Joe Masciantonio

📺 Steve Liesman recently gave a good breakdown on the state of retail, the shopper, the economy on Squak Box. 📊 Full National Retail Federation report for March here: https://lnkd.in/eQS8Vm9a 🛍 In short, consumer spending has been surprisingly solid. There is a risk that it drops, but that is not a weakness as of the latest reporting. 💸 That said, one thing which is a struggle for retailers is MARGIN. Labor costs are up and inflation is hitting supply side hard. Consumers are hunting value right now more than usual, so there is a lot of pressure from both sides squeezing out the margin. This makes it most imperative to align limited resource to sources of value as a retailer. 🔎 I have been developing tools and implementing practices with my data team to empower small business retailers to be able to identify and label the diverse customers in their customer base and execute strategy which acquires, develops, and retains high-value. 💡 We can get through this - we've just got to use our data to focus our resources! #usretail #useconomy #retailbusiness #smallbusinessstrategy

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5 things to trust but verify in CPG: 1. Marketing agencies who “have compliance covered” 2. Contract manufacturers who say quality is the foundation of their business 3. Consultants who say they can do XYZ 4. Any COA you receive from a supplier 5. Your own surveillance testing What would you add to this list? #quality #compliance #cpg #consulting

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CPG brands: You are wrong, distributors are not the problem, nor the enemy of your brand. Quite the opposite in fact. Your problem is a lack of preparation in the necessary business understanding for working within the distribution model. Your lack of preparation and understanding of that model does not constitute blaming the distributor for the poor outcome you experienced. I can’t tell you how many brands over the years have asked me for distributor advice, (ONLY because I have a very long history working on the distribution side at multiple distributors, before ever moving to the brand side, not because I know better than any other brand owner..) My message is almost always the same & what I hear back is almost always the same. Me: “Did you adjust your pricing model to account for the fees and requirements for shipping / logistics and chargebacks that are built within the contract you received and signed?” Brand: (in some form or another of the following) “ I did not want to price myself out of my market, or have to change my pricing in my other channels… and nobody told me that all these fees would actually hit, and some of them I was not aware of” The reality is no one blindsided you. You were unprepared, you are upset and you’re looking for someone to blame. Regardless of what type of founder, entrepreneur, business owner or executive at a CPG company that you are, you must absolutely understand the contracts and financial requirements that you are dealing with AHEAD OF TIME. You don’t have to work with the distributor— in fact as we know, tons of brands work fantastic simply D2C, or direct to retail without them. But if you’re going to work with the distributor networks, be prepared to work within the model. If it helps, I’m happy to answer any questions that I might be able to answer when it comes to distributor model.. feel free to hit me up anytime if I can be of service and I’ll do my best to get back to you with information that is appropriate based on my experience. Rant over, and go have a great day! Lets sell some stuff 😎 #distribution #cpg #branding #wholesale #dietarysupplements #vmisports

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Walmart's Great Value is #1 on this year's #Snack50 Report. In fact, the top 6 brands in this year's report are store brands from the likes of Walmart, ALDI USA, Target, and Amazon. And WMT dropped their new brand, Bettergoods, the same week we released this year's report. Per Numerator, there's major stuff happening in the store brands space, and the pace is accelerating. And because we deal not only in sales data, but consumer psychology, also in the Snack50 Report is a wealth of explanation behind the WHY of consumer and shopper decision-making, a rich forecast of what lies ahead, and the moves marketers can make to address the shifting marketplace. See the overview here... https://lnkd.in/ggz6VyJg Frito-Lay, PepsiCo, Kellanova, The Hershey Company, Mars, Mondelēz International, General Mills, Campbell's, Barcel USA, Blue Diamond Growers, Conagra Brands, Jack Link's Protein Snacks, Feastables, Utz Brands, Inc., ALDI USA, Walmart, Kroger, Target, Amazon, Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club, Perfetti Van Melle, Hormel Foods https://lnkd.in/gCi7kxc3

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eCommerce & CPG Strategy: How marketing budgets have shifted in 7 years 🔥 Great visual by the Gartner team. Key Questions: (2) ⛄️ How has marketing budget resource allocation shifted in the last 7 years? ⛄️ Are there any consistent themes (spoiler alert — retail media)? By the numbers: (4) ⬇️ Martech: 29.2% to 23.8% ⬇️ Labor: 24.5% to 22.6% ⬆️ Paid media: 23.2% to 27.9% ⬇️ Agencies: 23.0% to 22.0% Stay in touch with our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eMx4Zh2k Ways to reach us: Pattern® The CPG View The Retail eCommerce Club #ecommerce #digital #omnichannel #strategy #cmo #cdo #ceo #cro #leadership #retailecommerceclub #cpg #privateequity #playtowin

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Purposeful Selling” tips designed for sales reps and management overseeing sales force recruitment, development, and performance management. https://soamp.li/lTK8 #ascensionstrategy #insighttoimpact #digitalmarketing #branding #sales #contentstrategy #contentmarketing #emailmarketing #socialmediamarketing #marketingstrategy #b2bmarketing #leadgeneration #salesenablement #salestraining

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During a recession, you have three primary objectives as a brand: (1) Margin preservation - which generally leads to: (2) Cash flow stability - which then gives you leverage to: (3) Maintain long-term sustainability and valuation. Many brands automatically resort to heavy discounting to stimulate demand and maintain sales during a slump. Discounting can (and should) still be done but with much more intention. Every discount given should attempt to get you a piece of customer data or input that later improves retention - this is worth more than one sale. We know we need this with new customers, but we drop the ball with recurring customers. Discounts given away freely to anyone during a recession in exchange for a quick cash infusion are often too expensive in the long run. This is where marketing partnering with finance is critical. Now is not the time to be in "sales at any cost" mode unless you have an endless infusion of cash to offset losses. Most of us do not. To summarize, the top priority is to keep your business in the healthiest position possible while the storm passes. Drop the ego and the vanity metrics. Missed projections don't necessarily signal the end of your business, but running out of cash does.

