Eco-Actives aim to avoid plastic waste, purchase sustainable products and seek “green” consumption. Does this behavior translate into the information these shoppers seek from manufacturers? […]
A large number of shoppers base their choices on an intensive examination of food labels, often using signals regarding ingredients and manufacturing to help their […]
Many new products (NPs) share this fate: After an initial (communicative) hype they are kicked off shelves because performance is below expectations. Different reasons may […]
Out of the four segments created based on attitudes and behaviour around plastic (link to previous) the eco-actives are most concerned and it shows in […]
Based on responses of more than 65,000 respondents in 24 countries for our #Who Cares Who Does study we derive four consumer segments based on […]
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 much lower […]
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 actions, consumers* […]
Some weeks ago, the United Nations called for a change in human eating behaviour. Specifically, the organization stated that plant-based diets should replace meat to […]
Do you ever think about what happens to recyclable materials after you drop them at the recycling bin? If not, please do: Current research shows […]
Our #WhoCaresWhoDoes? initiative aims to support brand manufacturers and retailers to better understand consumer attitudes regarding the environment and how that translates into brand and retailer […]
What people say and what they actually do may be entirely different. Psychologists call this phenomenon attitude-behaviour gap, which is especially prevalent for pro-environmental actions. […]
Brands have skewed success profiles for different sociodemographic groups for various reasons: The positioning of the brand within the category, the set of retailers where […]
Isn’t it convenient and less time consuming to sit at home or in your office and do your shopping online? Your preferred retailer delivers your […]
Private Labels (PL) have become a dominant part of the assortment of many grocery retailers. But is PL equally prominent in online as in offline […]
Online trips on average are still infrequent and baskets typically feature lower PL shares than offline trips. But what about basket size? There are good […]
In a brand owner’s ideal world all buyers of the brand would be loyal and no one would switch to any other brand. Clearly, if […]
Using everyday consumers to create online buzz for brands and products is common practice in the FMCG industry. Such customer advocates (or seed agents) have […]
A category’s popularity in a country depends on history, cultural and consumption habits as well as marketing activities of brands and retailers. To understand the […]
Big brands cannot grow their shares infinitely. Besides the obvious limit (there are only a 100 share points to distribute), new brands (and Private Label) […]
Reducing and recycling waste requires a systematic effort from many stakeholders. Currently, retailers and manufacturers sometimes replace plastic packaging with paper-based and biodegradable alternatives. This […]
No sugar added. High in protein. With added vitamin C. Many products carry at least one nutrition claim emphasizing healthiness. At the shelf, shoppers often […]
Two out of three manufacturers are single brand single category players. What about the brand portfolio size and category scope of manufacturers with a larger […]
Brand architecture helps manufacturers to structure their different brands in a systematic way. Two main strategies exist: A Branded House strategy relies on one leading […]
The share a brand commands is the consequence of many past actions. The decision about brand portfolios is only one of these actions. Linking share […]
Over the past four years about an equal number of the thousands of brands in the BG20 database has increased, decreased or not changed their […]
High price brands do not prosper everywhere. Amongst top ten brands they are disproportionately frequent in Western Europe and in petfood categories: Examples of categories […]
Selling at a high price point presents opportunities as well as challenges. On the one hand a high-price strategy can pay off as brands get […]
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 for sustainable […]
Big brands are attractive for most retailers because they are able to increase shelf turnover, enjoy high equity and drawing power. Big retailers are attractive […]
Is it really only young upcoming brands that thrive or are their more established peers holding up? We examined the performance of 169 top three […]
Rising brands are found more often in specific geographic areas. Besides location, do we also find sweet spots in terms of categories for such brands […]
Europe and Latin America are promising hosts for small brands to grow, as are household categories and categories with a high PL share. We now […]
Coccolino, Fever-Tree, or La Campagnola have a common denominator: They are small brands able to increase their penetration substantially over a short period of time. […]
Private labels (PL) challenge national brands by taking away sales, eroding consumer brand equity and squeezing price levels. However, national brands (NB) continue to capitalize […]
One way to assess loyalty in FMCG is the ability to keep buyers from one year to the next. Given the massive choice, abundance of […]
National brands on average manage to charge a substantial price premium compared to private labels. But do market leaders achieve this more easily than smaller […]
