The safest way to become a category leader is to be category leader five years earlier. However, there are exceptions.
In several hundred categories investigated, we find that virtually every category leader in 2012 has already been a major player in 2008.
Examples of market leaders 2012 that were not ranked in the top 3 in 2008 (1% of all cases)
• Okay Kitchen paper
• Lux Soap
• Merve Green Beans
• Lohmanders cooking sauce
The prevalence and characteristics of premium brands The number of really cheap and rather premium National Brands is stable Both in 2019 […]
Qualities we reward in the brands we buy Brand Authenticity: Manufacturing site matters Many brands, as they grow from local icons to […]
Challenges and opportunities for the majority of brands (because only so many brands can be large) Tiny today – big tomorrow? Where […]
This week we look at three research studies on consumer decision-making in retailers and how to act on these findings. Distance matters: […]
We all know that errors in judgement are human. Today we highlight a few scholarly contributions that investigate lack of judgement when it […]
Which categories are increasing their spend most during events? Are these efforts more or less effective than in non-event times? What categories […]
Easing inflation results in both a positive impact on volumes and downward pressure on value across all 3 super-categories The past ten […]
Academic learnings about their effectiveness during events and the impact of a “Promotion-Free World” Events and promotional effectiveness What a summer: the […]
How pack sizes offered and bought have changed over five years Our Europanel BG20 initiative contains data for the pack size of […]
The contribution of high vs low PL share categories Private Label (PL) shares up by 3% Over the past five years, PL […]
Differences between categories capturing large vs small parts of shoppers’ budgets Private label shares almost identical in high vs low SOW categories […]
A closer look at categories which capture large vs small budgets Top 5 categories account for one third of spend Shoppers allocate […]
Lots of questions last week on the relevance of penetration as a growth KPI. We share some recent findings and a look back […]
Last week’s blog focused on shopping frequency and its impact on loyalty – this week we examine the impact of the brand’s share […]
One of the most established measures to capture brand loyalty, share-of-wallet, shows how much of their category spend the average brand buyer allocates […]
Following up last week’s analyses focusing on brand purchase frequency this week’s pick investigates the category angle Category frequency substantially higher for […]
Retained Buyers of a Brand buy it about twice as often in a given year than new buyers in that year or lost […]
Following up last week’s analyses how many of its buyers brands must expect to lose from one year to the next we focus […]
Over the next few weeks we will look at a number of “established concepts” in consumer buying, starting today with the leaky bucket: […]
McKinsey, Eurocommerce, Europanel predicts FMCG retailing to grow 3.5 times faster online than offline Our recently launched report THE STATE OF GROCERY […]
a pre/post Covid-19 comparison More brands were active launchers in 2019 compared to 2022 The percentage of brands launching at least one […]
One in two Top 10 brands was innovating in 2022 For a brand, the launch of new products can have many benefits, […]
Value growth in most countries remains close to record years, apart from Japan, China and US The best and worst years over the […]
Today we look at how a high vs a low Private Label share impacts the shares of large and small brands. In a […]
Today we examine differences across regions and category types. The Top 3 brands in a category capture almost 50% of the total […]
The larger the range, the more launches in a category The new product activity in a category increases with the existing assortment […]
How much to expect from a larger range? Very similar impact across category types from assortment size variation We ran a regression […]
Number of SKUs, its relationship to reach, category differences and how Private Labels play assortment size. The average Top 10 Brand in […]
And Discounters appeal to all sociodemographics. Private Label growth in Western Europe strongly linked to economic conditions Looking back over the past […]
Focusing on shoppers‘ environmental concerns and actions: Packaging matters! Shoppers want retailers to focus on waste reduction (packaging, product and supply chain) […]
And some scientific insights which categories are more (or less) suited for sustainable positioning. Price is the greatest barrier to purchasing sustainably […]
Small brands’ promo dependence is much higher than for large brands. Brands in frequently purchased categories are promoted more often The average […]
While some actions are at their own discretion, a majority feels governments and manufacturers should be in a prime position to limit environmental […]
These rather premium brands on average command a market share of 5% in terms of volume and 7.2 % in terms of value. […]
Economic theory would suggest that National Brands have a tougher time in categories where they are relatively more expensive than in categories where […]
We will be back early next year. Merry Christmas! What categories advertise the most during sports events? During sporting events both the […]
This week we show that innovating companies are more likely to grow and that winning brands are more likely to innovate. Launch […]
Today we focus on the price gap between National Brands and Private Labels. Category Price Premia remained stable In the average category […]
How many brands’ rankings were maintained, improved or worsened? 8 out of 10 leading brands held on to their top position Out […]
We start with market structure. Almost 40% of FMCG volume in Europe from Private Labels The FMCG market shows quite a distinct […]
All from scientific learnings across our network of marketing academics. Why different price threshold patterns exist We showed last week that price […]
Strong volume gains during the pandemic, followed by downtrading on price and volume because of high inflation levels Volume and Value changes […]
In this weeks edition we look at another top headline from the recently launched WCWD 2023 report. Price is the greatest barrier […]
category variations in brands’ contribution to new product activity, launch price premia relative to their parent brand and the distribution they can expect […]
Based on a very large number of launches we shed some light on a category’s role in launch activity, the importance of the […]
This edition of Pick of the Week looks at top headlines from the recently launched WCWD 2023 report. Eco-Actives make up 1 […]
This edition of Pick of the Week looks at the relative prices charged by brands in comparison to Private Labels in their category. […]
Is total category expenditure linked to PL success? How is PL success related to the price premium of brands vs PL? Is growth […]
How many buyers does a category lose and does this differ between “mega-categories”? Does the size of the category affect the churn rate? […]
How many innovations enter the market, and how truly innovative are they? How much do brands rely on the sales of their innovations? […]
What is even more reassuring for brand manufacturers: Almost 50% of categories managed to win back share from Private Labels. The average […]
This Pick of The Week looks at the number of buyers that stop buying a brand or the category from one year to […]
