J. Schall Consulting’s Post

When you're an early-stage CPG brand founder...each individual customer means the world to you. But then as you scale (and your customer base grows), CPG brands (oftentimes unintentionally) wrongfully distance themselves from those original core customers...making them feel like just a number. And that’s becoming a bigger issue in today’s CPG marketplace where customers expect brands to add value to their lives beyond simply providing a great “made to stock” product. So, CPG brands must focus on building a company culture that rewards the creation and adoption of unscalable customer-centric strategies. The goal would be to prioritize customer intimacy even as the CPG brand goes through the typical growth/adoption construct... #strategy #trends #markets #fmcg #cpg #cx #customerexperience #food #beverages #sportsnutrition #supplements #innovation #productdevelopment #branding #marketing #merchandising #retailing #retail #business #grocery #businessintelligence #entrepreneurship #consultants

CPG industry innovation presents a paradox... Consumers continue to demand new CPG products. And to meet that continual consumer demand for newness, CPG companies have gotten innovation drunk, and it has caused a proliferation of products/brands. Yet only around one-tenth of new CPG products launched annually survive their first few years in-market... So, while new product development is highlighted as a universally important growth driver for CPG companies…remember it can also be a resource-intensive process that results in a questionable return on investment. Interested in more around how to manage innovation risk, we explored this in a longer form content piece 👉 https://bit.ly/3ZzwOW2 #strategy #trends #markets #food #beverages #fmcg #cpg #supplements #sportsnutrition #innovation #productdevelopment #branding #marketing #merchandising #retailing #retail #business #businessintelligence #entrepreneurship #consultants

We love when a CPG industry CEO has enough conviction to "call" his/her shot! With an almost 20% share on Amazon...plus literally growing 10 times its size compared to three years ago (when he made this prediction), should you have really bet against John Fieldly that CELSIUS Holdings, Inc. would reach $2 billion in retail sales one day soon? P.S. - The energy drink brand just crossed that retail sales threshold in TTM IRI data 😲 #strategy #trends #markets #fmcg #cpg #beverages #energydrinks #sportsnutrition #convenience #supplements #wellness #innovation #productdevelopment #marketing #branding #merchandising #retailing #retail #business #businessintelligence #entrepreneurship #consultants

Whether you're a old-school categorical purist that only watches "sports drinks" retail sales data trends or a JSC strategy disciple that opens up the aperture to consider the various puts/takes within the broader functional hydration space...it has gotten increasingly difficult to totally overlook the impact from the “beverage identity crisis." While still accounting for less than 5% of the broader functional hydration space total retail sales, the ready-to-mix (RTM) powder format has expanded significantly...with sales more than doubling over the last two years! We believe this RTM to ready-to-drink (RTD) "build model" will become extremely popular amongst functional beverage founders over the next decade...thus causing more “beverage identity crisis” scenarios in the future. #strategy #trends #markets #fmcg #cpg #supplements #sportsnutrition #beverages #sportsdrinks #hydration #wellness #innovation #marketing #branding #productdevelopment #retailing #merchandising #retail #grocery #business #businessintelligence #entrepreneurship #consultants

The momentum behind private brands has never been stronger in the US, with sales now over 20% of the total grocery market and projected to be 24% by 2030. For many grocery retailers today, the lack of a comprehensive private brand strategy means that they’ll get left behind. The top players have opened over 250 stores in the past year, continuing to gain market share and have strong financial performance. They act differently, with total commitment from the C-Suite, marketing programs which elevate their brand portfolio and continuous focus on innovation and improvement. While value is the number one purchase driver cited by consumers, grocers must also have differentiated brand architectures and consistent positioning across categories with scalable processes and innovation capabilities that will ensure their success is repeatable. Our latest piece, co-authored by my colleague Marco Valentini, looks at how the Private Label market is accelerating even amid slower total grocery market growth, and what retailers need to do to gain and maintain success with their private brands.

Amid slow growth and intense competition in the grocery market, retailers need innovative strategies to maintain and expand their market share. Private brands are projected to continue impressive growth over the next 5 years, with an anticipated CAGR of +4.7% vs. +0.4% for all other sales. This private brand growth provides grocers with a chance to stand out, capture market share, and increase profit. In an industry where every advantage counts, a robust private brand program is not just an option but a strategic imperative for thriving in today’s grocery market. Read our latest insights "Accelerate Your Private Brand Journey To Win With Customers And Shareholders" to learn more about how grocers can follow a structured approach to building a strong private brand program. For additional information, reach out to our authors and experts Marco Valentini and John Clear. #grocery #privatebrands #AMCRG #CRGTeam https://lnkd.in/eH7zrSpj

In today’s "endless aisle" world, there are as many beverages as unique personalities, and your choice can say a lot about you. It has honestly got to the point that your drink can say just as much about you as the outfit you choose to wear. So, as the tensions from this recent U.S. election season subsides, we thought sharing this graphic about the "least bipartisan" beverages would be interesting... Any surprises? #strategy #trends #markets #fmcg #cpg #beverages #politics #innovation #productdevelopment #branding #marketing #merchandising #retailing #retail #business #businessintelligence #entrepreneurship #consultants

To be successful the question is: What do consumers want next? To answer this key question I use our Zeitgeist trend model, a model that has proven itself over more than 20 years and for more than a 100 brands. This short video explains this trend model. Get inspired! #zeitgeist #tijdgeest #marketing #fmcg #food #innovation #innovatie #trendlezing #trends2024 #trends #consumententrends #consumertrends #keynote #keynotespeaker #brands #merken #futurist #strategist #trendwatcher

Over the past several years, CPG brands searching for solutions to reduce supply chain volatility have a close resemblance to those playing the carnival game Whac-A-Mole. And just when you thought things were getting better...longshore workers at ports from Maine to Texas are set to walk off the job early next week, staging what could become the most disruptive strike to the US economy in decades! But as CPG brands are vying to balance supply chain volatility...they're attempting to collaborate more closely with retail while also expanding consumer touchpoints through DTC initiatives. This is when operations, sales (wholesale/digital), and marketing need to work closely together...as great brand perception combined with wider product availability has always been a winning sequence within the CPG industry.  #strategy #trends #markets #fmcg #cpg #food #beverages #supplychain #supplements #sportsnutrition #innovation #productdevelopment #branding #marketing #merchandising #retailing #retail #business #businessintelligence #entrepreneurship #consultants

Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Whether it’s about satisfying existing #shoppers to increase spend or attracting new shoppers to a category #innovation can be an effective tool. Will shoppers in your category be tempted by new and different products? If your category scores well against other categories for this metric, you know the appetite is there. AND you can demonstrate this to your buyers to help secure new listings. So what does that innovation need to look like? What should it call out? Focusing first on the shopper will help you create new products that will win at the shelf. Look at what’s important to them and how satisfied they are with that. Do they want better quality or premium options? sustainability? healthy options? British made or locally sourced? Do they want to see more range or is it already confusing…that’s a watch out for Plant Based! That’s a good starting point for identifying white spaces. Understanding your shopper’s needs is crucial to effective category execution. And you can only do this by asking shoppers what matters to them and understanding this in the context of the total grocery store. See below for top 10 categories for ‘try new and different’. #categorymanagement #shopperinsights #groceryretail #retailinsights #innovation