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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 […]