Today we look at the performance of leading brands between 2016 and 2021, but also at the likelihood of non-leading brands to climb […]
And how much does frequency differ between brands that vary in terms of penetration? The average category in our BG20 database is […]
For many years we have been looking at behavioural metrics which distinguish winning and losing brands. This week’s edition confirms that the patterns […]
While companies launching new products may have unrealistic expectations hoping these launches stay on the market forever, anecdotal stories reporting that a majority […]
Launches that are truly different from existing category offerings are more likely to be branded than your average launch. The number of […]
When thinking about playing in the discount channel certain brand characteristics contribute to the likely success of these introductions for both the manufacturer […]
In today’s Pick of the Week we examine this price distance across 100s of categories for the top retailers in a Western European […]
But the financial uncertainty and inflation will also cause more deliberate choices. Half of all categories lost volume versus pre-pandemic Q1 (2019) […]
We do not see a link between Discounter growth in a category and that category’s price path. Discounter shares are growing – […]
My final contribution is on Private Label and the complex drivers of it’s current growth path influenced by much higher than average price […]
more than half of the product categories are in decline vs Q1 2019. FMCG values are growing significantly but only due to […]
But how and with which brands? Shopping frequency in Discounters in Western Europe is increasing but only marginally As shopping frequency returns […]
But how is this reflected in numbers of shoppers and what they are buying? Discounters in Western Europe are increasing their shopper […]
An important long run consideration bearing in mind the current down-trading. Online share of shopping trips continues to increase in the long […]
shares, shopper numbers, shopping frequency? Online global share of FMCG has stabilised Following the pandemic boost to online shares, this has now […]
Continued investment in new products is a major underlying factor in buyer growth and the big brands have a significant role to play. […]
Key to understand where there is more or less room for growth A common metric to evaluate a retailer’s category performance is fair […]
In one third of all categories, brands have recaptured share In the long run private label (PL) has shown fairly consistent growth, which […]
Reach matters more than frequency and spend per occasion Over the past several years we have frequently shown the well-established relationship between a […]
Brands must continue to invest to counter the threat but driving this agenda has pitfalls for retailers. Private Label is growing again […]
The rules of growth remain true over this Covid and Inflationary period. A wide range of categories in 2022 were well ahead […]
We can now share the latest trends up to the end of 2022. Our best wishes continue to go out to our team, […]
And which channels are most impacted by that return to growth and renewed shopping around? Shopping frequency has now returned to ‘normal’ […]
This week we turn to Discounters – how they are growing and why. Discounter shares are growing due to the increase in […]
What about the wider picture in Europe? Which factors are driving this share increase? And is the increase selective by product category? […]
This is set against a backdrop of volume strength for the FMCG market. FMCG volumes were strong in 2022 even in the […]
Large food and beverage brands own the biggest SKUs High share brands own more SKUs than low share brands and these on average […]
SKU numbers alone do not explain brand size Growing your brand is a never-ending quest for marketers. Increasing the size of your assortment […]
Broad Visual Processing Increases Unplanned Spending The typical supermarket offers 10,000 or more different SKUs – with less than 1 in 1,000 products […]
But what will these important parts of the market look like in 5 years time? Discounters are likely to gain significant shares […]
How do some remain strong? Can losers recover? Winning brands innovate and increase presence In Asia and Latam brands with share gains […]
But why and how difficult is it to recover? Many brands gain or lose category leadership and it’s not easy to recover […]
What happens next, after this period of inflation? Looking first at big brands, they are not immune to periods of uncertainty. And importantly, […]
Moves to Private Label and Discounters are more general and are not focused on particular products Category volumes are declining most where […]
how much to buy, which products and in which retailers? Price Inflation by category is impacting the volumes bought. Although the current […]
And the reasons why – especially the levels of category inflation. Discounters are growing share but due to store numbers and price […]
Are shopper choices changing in terms of store and product? And if so, why? Despite inflation FMCG volumes remain very resilient. The […]
Which households are impacted most? What is the effect of the categories and products in their basket? Lower income groups are much […]
Business cycle fluctuations may affect different brands differently: Some brands may be able to ride the wave of expansionary periods while others may […]
In our latest blogs we examined how category innovation developed during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, we saw category innovation declining. This blog […]
With new product activity down, does this behavior impact market share and penetration? We differentiate NBs by innovation activity in the following way: […]
This is always the case but is worse in the current high inflationary times. How does this affect your brands? There is […]
Our GfK colleagues there have been resisting and continuing operations in agreement with panel members. We can now share the latest trends covering […]
I have chosen three highlights – the value of our BG20 datasets in understanding growth through thousands of brands; the importance of long […]
This remains a huge opportunity for brands. A huge value gap remains between those who want to buy sustainably and those that […]
The views of this group on sustainability are all encompassing and it is important to recognise this in brand communication and action. […]
But what does this mean for the environmental agenda? Our latest #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2022 study shows the continuing importance of sustainability. Interest in […]
And are price rises by category consistent across the different players? Inflation is leading to a huge range of differing price changes […]
We assume that retailers don’t want shopping carts to reduce spending?! But their design does not help: Pushing a shopping cart with a […]
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues many households have changed their shopping behavior to cope with the situation. We already showed that shoppers shop […]
In our previous blog we showed a large drop in innovation activity at the category level at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. […]
Although values compared with 2021 do not reflect the rises in price, long term trends remain strong. Whilst current beverages value trends […]
And how are the online and Discounter developments impacted channel trends in Europe? Global FMCG value will increase by at least 5% […]
