Jason Crain

There's a subtle but HUGELY important trend playing out in CPG that may have ripple effects across the entire industry: Modern consumers are starting to care less about legacy brands. This article was specifically about Kraft Mac & Cheese, but I think it's indicative of a wider trend happening across the CPG landscape, and in alcohol in particular. Many multi-national, household name brands don't carry the same weight with consumers that they did even five or ten years ago. So, what does this mean & what are the implications? Well, it has lots of implications but two things I feel strongly are true: 1. This is a particularly interesting time to be launching and scaling challenger CPG brands 2. Big CPG conglomerates will need to get aggressive in shaking up their portfolios Going to be an exciting and interesting few years in the space!

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DTC/Digital Native Brands struggle to achieve scale. CPG portfolio's are stagnating. Consumers are trading down, and retailers owned brands are disproportionately growing. Target, Costco, Trader Joes, and Aldi owned brands are winning. Now Walmart has launched a formidable new elevated basics brand, BetterGoods. The best way to beat the Amazon/Temu/Shein/TikTok marketplaces is to sell products they don't have.

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For a minute this headline reads as an industry threat. And it is, but only for big / legacy CPG brands. I see the increase in private label offerings as a warning sign to large strategics, and a win for premium and emerging companies. Private label options, yes, cut into share of legacy brands that aren’t that innovative, lack compelling attributes, and have been raising their prices steadily over the last 3 years purely to extract margin. Best example of this is Campbell's: at the time of their Sovos Brands purchase, Prego was growing just 1% annually. Rao's Specialty Foods, Inc. (prime Sovos asset) continues to grow 38% YoY after 20 years in market. Customers loyal to Rao's would never trade down to a private label sauce. And Campbell's isn’t worried about store brands pulling from premium, differentiated, beloved products like Rao’s. They’re worried about their cheap, commodity brands that have lost their luster. $2.7B worth worried. I think this bodes well for M&A in the coming years and growth among insurgents. Quality and brand affinity wins. Great piece, as always, from Jesse Newman and Stephanie Stamm. https://lnkd.in/ecB3wrQD

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Be crystal-clear about your emerging CPG brand's end game. There are many motivations that drive entrepreneurs to start and build their emerging CPG brands. The last twenty years has seen an explosion of innovation and new entrants that challenged in some instances shocked large CPG incumbents out of their stagnant and slow growth mode. Changing consumer consumption patterns, cheap capital, low interest rates, social media marketing capabilities, excess co-packing capacity and distributors and retailers wanting to capture new growth set the foundation for entrepreneurs of all ages to enter various categories. Millennial (and now Gen Z) entrepreneurs used their digital smarts to level the marketing playing field with large competitor incumbents. Innovation and marketing experts from large corporations jumped ship to take charge of their own destiny - Some when they retired and some while in the prime of their corporate careers. Following the tech startup patterns and culture….starting, scaling an emerging CPG brand in the hope of a large payday became a credible choice for many graduate and post graduate students. There is a portion of CPG entrepreneurs that want to build a generational business, perhaps start a dynasty or build a long-term business centered on greater purpose and good. Most founders and co-founders that I have met and or worked with want a successful exit. Some are realistic about their prospects, and some are not. A good place to start is to be clear about your brand’s end game and importantly about the realistic time horizon and funding that it will meet against that aspiration and timeline. #entrepreneurship #exits #emergingCPGbrand #CPG #foodandbeverage #scaling

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The June issue of NACS Magazine is out, including key insights from the association's SOI event earlier this year. Let's take a look. ⬇️ These six ideas for convenience retailers, highlighted by Jeff Lenard, could be advice to operate by for years to come. Once again, as these cycles seem to come, many themes show we're headed back to the basics. 🍕 Foodservice is the difference 🏬 Everyone is competition 👨‍🔧 It's all about the consumer ⛔ Be ruthless with efficiencies ❇️ AI is coming (and already here) 📳 It's time to get phygital As we head toward the midpoint of 2024, take time to assess your plans and how they've played out. We're just getting into summer – our industry's busiest time of year – so there's still opportunity to adjust your approach and capitalize on new ideas. But most of all, as Jeff reminds us in his closing, remember this: 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲-𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀-𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀. Leverage your brand's strengths and focus on serving your customers as best 𝙮𝙤𝙪 can.