Manufacturers increasingly emphasize humanness in their packaging design by using typefaces that appear handwritten. Think of brands like Lindt with its Hello Chocolate bars, Rachel’s […]
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, health consciousness, […]
This blog aims to add more nuance to our understanding of pack size changes. We investigate how pack size changes are linked to a product’s […]
“Share from new products” which shows how much a brand’s new offerings contribute to its total sales is often a measure of innovation success. Looking […]
Brands have to innovate and this should pay off via an increase in market share. We compare how market share winners and market share losers […]
Higher distribution always pays off, but how much? A recent study investigates distribution elasticity in Systembolaget, which has a monopoly on alcohol sales in Sweden. […]
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 category buyers […]
Increasing buyer numbers is the most promising avenue for brands to achieve growth. We looked at the ability of brands to attract more buyers between […]
Shopping frequency for a category increases with higher consumption levels, higher storage needs, perishability or the level of impulse purchasing. It may also be the […]
Missions impact the composition of shopping baskets: Consumers may shop spontaneously and buy little on a trip or alternatively plan to refill empty cupboards and […]
Popular events like the Olympic games, Formula One, the Eurovision Song Contest or the Wimbledon Championships represent excellent occasions for brands to communicate to a […]
In FMCG, brands rely on retailers for their physical availability. To understand the relationship between availability and brand size we examine physical presence of national […]
Premiumisation is a challenging avenue for growth in FMCG given the focus on low prices in the marketing communication of both retailers and manufacturers. We […]
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 top-tier national […]
Pricing a new product is tough: Charge too much and it won’t sell. Charge too little and forgo revenue or undermine brand equity. But at […]
Manufacturers regularly use different pack sizes to meet a variety of needs. It’s easy to imagine drinking a can of coke for lunch, a large […]
Brand manufacturers and retailers are eager to meet consumers’ variety needs. Given the diversity of consumers’ tastes and preferences, offering a wide assortment increases the […]
It is not a secret that smaller pack sizes are usually more expensive per gram or liter than larger ones. Examples of brands that have […]
Brand manufacturers provide choice not only via variety of assortment but also variety of pack sizes. Recently, smaller pack sizes have become fashionable to respond […]
About 30% of families in New York only have one child1. Imagine that: no competition between you and your siblings, but with it, a loss […]
Today, consumers have various concerns when choosing food and these considerations can often be overwhelming; too much fat, too much sugar, not convenient, too expensive. […]
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. The resulting […]
FMCG brands struggle to keep more than 50% of last year’s buyers – especially if they are small and compete in rarely purchased categories. This […]
We have previously shown that the most effective way to drive brand growth is by attracting additional buyers (i.e. foster penetration), but fundamentally, brand sales […]
For a brand, the launch of new products can have many benefits, such as exciting consumers, outplaying competitors, keeping brand image dynamic, satisfying retailers and/or […]
Across categories and brands, innovations are seen as a vital requirement to remain relevant, increase sales and gain new buyers. However, not all areas of […]
How do new products impact growth and decline of brands? At first glance, it seems they don’t: The 15% fastest growing brands get a similar […]
Retailer and manufacturer battles have been in the news lately across Europe, with some high profile cases making it difficult for some consumers to buy […]
It probably won’t come as a surprise that categories that are purchased at least 20 times per year are also categories that are purchased by […]
Earlier this year we identified three ingredients for brand size: Penetration – How many consumers purchase a brand? Frequency – How often do consumers purchase […]
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 penetration (i.e., […]
Consumer churn is a major challenge for FMCG brands: The average top ten brand loses about half of its buyers from year to year. Comparing […]
Assortment variety is essential for retailer listings and, as we have shown before, for brand penetration. At the same time, choice overload is frustrating and […]
Consumers increasingly shop via click and collect, a blended retailer format that combines online ordering and collecting goods at a pick-up point. A recent study* […]
Recently we showed that even leading brands struggle to attract a majority of category buyers (see “The top brands don’t get all the buyers!”). But […]
There are three components that explain high or low brand sales: 1. Penetration – How many consumers purchase a brand? 2. Frequency – How often […]
Even leading brands struggle to attract a majority of category buyers. Across 13 countries and over 80 categories, the top brand, on average, captures 24% […]
“Premium brands command higher loyalty and are predominantly bought by affluent consumers” – these are two popular beliefs on brand premiumization, a branding strategy to […]
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. For example, […]