Is this still the case and how have Discounters and Private Labels developed in the wider European context? The second quarter of […]
Whilst this has now stabilised or even started to fall back, there are many questions about its effect on shopper behaviour. Online […]
How have absolute prices risen and what is the impact on volume share changes this year? Increase in absolute prices paid is […]
In fact more “normal service” is being resumed after the last 2 years – as shown in last week’s edition on overall purchasing. […]
BUT the declines compare with record market levels in the last two years and are also linked to less working from home than […]
Last week’s edition analysed what drives successful new products, based on 60000 new products in 3 countries. This week we look at the […]
Recently there have been a number of questions about new products and especially the relative importance of trial and repeat. Analysis across 3 […]
How do we now see the FMCG market developing? How does shopper choice change? And how can manufacturer brands counter these changes? […]
What are the longer term implications of inflation and economic downturn for prices, for Manufacturer Brands and Private Label? After a recession […]
How do discounters grow in times of uncertainty, in ‘normal’ times and in 2022 so far? This varies by type of category by […]
What are the effects of inflation so far? Where is Private Label growing? Which categories are suffering the biggest price rises? How is […]
When shopping we often encounter prices just below an even number: A latte for $2.95, a pair of jeans for $89.99 or a […]
We have shown previously that high levels of distribution are necessary (yet not sufficient) to reach high penetration. In this blog we assess […]
While the previous blog shows the link between availability and success, this entry examines the impact of a change in availability. For almost […]
Following the last period of inflation and financial downturn, manufacturers were concerned about a lack of volume growth. However, our ‘Hot or Not’ […]
In 2014, FMCG companies were concerned that the recent period of financial uncertainty had led to a lack of volume growth in developed […]
Online shares and shopping behaviour changed significantly due to the pandemic – has 2022 brought any changes? And also, following a question this […]
Inflation – what has been the impact in Quarter 1 2022 on the FMCG market, product and store choice in Western Europe? The […]
This week we look at what we can learn about new product activity from previous periods of inflation and economic downturn. Competitiveness remains […]
There have been a number of questions on this recently and here are 3 articles looking at the dangers and impacts of smaller […]
Households frequently experience changing financial conditions because of shifts in personal and economic circumstances. For example, the main breadwinner receives an increase in […]
Private labels usually benefit from worsening economic conditions because these put (actual or perceived) pressure on consumers‘ budgets. Buying more Private Labels, which […]
Changes in the price premium of National Brands versus Private Labels can result from various trends. For example, NBs increasing prices more (or […]
…Several questions recently have asked about my conclusion that inflation doesn’t seem to drive changes in store choice! Here I examine a number […]
…Has there been any acceleration of promotional tactics in periods of higher inflation? The answer seems to be no! Promotions were increasing […]
Whilst inflation impacts both Brands and Private Labels, the net effect on price development and relationships can be quite different Food price inflation […]
Food price inflation leads to down-trading when prices rise and up-trading when inflation falls As prices rise, shoppers look to contain their spend […]
How have they performed and how will inflation affect the relationship this year? Out of home consumption recovered well in 2021 but was […]
Inflation and brands. What can we learn about brand growth in times of high inflation? During periods of high inflation the rules of […]
Over the past few weeks we have looked at inflation and impacts for product choice, store choice, total market and country. This week […]
This week we continue to look at the effect of inflation on the total FMCG market – this week homing in on regional […]
The most basic manifestation of brand loyalty is repurchasing – making the same choice on the next category occasion. A study in the […]
Strong brands can benefit from higher reach and higher willingness-to-pay. The previous blog entry reports the (modest) gains PL has made in terms […]
The early 2000s saw staggering Private Label (PL) growth rates in many categories, sometimes showing market share gains of 1% per year. Back […]
Inflation. In the last couple of weeks we have looked at the impact on product and store choice. This week we turn to […]
Many things change during a periods of high inflation. Last week we learnt about Private Label share and this week we cover Discounters. […]
Last week we looked at the dynamics of Private Label and how that differs by country relative to brand investment. But how will […]
Following up on some of the investment points in the New Year’s Resolutions and also with an eye on the potential inflation issues, […]
This week we continue to look at some of the issues raised in our recent New Year’s resolutions – the unchanged rules of […]
Our first Pick of the Week this year looks at some of the issues raised in our recent New Year’s resolutions – market […]
The pandemic has led to different effects on FMCG product category shopping behaviour around the world. In Western Europe/USA more categories are being […]
The FMCG market globally and especially in Western Europe remains strong compared with long term norms – and the return of more Covid […]
Recycling becoming wish-cycling is an increasing issue because many consumers, even the Eco-Actives, are unclear on what can be recycled and which packaging […]
Brand portfolios come in many shapes and sizes. To try and provide some structure we have distinguished between five types of players competing […]
Many manufacturers compete with more than one brand in a category hoping to be able to reach buyers that they could not reach […]
What do Ikea, Nestlé, Tiffany, Burberry, L’Oreal or Adidas have in common? They all share linguistically feminine names according to a recent study. […]
A couple of weeks ago we showed that less than 50% of shoppers could name a brand with genuine concern for the environment. Our […]
Recently there have been many questions relating to shopping behaviour when inflation is high. Private Label increased sharply during the ‘credit crunch’ recession […]
Many shoppers look to manufacturers to help limit environmental damage but less than half can name a brand that shows genuine concern – […]
With the recent news dominated by COP26, we concentrate on the importance of Climate Change to shoppers and that many of them see […]
New product failure is a common companion for brand manufacturers. Some of these newcomers are labeled as sustainable which could either add to […]
7 in 10 brand portfolios have not changed their size between 2014 and 2019. Of the remainder, about the same number have added […]
Most manufacturers compete with just one brand in a category, but 1 in 3 sell multiple brands. Offering a portfolio can stem from […]
Last week we considered the potential downsides for categories and brands as sustainable choices increase. This week we look at the upsides of […]
