sweet chili

The sweet chili report opens with four openings, from food service to the variants Iran does not have yet.

Food serviceThe thickest Iranian row: bulk tubs are 17.2% of Iranian packs, and seven brands already sell 4–9 kg to kitchens.

RetailA two-brand shelf: Delveseh and Kaleh hold 82% of all Iranian ratings.

What sellsThe classic sauce: every Iranian-made pack but one is full-sugar.

VariantsNot yet in Iran: sugar-free, garlic, hot, organic and jam have one or two Iranian packs each.

See every product in the category before you launch yours.

Nine questions, answered for every category.

Who is winning this category?

How does the category divide?

How big is it, and is it growing?

Who owns the shelf?

Where is the opening in Iran?

Are Iranian buyers looking for it?

What is on the Iranian shelf today?

What would it cost to make?

What should you do?

Three reasons you can rely on the report.

Every number has a source

Nothing is hidden

Conclusions are tested first

One category, sorted twelve ways.

Sugar

Additives and formulation

Heat

Texture

Pack format

Pack size

Price per 100 g

Recipe variant

Claims

Uses

Who makes it

Chilli on the pack

Your sweet chili report.

Sweet chili in Iran: the openings, measured against the world shelf.

Name the first category.