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There is a lot of pain in CPG right now. CPG sales contribution dollars, for emerging CPG brands (or new innovations for larger CPGs), could well be a bust for some brand owners in 2024. Sales contribution dollars pays for the remaining operating expenses and fixed overheads. Sales contribution dollars drives cash flow. If sales contribution dollars decline, as seems to be the case given prevailing market conditions, brand owners have some tough trade-off decisions to make in 2024. Price-pack reviews, smart promo & shopper marketing investments, SKU rationalization and some aggressive and hard cost cuts. They are all on the table. The post-COVID inflationary period allowed several CPG brands to cycle through a boom, stall and now a bust cycle. But, a bust can be platformed as a reset for 2024 and 2025. A good place to start is to ensure that the entire executive team has a thorough understanding of how the drivers of sales contribution impact each other and to what extent these drivers can be pragmatically influenced and targeted for 2024 and 2025. On Weds May 1st, I will walk through a case study that shows how post-COVID changes in velocity, distribution, pricing, trade/shopper/digital marketing, COGS and selling expenses impacted sales contribution dollars from 2021 to the current outlook for 2004. The case study (with the financial impact) will be published via my LinkedIn newsletter. A link to subscribe (free) is contained in the first comment of this post. #emergingbrands #cpg #pricing #profitability #grocery #failure #innovation

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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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Let's talk about how we can make your vendor orders effortless....

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Many answers are right here! "How can I learn more about the SlugKeeper" www.slugkeeper.com

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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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Thank you, Digiday and Michael Burgi for this feature on Pathformance and Vibenomics, a Mood Media company! This collaboration presents a major benefit to brands looking to prove results from retail media investments, combining immersive in-store audio advertising with powerful analytics to create a revolutionary shopping experience. Learn more about the future of in-store measurement and how it impacts retail media strategy in the full article below. Elizabeth Johnson Paul Brenner Despite retail media’s growth, in-store measurement is still playing catchup https://lnkd.in/eHUj42i3

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AI Will be The Great Unlock for CPG AI is poised to drive the most dramatic changes in the CPG industry we’ve seen in decades. For nearly 40 years, category management—originated by Brian Harris, has been the backbone of CPG growth. It put the consumer at the center and aligned retailers and manufacturers for mutual benefit. But let’s face it: over time, it’s become slow, resource-heavy, and often yields minimal impact. Now, that’s about to change. McKinsey estimates AI could add up to $270 billion in annual profits for global CPGs. The next generation of category management is here, powered by AI, and it’s about to revolutionize how we work. Here’s what AI could deliver: · Smarter assortments: Hyper-localized, consumer-driven product mixes. · Optimized shelf placement: AI-driven layouts that maximize category growth. · Dynamic pricing and personalization: Real-time offers and promotions tailored to individual shoppers. ·  Faster innovation: Insights that turn R&D timelines from months into weeks. The result? Stronger, more agile manufacturer-retailer partnerships, operating at record speed. Imagine a category review process that takes one month instead of nine? The future of category management is here, and it’s powered by AI- Comment below or message me to learn more.

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This is great news for customers and retailers! 👏 I truly believe any review is better than no review. Even if the review is not positive, brands can learn from their customers, create a dialogue with them, and improve the customer experience with feedback. As for customers - they also have the opportunity to weigh in if another’s opinion or review is applicable or matters to them. #Retailers #Reviews #FakeReviews

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Great read on the complex journey that grocery products take before they reach consumers. As input costs climb across the board—from ingredients to packaging, logistics, and labor—everyone in the supply chain is feeling the impact. The Wall Street Journal article does a great job highlighting just how many players are involved. Imagine a similar story covering every touchpoint in our food system: farmers managing increased fuel and fertilizer costs, raw material suppliers grappling with price volatility, freight companies navigating rising fuel costs, and warehouses handling unprecedented demand and workforce challenges. Each link in this chain is navigating inflation in its own way, which ultimately shapes the prices shoppers see on the shelf. The layers of impact are both fascinating and a reminder of the resilience within our industry. #groceryindustry #grocery #supplychain

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🎉 Big news! Our very own Steve Zurek, VP of Thought Leadership, has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, providing expert insights into the changing dynamics of grocery shelves. 🛒🌟 To read Steve's in-depth analysis and discover how our data is helping quantify these significant changes, check out the full article. 📰✨

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#recap of Mark Cuban's 91 minutes #masterclass 24:00 PM: 12 July 2024. What you need to know ... 1. Sales  2. Profits 3. Margins 4. Know your competitors better than they know themselves.  5. Stay profitable, stay in business.  6. Use transparency to build trust.  7. You can drown an opportunity.  8. Your only product is trust.  9. "Nothing better than being a billionaire, I can't even describe it." _ MC. 10. What is the best company culture you have worked in?  11. There are no employee homerunners.  12. Evaluating Risk: Be all in  13. Drive a culture that builds success.  14. Market smarter.  15. Disrupt legacy business.  16. Maximize your exit strategy https://lnkd.in/dAjDchnZ

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Just remember. You can't fairly compare the revenue numbers for a supplier vs. a manufacturer vs. a retailer. The value chain and resultant margin-takes and price increases make them non-comparable. What you look at is the revenue trend, the cogs trend, the gross profit trend, the opex trend and the IFO trend. But, to think a retailer is "bigger" and somehow better, because their revenues are higher, is to ignore the value chain.

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