The new #WhoCaresWhoDoes study shows the risk for categories and brands as this group grows and their purchasing becomes more important. Also this week, […]
Continuing the main insights from the new 2021 #WhoCaresWhoDoes study, this week we focus on a huge $800+ billion opportunity for brands. This […]
COP26 is coming up in a few weeks time and climate change will again feature highly in the news. Our latest #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2021 […]
Our latest #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2021 study shows that sustainability is an even more important influence on shoppers and that there is yet another increase […]
This week we build on the insights related to price thresholds – in what circumstances the different patterns occur and secondly at what […]
Recently we have received a number of questions about pricing. So the first 2 topics this and next week look at Price Thresholds […]
Our first two articles look at brand portfolios: manufacturers with a single category brand are increasingly building multi-brand portfolios and this type of […]
Changing our usual perspective, this article focuses on the largest manufacturers in 839 categories across 10 countries in 2019. We also treat a […]
The discourse around the climate crisis has been hitting new peaks – likely a result of more natural disasters (e.g., flooding, wildfire, storms) […]
In our last newsletter, we covered how listings at the top 10 retailers impact market share and penetration. This time, we look at […]
Brand Portfolios come in many forms – single brands dominate but over 40% are multi-brand of differing typologies. This week, we also look […]
In manufacturer brand portfolios, how do the penetrations of the individual brands relate to portfolio market share and does buyer overlap matter? And […]
Manufacturer brand portfolios: firstly, apart from brand size and category frequency, which other factors increase buyer overlap across the brands; secondly, the average […]
The dynamics of manufacturer brand portfolios are not as supposed – small brands in the portfolio are not especially premium priced and buyer […]
Manufacturer brand portfolios within a category are dominated by the biggest brand and it is this brand that leads portfolio growth – but […]
Manufacturer brand portfolios: this week we summarise the number and size of portfolios and then look at how each additional brand develops manufacturer […]
This week we begin a new focus area – manufacturer brand portfolios – here looking at the relationship with category buying frequency. The […]
In FMCG, brands largely still rely on retailers to find their way into the baskets of shoppers. To understand the relationship between the […]
Store displays represent a strategic touchpoint for brand manufacturers and retailers alike. Brands regularly come up with innovative and unusual ideas to promote […]
The degree to which brands share their buyers roughly follows the Duplication of Purchase law (see Andrew Ehrenberg’ seminal book Repeat Buying). The […]
Retailer size and share are determined by the number of shoppers – whilst frequency and loyalty follow, the variation across retailers is much […]
This week – innovation and promotions vs. growth in retailers: new product introductions are a key driver; but more promotions are not! Also, […]
Our first article continues the theme that the same rules and drivers of growth apply to retailers as for manufacturer brands – this […]
Even the biggest retailers have many light shoppers – more than one third of their shoppers buy no more than 5 times a […]
Retailers follow the same rules of growth as brands – the over-riding importance of buyers to growth and decline – and the ‘leaky […]
Although Private Label did not gain share in several Western European countries last year, it is growing in many other countries – hence […]
This week we turn to retail as a topic initially looking at Private Label growth, where and how to counter it. We also […]
As shown in past blog entries, category purchase frequency affects, for example, loyalty, shoppers lost and gained from one period to the next […]
Launching attractive innovations is an important way to stay relevant in most industries. National brands are typically perceived as setting the pace in […]
Fresh food often falls short of the aesthetic expectations of consumers. Shoppers consider “ugly” food as less tasty and also as less healthy […]
Continuing our theme of new products at times of economic hardship, we look at how true innovations significantly outperform minor innovations at such […]
With tough times likely post Covid-19, we look at the importance of innovation and how volume share increases translate into added value over […]
What drives new product success and which competitors is it most likely to impact? These are first two topics. Our third subject this […]
This week we look at the very important link between innovation success and the leading retailers – in terms of trial and longevity. […]
Many studies on new products show that true innovations perform the best in themselves and towards the overall business. This study highlights a […]
This week we have two topics on innovation – the importance of new products having a net contribution to range and that new […]
I have received a number of questions recently about how behaviour changes due to the pandemic will continue in the ‘new normal’ and […]
This week we continue with our new product theme looking at the amount of competitive clutter that a new product has to cut […]
This week we continue our theme of innovation looking at how innovativeness differs by country. We also develop last week’s Discounter listings topic […]
This week we continue our theme of innovation by looking at new product trial rates by country. But first there are some insights […]
Manufacturers rely on one or more brands in their efforts to capture and grow their share of the category pie. How the number […]
Private Labels (PL) have become a dominant part of the market in some categories but are still tiny in others. If specific characteristics […]
Walk in for a pack of milk only and leave the store with lots of other things. Visual focus explains why such unplanned […]
This week, following a question about brand strategy, we look at the importance of recognising that brands lose a significant number of buyers […]
This week we firstly look at how brands with an eco-active profile are growing more than others; secondly setting the scene for a […]
This week we continue our theme on brands and their eco profile, showing that many big brands perform well with environmentally aware shoppers; […]
This week we look at: how a brand’s profile amongst Eco segments is critical to marketing strategy; developing the theme on the Premium […]
This week we look at: the relatively low contribution of younger age groups to the purchasing of top of mind ‘eco’ brands; the […]
This week’s 3 items look at: how few people can name an individual brand that does a good job for the environment; a […]
This week we look in more depth at some of the highly sustainable attitudes and behaviours of Eco-Actives and that they are influenced […]
This week we respond to two questions – the first on the active involvement of younger age groups in reducing their environmental impact; […]
This week we continue 3 themes. Environmental concerns and how brand communication should vary by country; the importance of small stores in physical […]
Winners get a lot of attention, whether it is sports, politics or Dancing with the Stars. While the success of winning in these […]