How much market share can the number one national brand in a category claim? Across 17 markets and 79 categories we find that the top […]
You would expect popular everyday brands to be chosen frequently by most of its buyers. Let’s take a look at a popular brand in the […]
“Innovate or die” is a frequently used statement to emphasize the importance of launching new products. Some recent trends show that FMCG products may need […]
“Spend a little – live a lot” – is Aldi’s value proposition for consumers looking for superior product quality for a low price. In delivering […]
Our last blog entry showed that across eight European countries the top ten manufacturers are responsible for just below half of total value sales across […]
“Tummy in, chest out” – a saying which reminds us to correct our body position to signal increased self-confidence. For several years, academic research builds […]
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 US households […]
Complaints about retailer concentration in FMCG are omnipresent. The top 5 banners in many European markets sell 50% or more of total FMCG value, and […]
In our last blog we investigated how category penetration and purchase frequency impact the variety shoppers encounter in that category (see April 16). This time […]
How do category purchase frequency and category penetration impact the variety shoppers encounter? To answer this question, we investigate category assortments across 8 markets and […]
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 provided, in […]
Do some categories have more star performers than others? We analyzed the value sales coming from the average SKU in food, beverage, household and personal […]
The increasing reliance on price promotions to boost sales is a frequently discussed and often lamented topic. With good reason. One thousand categories across many […]
The smaller your brand and the lower the purchase frequency of your category the more you rely on light brand buyers. This is the result […]
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 it? – […]
A few years ago we confirmed academic studies* showing that the relationship between a household’s PL share at a given retailer and the share of […]
Brand managers and academics agree that strong brand equity is a key to brand success. A recent study empirically links two prominent perspectives on brand […]
Where do we find more share growth: among big or small brands? Looking at some 5000 brands across many markets for which we have at […]
Total FMCG growth has been modest over the past five years. However, this observation hides substantial category differences. We examined whether innovations are a major […]
Retailer-initiated price wars are a popular strategy to battle for market share. When in October 2003 Dutch retailer Albert Heijn announced price cuts for more […]
The Turkish retail landscape is characterised by a mix of traditional open bazars, specialist shops, small grocery shops and modern supermarkets. Traditional retail channels still […]
Innovation is an essential growth strategy for both brand manufacturers and retailers. New products allow companies to charge higher prices and create differentiation vis-à-vis competitors. […]
New products serve many functions for a brand – to introduce technological/functional changes, to attract non-buyers or to enhance positioning. They may also translate into […]
Many people struggle with percentage calculations. One of the challenges arises from a phenomenon called base value neglect (BVN), the tendency to ignore the base […]
Brand anthropomorphization is the association of a brand with human-like characteristics, motivations, and behaviours to enable closer relationships between consumers and brands. A recent study, […]
Looking at over 13000 brands (all of which are in the top 10) in 79 categories across 14 countries, there are substantial differences in the […]
Less than 10% of all category leaders have market shares of more than 50% whereas more than one third has less than 20% share. What […]
The average brand in a frequently purchased category (more than ten times per year) is sold on promotion by at least one of the top […]
Grocery E-Commerce reach differs widely between countries in comparable stages of their retail development. While 6 out of 10 South Koreans purchases online at least […]
A recent trend among manufacturers and retailers are exclusive deals limiting the brand’s availability to only one retailer. A study investigates an exclusive arrangement with […]
A substantial percentage of a brand’s buyers this year will not buy it in the next year (see our previous newsletter how brand market share […]
FMCG boasts a balanced mixture of local, regional and global brands. Investigating the presence of some 750 Top 3 share brands across 30 categories in […]
Growth is about penetration: retaining and increasing the number of shoppers choosing the brand. Combining how many households around the world are buying a brand […]
There are two types of repeat customers: One group repeats choice based on habit and another group repeats choice because of brand preference. The former […]
To maintain a brand’s sales level it needs to continuously attract new buyers. Why? Because for the average brand more than half its buyers in […]
The increasing reliance of brands on price promotions to influence consumer choice is widely reported. While we do not see much difference between the promotion […]
A recent study covering 36 brands in 15 categories compares online metrics with attitude survey metrics in their ability to explain sales. While online metrics […]