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The recent broadcast agreement between QVC and USA Pickleball raises an intriguing question: can #retail owned media platforms serve as viable destinations for nascent/emerging sports properties seeking a national audience and incremental revenue?   While the answer is likely “it depends”, I do think there are several interesting aspects to this particular partnership.   QVC’s commitment to blending shopping with sports coverage demonstrates how innovative retail companies can use live entertainment IP to keep priority audiences engaged. Across its various platforms, QVC produces more than 30 hours of live content each day. That provides ample opportunity to infuse partner content into its programming.   Notably, the collaboration also sees QVC become the exclusive retail industry partner of USA Pickleball. This enables cross-selling opportunities to active participants in the sport. QVC’s core demographic is individuals between the ages of 45 to 65, with much of its marketing efforts focused on people aged 50 and up. This aligns closely with the average age of active pickleball players, the majority of which were over 55 as of 2022.   For emerging sports properties like USA pickleball, non-traditional broadcasters like QVC provide significantly higher national reach than a fringe sports streaming platform. QVC’s media channels, including QVC+ and HSN+, are available in over 100 million households worldwide, while QVC’s website attracts over 758 million visits each year. Yes, QVC will have to get viewers used to the idea of turning to it for sports content, but the company has the marketing budget and the distribution to do so.   This is also a novel take on the notion that modern audiences want more interactive live sports consumption. We’ve seen muti-screen formats tested before, while the likes of Fubo have also tried to infuse sports betting overlays on their broadcasts. Can QVC learn from these use cases to create a truly hybrid user experience?   The future of sports broadcasting beyond the major networks and largest streaming platforms may very well lie in partnerships like these, where retail providers integrate third-party content to keep new and existing consumers inside their ecosystem. We’ve seen how powerful this combination can be from Amazon’s own decision to air NFL, MLB, and English Premier League games on Prime Video & Amazon MGM Studios. This is a trend to continue watching closely.   https://lnkd.in/eBeeKrBr   #mediarights #pickleball #sportsbusiness

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Retail media represents an $8.5 billion opportunity for U.S. grocery retailers in 2024, and executives are moving decisively to capture their share. But it won't come cheap. Here's what grocers and supermarkets need to be thinking about when deploying their retail media networks. Read my full post on Forbes: https://lnkd.in/e4EsrWM6

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Dollar General is enhancing its retail media program by teaming up with solutions provider Criteo. The commerce media platform will work with the retailer's Dollar General Media Network (DGMN) arm to support onsite sponsored ad offerings. Through this arrangement, brand partners can access inventory and campaign execution and utilize Criteo’s self-service demand-side platform. Among other capabilities, brands can leverage DGMN’s inventory within their private market through Criteo’s retailer monetization platform. In addition, the technology enables brands to reach Dollar General’s digital customers who often build lists online before making their weekly in-store purchases. Omnichannel insights will be available for marketers to see if sales are taking place online or in-store. | Progressive Grocer https://lnkd.in/gATgumgr #retail #retailmedia #grocery #shoppers #media #digital

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THe debut of Bettergoods marks Walmart’s largest private-label launch in the food and beverage category in 20 years. The items fall under three category pillars: 1) Culinary experiences: Items with “innovative” recipes, elevated ingredients and trendy offerings, such as a hot honey seasoning for $3 and a line of jar soups, including a creamy corn jalapeno chowder for $4. 2) Plant-based: Products feature distinct green branding, such as oatmilk non-dairy frozen desserts for $3.44 a pint and a $4 cheese alternative. 3) “Made Without”: Products that cater to different dietary lifestyles, such as gluten free, or made without artificial flavors, colorings or added sugars. Takeaway: Rising grocery prices in 2022, drove cost-conscious consumers to shift to private labels to save money.​ However, the reasons now extend beyond price - consumers continue to buy private brands for their quality, taste, and ability to meet their specific dietary needs. #walmart #privatebrands #commerce

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Retail Media Monthly: #Walmart Pressed Play on Toy ads It was a monster month of September for toy advertisers with a 10x surge in impressions at Walmart - even higher than 2023's #BlackFriday and holiday peaks - rising to the 4th most heavily advertised category at Walmart, up from 26th in August. Social media accounted for 95% of toy impressions on Walmart's #RetailMediaNetwork with strong focus on TikTok and Snap Inc. with Mattel, Inc. Pixar earning all Sept. impressions on TikTok as Walmart showcased their express delivery service on YouTube. Want to see more #RetailMedia insights for Walmart, including how their "Freak Out!" campaign broke into a dance-off between products? Check out our latest blog post here: https://ow.ly/wcqh30sI8Y7 #DigitalAdvertisingInsights #CompetitiveInsights #DigitalAdvertising #Walmart #RetailMediaImpressions

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Speed, convenience and comfort...what is not to love from a C-store. Howland Blackiston and King-Casey talk about C-store design to drive restaurant traffic on the path to a traveler's gas stop...smart. Consider changing your C-store model Store By Store, consider a drive-thru. #branding #growth #strategy #planning #captiveaudience #sales

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April's retail landscape presented a varied picture, with consumers selectively investing in areas like home improvement and online shopping. These trends underscore the ongoing resilience of U.S. consumers. Read my latest blog to discover more about the evolving patterns across different retail sectors.