Brand growth has been the focus of this blog over the past five years. However, some manufacturers do not put all their eggs […]
Store flyers have been deemed outdated for a long time. But they get noticed! 8 out of 10 shoppers check them for weekly […]
Our first item this week looks at the confusion and lack of knowledge about recycling even amongst those most keen to do so. Secondly […]
This week our first topic looks at a question on the importance to shoppers of water – in terms of waste, shortage and […]
Last week we looked at the gap between desire and action when trying to purchase in an environmental way – our first article […]
This week we look at: the opportunity to close the gap between shoppers wanting to act sustainably and their ability to act; how […]
This week we conclude our review of the impacts of new products on choice – the attraction effect. In addition, we look at […]
This week we look at: the significant relationship between sustainability and the online channel; which types of category fared better during the last […]
This week we look at further questions from our #WhoCaresWhoDoes sustainability study – that few brands or retailers are instantly recognised by consumers […]
Because consumers are supposed to be seeking out smaller (e.g. local, sustainable, niche) brands and also because private labels are still growing one […]
In one of our last blogs we reported that NB price changes have outpaced PL price changes in recent years: especially for beverages […]
Another pair of shoes, a weekend trip to a favourite city, or a Fiorentina steak once a week. We as consumers display various […]
This week we look at the importance of the rapidly growing Eco-Active and Eco-Considerer shopper segments and how their attitudes are reflected in […]
Following our summit this week on the #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2020 study, two of the articles look at insights on environmental influencers and shopper view […]
This week we continue with our environmental theme, and the role and huge implications for manufacturers. We also provide a new update on […]
This week, we continue with headlines from #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2020, looking at recycling, linking it to academic insights and how this could lead to […]
This week we continue to look at the environment and how shoppers’ opinions and influences are shaping their purchasing behaviour. We also look […]
Whilst we concentrate this week on sustainability, just a few points on the latest FMCG trends. A couple of weeks ago, we showed […]
This week we look at the first surprising headlines from our global #WhoCaresWhoDoes study 2020 We also aggregate a number of countries from […]
In recent weeks we have looked at brand winners and losers. This has shown that promotions, if not managed in a balanced way, […]
This week we develop the theme of winning and losing brands by looking at brands that lose after winning, respond to a question […]
This week our three themes are developing losing brands insights, FMCG online – hype or myth and the latest FMCG trends In recent […]
Over recent weeks we have concentrated on Europe and brand growth over recessionary and other periods. This week we look at whether the […]
In our post “Higher Price Premia for National Brands“ we showed that NB price premia over PLs have increased over the past three […]
Price setting matters and is challenging: Factors like production costs, value perceptions of different target groups, price ceilings, intended positioning, promotional strategies, seasonality, […]
Crowding impacts shoppers differently. For some people a crowd adds to their experience while for others it spoils the trip. Retailers can reduce […]
This week we continue to look at managing price plus how winning brands won during the last recession plus the latest on FMCG […]
This week we continue the themes from last week – firstly some key considerations on pricing; secondly environmental concern; and thirdly the latest […]
This week’s Pick of the Week firstly follows up last week’s article on pricing in recession with a question about category differences. Secondly […]
With a potential recession looming, this week we look at how categories developed volume and pricing over the last recession – and how […]
Following our recent articles about inertia and momentum for brand winners and losers, we have had questions about whether retailers are impacted in […]
This week we bring together the recent insights into what happens to a brand after a share gain or a share loss. Inertia […]
This week we look at the most recent FMCG trends across over 20 countries and we develop our recent theme of consumer inertia […]
Humans tend to engage in routine behaviours and often do not question these choices until forced to do so. For example, a study […]
Category-specific Private Label (PL) branding is common. For example, Spar Netherlands offered 50+ economy PL ranges like “Casa Italiana” for pasta, “Landhof” for […]
Last year our #WhoCaresWhoDoes study helped us to better understand environmental concerns and actions of consumers around the globe and how they relate […]
In addition to the latest FMCG trends from around the world, last week we looked at consumer inertia in relation to brand share […]
This week we continue two themes. Firstly, consumer inertia in terms of how brands behave in the long term following a loss of […]
Over the last couple of weeks, as well as the latest FMCG trends pre and post lockdown, we have been looking at winning […]
This week we have received several questions about brands over the 2008/9 recession as well as the latest FMCG trends pre and post […]
This week we look at the recent trends for the FMCG market in China and answer a couple of questions on the last […]
Rather than data, this week I have summarised my take-outs and actions based on the latest FMCG shopping behaviour in Belgium, Italy, Spain […]
We know that Covid-19 will have significant impact on FMCG purchasing, product and retailer choice This week I am sharing the 2019 […]
This week we naturally concentrate on Covid-19 Here we see some of the initial impact on FMCG in Europe and as expected […]
Climate panic (© NYT) has arrived: Reactions range from substantial lifestyle changes (e.g. vegan clothing, meatless diets) to burying one’s head in the […]
Brands offer green products to address consumer calls for more corporate ambition in protecting the environment. For example, the fashion brand Armedangels recently […]
Any brand has some buyers that are more loyal than others. High behavioural loyalty (often measured by the share-of-wallet a brand commands within […]
In view of the current Covid 19 crisis, this week we look at insights from previous periods of uncertainty. Primarily these are […]
This week there have been several questions about brand size The first two items look at brand size in relation to online […]
Following on from last week we now take a look at questions of price premium availability and preparation time. Last week we […]
This week I have asked my colleague and usage expert Giles Quick (UK) about some of the questions he has received recently. The […]
After last week’s look at Innovation (new brands/sub-brands) and Renovation (new variants, sizes, types), I received several questions about regional and category differences: […]
Households visiting a specific retail chain frequently do so for a number of reasons: such as they live close by and/or they may […]