Double jeopardy is well documented: Compared to larger brands, smaller brands have fewer buyers that buy them slightly less often. However, these small brands have […]
Past contributions to this newsletter have shown that bigger brands have more buyers and growing brands grow by attracting more buyers. How much an additional […]
As online grocery shopping continues to grow, interesting regional patterns in the profile of this channel are emerging. In GB, for example, we observe a […]
A recent study amongst UK households shows that retailer loyalty of multi-channel shoppers decreases the more experienced they are as shoppers. Initially, shoppers tend to […]
A recent analysis covering panel data from 14 European countries, Russia and the US compares the price ratio between brands and private labels across 79 […]
Identifying the category leader in 79 categories across 16 countries reveals vast differences regarding brand preference. In only 16 categories we find the same brand […]
A recent study evaluates how extending into higher versus lower quality levels respectively impacts the brand image of middle-tier brands. Results show asymmetrical effects: Extending […]
The examination of national brand (NB) prices relative to their private label (PL) peers in 1100 categories across 16 countries reveal some surprising insights. As […]
Comparing the leading brand in a category with its followers reveals several interesting commonalities and discrepancies. Looking at some 6000 brands across Europe shows that […]
Price promotions can lower consumers’ motivation to think rationally during the purchasing process. Because the (financial) risk of making wrong decision decreases, emotions outweigh rational […]
Some headlines on recent retailer developments: In the 14 Western European countries, the number of major retailer banners used per household per year is now […]
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 they prefer […]
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 help to […]
Across the ‘Big 6’ Western European markets, the average household shops 3 to 4 times per week, spending an average of € 20 per trip. This […]
Brand range and size are related – likely reinforcing each other: Bigger brands are able to get more SKUs listed and more SKUs increase the […]
A study of 449 FMCG categories in six European markets reveals an interesting pattern between Private Label share and category growth. Categories which experience an […]
The discount channel has become an increasingly important channel in recent years throughout Europe, albeit at different levels in different countries. An ever increasing number […]
Many brand manufacturers strive to position their brands as premium in an attempt to achieve higher differentiation, loyalty and margins. A simple price-based analysis reveals […]
The average shopper passes through less than half of the aisles in a typical grocery retailer. Obviously, products in the remaining store cannot be part […]
Private Label (PL) success in a category is often linked to price in contradictory theories: (1) A large price gap between brands and PL provides […]
Many global brands are shifting production to sites in countries with lower manufacturing costs or share production between different sites. This may result in loss of […]
In a previous blog we showed that the average brand loses more than half of its buyers every year. Surprisingly, this loss is also true […]
A recent study investigates how shoppers make sense of changes in packaging. Not surprisingly, their estimates of pack size changes are most precise if a […]
For regular readers of supermarket leaflets this piece of news may not come as a surprise: The percentage of FMCG sold on promotion is on […]
Over the past five years prices of Private Labels have increased by an average of 10% – the same change as for National Brands across […]
In a project conducted by Europanel and Roland Berger Consultants for The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council Europe, nine emerging but poorly met shopper needs were […]
Among some 6000 brands studied in 79 categories across 13 European countries the 500 brands with the biggest volume share gains 2008-2012 have increased prices […]
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 brand. A […]
The first quarter of 2014 shows a relatively weak trend for FMCG volume sales partly due to different seasonal timings compared with 2014. Easter was […]
Confronted with high Private Label (PL) shares in their category, brand manufacturers often blame increasing commoditization as if it was a law of nature. […]
Topics We will invite a professor from our network to present a recent piece of research – most likely in the field of digital marketing. […]
A study* looking at UK sales of FMCG brands around 15 major sports events shows that: Ad spend around the event increases by 25% as […]
When it comes to online shopping, the FMCG industry is still in its infancy. With the exceptions of South Korea (9% share), UK (5%), France […]
Exploring 5 year trends of some 2,400 major brands in 79 FMCG categories across eight European markets reveals two very consistent patterns: Whether the brand […]
An analysis of 2,400 large (> 2% share) brands in 79 FMCG categories reveals that the average brand loses 55% of its buyers from one […]
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, […]
A meta analysis of the impact of shelf space allocation on brand and category sales reveals that increases in shelf space have a stronger sales […]
It may start feeling like groundhog day: In 2013 across Europe, we see Private Labels increase their shares by about half a percentage point. Over […]