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🎉 Big News From Pacvue! - As I teased a few weeks back, we’ve just added a powerful new offering to our platform!  Pacvue has released our new #iROAS Dashboard, part of our Incrementality Console, to tackle one of the biggest challenges in retail media… #Measurement.🚀 Understanding the incremental impact of advertising efforts is critical to planning budgets and measuring the effectiveness of campaigns - yet remains one of the most ambiguous areas, causing uncertainty in digital marketing. Our new incrementality model enables brands to see the impact of advertising on sales, optimize their budgets, and make better data-driven decisions on overall marketing strategy. Pacvue’s iROAS model leverages years of deep industry expertise combined with dozens of inputs and data sources to bring brands the most accurate measure of incremental revenue growth. 👇 Check out the link below for more details. https://lnkd.in/g_KRiHs3 #incrementality #retailmedia #commercemedia #martech 

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Watch here 👉 https://lnkd.in/enDKNGuP 👈 Nutty Uncle driving you crazy at the family July 4th BBQ? Check out my Flywheel YouTube series “Updates with PVSB” for some quick hits of pithy sanity! #ecommerce #omnichannel #retailmedia #CPGBrands

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Great to see the longstanding issue of mysterious fees impacting CPG brands and their consumers getting some national recognition by the The Wall Street Journal. Legacy distributors say that it's because emerging brands don't understand what they signed up for: “There are costs to doing business,” she said, noting that KeHE moves some 80,000 different products to 35,000 stores. “We don’t charge for the sake of charging.” Conklin said KeHE’s practices are spelled out in contracts signed by food makers, and that small brands often don’t fully understand the terms they agree to with distributors and grocers. While digital upstarts like Pod Foods say that it's more a problem with an outdated infrastructure: "That leaves distributors reliant on so-called inside income, or revenue generated from food manufacturers. “Inside income isn’t ancillary to [distributors’] business,” said Peter Gialantzis, chief merchandising officer of startup food distributor Pod Foods. “Without that, they would go out of business. Gialantzis, who has worked at KeHE and Amazon’s Whole Foods, said distributors aren’t malicious, but that their systems are challenging for smaller brands." Time for a change to keep emerging CPG brands healthy and thriving! https://lnkd.in/g-2iTGgR #CPG #fooddistribution #fees #distributors #grocery #prices Pod Foods Larissa Russell Peter Gialantzis Fiona Lee Ammar Hanafi Moment Ventures Jim Baum Michael Frederick Marcotte Christian Gammill Jim Curry Manan M.

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Why Did Warren Buffett Just Bet on the Beauty Industry? Here’s What You Need to Know. Berkshire Hathaway recently made waves by investing in Ulta Beauty for the first time. Why is it catching the eye of savvy investors? 💡 Ulta Beauty: A Full-Service Powerhouse - The largest beauty retailer in the U.S. with a seamless omnichannel experience - A one-stop shop offering everything from drugstore to high-end brands, plus in-store salon services - Boasting +41 million loyalty members, Ulta's business model thrives on experiential retail and customer engagement 📊 The Beauty Boom - The global beauty industry is expected to grow from $430 billion in 2022 to $580 billion by 2027 - Beauty and cosmetics markets are positioned for massive growth, creating long-term potential 💰 Strong Financials, Stronger Future Ulta’s stock has surged 2,800% over the past 16 years Debt-free, with impressive shareholder returns and a history of steady growth 🔑 Warren Buffett’s Strategy "The most important decision in evaluating a business is pricing power." Ulta’s ability to thrive in a competitive market shows the strength of its pricing power and long-term potential. With its solid fundamentals and the backing of legendary investors, it’s no wonder the beauty industry is one to watch. #InvestmentNews #WarrenBuffett #BeautyIndustry #UltaBeauty #MarketTrends #FinancialGrowth #RetailInnovation #InvestorInsights #BusinessStrategy

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66% of product listings were 3rd Party!!!! Here's a stat from DCG's Digital Commerce Intelligence Index research that shocked me. When Laura Cullen interrogated data for 25 global manufacturers across Walmart, Target, and Amazon, provided by Salsify (our excellent collaborator), she discovered that 2/3rds of all the product listings were from 3rd Party sellers. Put another way, two out of three listings for some of the most frequently bought products in grocery retail weren't manufacturer listings; they were from resellers. When Laura dug deeper, she discovered that content completeness scores for those 3rd party listings were typically 55% lower than the 1st Party listings. But here's the thing: shoppers can't tell the difference. Unsurprisingly, on retail platforms, shoppers equate product listings as belonging to the brand/manufacturer even if they are actually 3rd party. So, the reality for the 25 manufacturers we looked at is that 2/3rds of the product listings relating to their products are nowhere near as effective as they could be. Visual content is how brands represent themselves online. Having 3rd party listings with ineffective, outdated, inappropriate or unoptimised content costs brands, manufacturers and resellers sales, share and conversion. There are manufacturers that are leaning into this challenge and, based on our scores, are performing significantly better than others. Topping our rankings for the 3rd Party Content Completeness Scores are L'Oréal, The Hershey Company and The Clorox Company. For other manufacturers, these scores highlight not only a challenge for the industry but also an opportunity. Those manufacturers that support 3rd parties with content optimisation will see more robust conversion onsite and, therefore, greater sales ex-factory into the resellers, wholesalers and distributors. #digitalcommerce #ecommerce #cpg #cpgindustry #fmcg #ifmcgindustry #omnichannel #digitalretail #digitalgrocery #grocery #retail #manufacturer #brand #3P #content #contentcompleteness

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