Some shoppers love the simplicity of discount formats, others avoid the format and prefer supermarkets or hypermarkets with broader and deeper assortments. Most […]
Social media can play a significant role in influencing consumers’ views on sustainability. Social media not only provides a platform for environmental activists […]
Eco-Actives aim to avoid plastic waste, purchase sustainable products and seek “green” consumption. Does this behavior translate into the information these shoppers seek […]
A large number of shoppers base their choices on an intensive examination of food labels, often using signals regarding ingredients and manufacturing to […]
Many new products (NPs) share this fate: After an initial (communicative) hype they are kicked off shelves because performance is below expectations. Different […]
Out of the four segments created based on attitudes and behaviour around plastic (link to previous) the eco-actives are most concerned and it […]
Based on responses of more than 65,000 respondents in 24 countries for our #Who Cares Who Does study we derive four consumer segments […]
You may be familiar with this sequence: One small-sized chocolate bar is a justifiable and well-deserved treat because calories per serving are so […]
More pro-environmental behaviours may be the result of (un)conscious choices by consumers, government intervention or activities by industry. Regarding specific retailer or manufacturer […]
Some weeks ago, the United Nations called for a change in human eating behaviour. Specifically, the organization stated that plant-based diets should replace […]
Do you ever think about what happens to recyclable materials after you drop them at the recycling bin? If not, please do: Current […]
Our #WhoCaresWhoDoes? initiative aims to support brand manufacturers and retailers to better understand consumer attitudes regarding the environment and how that translates into brand […]
What people say and what they actually do may be entirely different. Psychologists call this phenomenon attitude-behaviour gap, which is especially prevalent for […]
Brands have skewed success profiles for different sociodemographic groups for various reasons: The positioning of the brand within the category, the set of […]
Isn’t it convenient and less time consuming to sit at home or in your office and do your shopping online? Your preferred retailer […]
Private Labels (PL) have become a dominant part of the assortment of many grocery retailers. But is PL equally prominent in online as […]
Online trips on average are still infrequent and baskets typically feature lower PL shares than offline trips. But what about basket size? There […]
In a brand owner’s ideal world all buyers of the brand would be loyal and no one would switch to any other brand. […]
Using everyday consumers to create online buzz for brands and products is common practice in the FMCG industry. Such customer advocates (or seed […]
A category’s popularity in a country depends on history, cultural and consumption habits as well as marketing activities of brands and retailers. To […]
Big brands cannot grow their shares infinitely. Besides the obvious limit (there are only a 100 share points to distribute), new brands (and […]
Reducing and recycling waste requires a systematic effort from many stakeholders. Currently, retailers and manufacturers sometimes replace plastic packaging with paper-based and biodegradable […]
No sugar added. High in protein. With added vitamin C. Many products carry at least one nutrition claim emphasizing healthiness. At the shelf, […]
Two out of three manufacturers are single brand single category players. What about the brand portfolio size and category scope of manufacturers with […]
Brand architecture helps manufacturers to structure their different brands in a systematic way. Two main strategies exist: A Branded House strategy relies on […]
The share a brand commands is the consequence of many past actions. The decision about brand portfolios is only one of these actions. […]
Over the past four years about an equal number of the thousands of brands in the BG20 database has increased, decreased or not […]
High price brands do not prosper everywhere. Amongst top ten brands they are disproportionately frequent in Western Europe and in petfood categories: Examples […]
Selling at a high price point presents opportunities as well as challenges. On the one hand a high-price strategy can pay off as […]
These days eco-friendly products hit store shelves regularly: Companies incorporate a green mind-set into their product and branding to meet many shoppers’ aspirations […]
Big brands are attractive for most retailers because they are able to increase shelf turnover, enjoy high equity and drawing power. Big retailers […]
Is it really only young upcoming brands that thrive or are their more established peers holding up? We examined the performance of 169 […]
Rising brands are found more often in specific geographic areas. Besides location, do we also find sweet spots in terms of categories for […]
Europe and Latin America are promising hosts for small brands to grow, as are household categories and categories with a high PL share. […]
Coccolino, Fever-Tree, or La Campagnola have a common denominator: They are small brands able to increase their penetration substantially over a short period […]
Private labels (PL) challenge national brands by taking away sales, eroding consumer brand equity and squeezing price levels. However, national brands (NB) continue […]
One way to assess loyalty in FMCG is the ability to keep buyers from one year to the next. Given the massive choice, […]
National brands on average manage to charge a substantial price premium compared to private labels. But do market leaders achieve this more easily […]
Manufacturers increasingly emphasize humanness in their packaging design by using typefaces that appear handwritten. Think of brands like Lindt with its Hello Chocolate […]
Besides the oft-cited examples of manufacturers reducing established pack sizes to hide price increases, several socio-economic and behavioural trends (e.g.: more single households, […]
This blog aims to add more nuance to our understanding of pack size changes. We investigate how pack size changes are linked to […]
“Share from new products” which shows how much a brand’s new offerings contribute to its total sales is often a measure of innovation […]
Brands have to innovate and this should pay off via an increase in market share. We compare how market share winners and market […]
Higher distribution always pays off, but how much? A recent study investigates distribution elasticity in Systembolaget, which has a monopoly on alcohol sales […]
Summary Duration: 01:24 Part 01: Growth Duration 04:37 Part 02: Occasions Duration: 03:38 Part 03: Levers Duration: 2:43
Two of the most widely used (and highly correlated) measures for a brand’s strength are market share and relative penetration (the percentage of […]
Increasing buyer numbers is the most promising avenue for brands to achieve growth. We looked at the ability of brands to attract more […]
Shopping frequency for a category increases with higher consumption levels, higher storage needs, perishability or the level of impulse purchasing. It may also […]
Missions impact the composition of shopping baskets: Consumers may shop spontaneously and buy little on a trip or alternatively plan to refill empty […]
Popular events like the Olympic games, Formula One, the Eurovision Song Contest or the Wimbledon Championships represent excellent occasions for brands to communicate […]
In FMCG, brands rely on retailers for their physical availability. To understand the relationship between availability and brand size we examine physical presence […]
Premiumisation is a challenging avenue for growth in FMCG given the focus on low prices in the marketing communication of both retailers and […]
Retailers originally established private labels as low-priced alternatives for price-conscious shoppers. Nowadays, private labels in many categories have become very sophisticated often matching […]
Pricing a new product is tough: Charge too much and it won’t sell. Charge too little and forgo revenue or undermine brand equity. […]
Manufacturers regularly use different pack sizes to meet a variety of needs. It’s easy to imagine drinking a can of coke for lunch, […]
Brand manufacturers and retailers are eager to meet consumers’ variety needs. Given the diversity of consumers’ tastes and preferences, offering a wide assortment […]
It is not a secret that smaller pack sizes are usually more expensive per gram or liter than larger ones. Examples of brands […]
Brand manufacturers provide choice not only via variety of assortment but also variety of pack sizes. Recently, smaller pack sizes have become fashionable […]
About 30% of families in New York only have one child1. Imagine that: no competition between you and your siblings, but with it, […]
Today, consumers have various concerns when choosing food and these considerations can often be overwhelming; too much fat, too much sugar, not convenient, […]
Across Europe* shoppers are visiting FMCG retailers less frequently, with the average number of visits per shopper declining by 2.2%between 2012 and 2015. […]
FMCG brands struggle to keep more than 50% of last year’s buyers – especially if they are small and compete in rarely purchased […]
We have previously shown that the most effective way to drive brand growth is by attracting additional buyers (i.e. foster penetration), but fundamentally, […]
For a brand, the launch of new products can have many benefits, such as exciting consumers, outplaying competitors, keeping brand image dynamic, satisfying […]
Across categories and brands, innovations are seen as a vital requirement to remain relevant, increase sales and gain new buyers. However, not all […]
How do new products impact growth and decline of brands? At first glance, it seems they don’t: The 15% fastest growing brands get […]
Retailer and manufacturer battles have been in the news lately across Europe, with some high profile cases making it difficult for some consumers […]
It probably won’t come as a surprise that categories that are purchased at least 20 times per year are also categories that are […]
Earlier this year we identified three ingredients for brand size: Penetration – How many consumers purchase a brand? Frequency – How often do […]
High distribution (i.e. the share of all relevant outlets where a brand is on sale) plays a major role in determining a brand’s […]
Consumer churn is a major challenge for FMCG brands: The average top ten brand loses about half of its buyers from year to […]
Assortment variety is essential for retailer listings and, as we have shown before, for brand penetration. At the same time, choice overload is […]
Consumers increasingly shop via click and collect, a blended retailer format that combines online ordering and collecting goods at a pick-up point. A […]
Recently we showed that even leading brands struggle to attract a majority of category buyers (see “The top brands don’t get all the […]
There are three components that explain high or low brand sales: 1. Penetration – How many consumers purchase a brand? 2. Frequency – […]
Even leading brands struggle to attract a majority of category buyers. Across 13 countries and over 80 categories, the top brand, on average, […]
“Premium brands command higher loyalty and are predominantly bought by affluent consumers” – these are two popular beliefs on brand premiumization, a branding […]
Consumers are often confronted with product categories within a fixed space (e.g. freezer or check-out) that are not connected with their planned purchase. […]
How much market share can the number one national brand in a category claim? Across 17 markets and 79 categories we find that […]
You would expect popular everyday brands to be chosen frequently by most of its buyers. Let’s take a look at a popular brand […]
“Innovate or die” is a frequently used statement to emphasize the importance of launching new products. Some recent trends show that FMCG products […]
“Spend a little – live a lot” – is Aldi’s value proposition for consumers looking for superior product quality for a low price. […]
Our last blog entry showed that across eight European countries the top ten manufacturers are responsible for just below half of total value […]
“Tummy in, chest out” – a saying which reminds us to correct our body position to signal increased self-confidence. For several years, academic […]
Green (reusable) shopping bags not only offer peace of mind, but also influence consumer in-store behaviour. An analysis of 936,232 purchases by 5,987 […]
Complaints about retailer concentration in FMCG are omnipresent. The top 5 banners in many European markets sell 50% or more of total FMCG […]
In our last blog we investigated how category penetration and purchase frequency impact the variety shoppers encounter in that category (see April 16). […]
How do category purchase frequency and category penetration impact the variety shoppers encounter? To answer this question, we investigate category assortments across 8 […]
Retail prices usually show a price per package, let’s say €1.50 for a 500g pack of Barilla spaghetti. Shoppers may additionally check the unit price […]
Do some categories have more star performers than others? We analyzed the value sales coming from the average SKU in food, beverage, household […]
The increasing reliance on price promotions to boost sales is a frequently discussed and often lamented topic. With good reason. One thousand categories […]
The smaller your brand and the lower the purchase frequency of your category the more you rely on light brand buyers. This is […]
Does it matter whether a product’s price (when spoken) shares letters with a consumer’s name or numbers of their birthday date? Why should […]
A few years ago we confirmed academic studies* showing that the relationship between a household’s PL share at a given retailer and the […]
Brand managers and academics agree that strong brand equity is a key to brand success. A recent study empirically links two prominent perspectives […]
Where do we find more share growth: among big or small brands? Looking at some 5000 brands across many markets for which we […]
Total FMCG growth has been modest over the past five years. However, this observation hides substantial category differences. We examined whether innovations are […]
Retailer-initiated price wars are a popular strategy to battle for market share. When in October 2003 Dutch retailer Albert Heijn announced price cuts […]
The Turkish retail landscape is characterised by a mix of traditional open bazars, specialist shops, small grocery shops and modern supermarkets. Traditional retail […]
Innovation is an essential growth strategy for both brand manufacturers and retailers. New products allow companies to charge higher prices and create differentiation […]
New products serve many functions for a brand – to introduce technological/functional changes, to attract non-buyers or to enhance positioning. They may also […]
Many people struggle with percentage calculations. One of the challenges arises from a phenomenon called base value neglect (BVN), the tendency to ignore […]
Brand anthropomorphization is the association of a brand with human-like characteristics, motivations, and behaviours to enable closer relationships between consumers and brands. A […]
Looking at over 13000 brands (all of which are in the top 10) in 79 categories across 14 countries, there are substantial differences […]
Less than 10% of all category leaders have market shares of more than 50% whereas more than one third has less than 20% […]
The average brand in a frequently purchased category (more than ten times per year) is sold on promotion by at least one of […]
Grocery E-Commerce reach differs widely between countries in comparable stages of their retail development. While 6 out of 10 South Koreans purchases online […]
A recent trend among manufacturers and retailers are exclusive deals limiting the brand’s availability to only one retailer. A study investigates an exclusive […]
A substantial percentage of a brand’s buyers this year will not buy it in the next year (see our previous newsletter how brand […]
FMCG boasts a balanced mixture of local, regional and global brands. Investigating the presence of some 750 Top 3 share brands across 30 […]
Growth is about penetration: retaining and increasing the number of shoppers choosing the brand. Combining how many households around the world are buying […]
There are two types of repeat customers: One group repeats choice based on habit and another group repeats choice because of brand preference. […]
To maintain a brand’s sales level it needs to continuously attract new buyers. Why? Because for the average brand more than half its […]
The increasing reliance of brands on price promotions to influence consumer choice is widely reported. While we do not see much difference between […]
A recent study covering 36 brands in 15 categories compares online metrics with attitude survey metrics in their ability to explain sales. While […]
Double jeopardy is well documented: Compared to larger brands, smaller brands have fewer buyers that buy them slightly less often. However, these small […]
Past contributions to this newsletter have shown that bigger brands have more buyers and growing brands grow by attracting more buyers. How much […]
As online grocery shopping continues to grow, interesting regional patterns in the profile of this channel are emerging. In GB, for example, we […]
A recent study amongst UK households shows that retailer loyalty of multi-channel shoppers decreases the more experienced they are as shoppers. Initially, shoppers […]
A recent analysis covering panel data from 14 European countries, Russia and the US compares the price ratio between brands and private labels […]
Identifying the category leader in 79 categories across 16 countries reveals vast differences regarding brand preference. In only 16 categories we find the […]
A recent study evaluates how extending into higher versus lower quality levels respectively impacts the brand image of middle-tier brands. Results show asymmetrical […]
The examination of national brand (NB) prices relative to their private label (PL) peers in 1100 categories across 16 countries reveal some surprising […]
Comparing the leading brand in a category with its followers reveals several interesting commonalities and discrepancies. Looking at some 6000 brands across Europe […]
Price promotions can lower consumers’ motivation to think rationally during the purchasing process. Because the (financial) risk of making wrong decision decreases, emotions […]
Some headlines on recent retailer developments: In the 14 Western European countries, the number of major retailer banners used per household per year […]
A recent study on willingness-to-pay for brands versus private labels in the pharmaceutical industry shows that the more consumers are educated the more […]
The positive impact of innovations on brand success is well-known: By enhancing a brand’s equity, they justify the price premium, attract buyers and […]
Across the ‘Big 6’ Western European markets, the average household shops 3 to 4 times per week, spending an average of € 20 […]
Brand range and size are related – likely reinforcing each other: Bigger brands are able to get more SKUs listed and more SKUs […]
A study of 449 FMCG categories in six European markets reveals an interesting pattern between Private Label share and category growth. Categories which […]
The discount channel has become an increasingly important channel in recent years throughout Europe, albeit at different levels in different countries. An ever […]
Many brand manufacturers strive to position their brands as premium in an attempt to achieve higher differentiation, loyalty and margins. A simple price-based […]
The average shopper passes through less than half of the aisles in a typical grocery retailer. Obviously, products in the remaining store cannot […]
Private Label (PL) success in a category is often linked to price in contradictory theories: (1) A large price gap between brands and […]
Many global brands are shifting production to sites in countries with lower manufacturing costs or share production between different sites. This may result in […]
In a previous blog we showed that the average brand loses more than half of its buyers every year. Surprisingly, this loss is […]
A recent study investigates how shoppers make sense of changes in packaging. Not surprisingly, their estimates of pack size changes are most precise […]
For regular readers of supermarket leaflets this piece of news may not come as a surprise: The percentage of FMCG sold on promotion […]
Over the past five years prices of Private Labels have increased by an average of 10% – the same change as for National […]
In a project conducted by Europanel and Roland Berger Consultants for The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council Europe, nine emerging but poorly met shopper […]
Among some 6000 brands studied in 79 categories across 13 European countries the 500 brands with the biggest volume share gains 2008-2012 have […]
Well-stocked shelves are considered important for several reasons: orderly appearance of the aisle, lower likelihood of out-of-stocks and higher visual impact for the […]
The first quarter of 2014 shows a relatively weak trend for FMCG volume sales partly due to different seasonal timings compared with 2014. […]
Confronted with high Private Label (PL) shares in their category, brand manufacturers often blame increasing commoditization as if it was a law […]
Topics We will invite a professor from our network to present a recent piece of research – most likely in the field of […]
A study* looking at UK sales of FMCG brands around 15 major sports events shows that: Ad spend around the event increases by […]
When it comes to online shopping, the FMCG industry is still in its infancy. With the exceptions of South Korea (9% share), UK […]
Exploring 5 year trends of some 2,400 major brands in 79 FMCG categories across eight European markets reveals two very consistent patterns: Whether […]
An analysis of 2,400 large (> 2% share) brands in 79 FMCG categories reveals that the average brand loses 55% of its buyers […]
The safest way to become a category leader is to be category leader five years earlier. However, there are exceptions. In several hundred […]
A meta analysis of the impact of shelf space allocation on brand and category sales reveals that increases in shelf space have a […]
It may start feeling like groundhog day: In 2013 across Europe, we see Private Labels increase their shares by about half a percentage […]
