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IRI and SPINS Offer New Insights on Fast-Growing Natural/Organic Industry

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

With the U.S. obesity epidemic grabbing constant media attention, it can be easy to forget that many Americans are actually becoming more health conscious. Maybe it’s that all the obesity coverage is helping educate consumers on the importance of a healthy diet. Maybe it’s the increasing availability of healthier products (22 percent of IRI’s 2012 New Product Pacesetters offer healthier-for-you benefits). Whatever the reason, 64 percent of consumers are eating healthier today and the natural products industry is experiencing enormous growth.

Nearly every U.S. household purchased natural products in the past year. More than two-thirds of households are buying organic products. The natural products market topped $80 billion in 2012, and is experiencing double-digit, year-over-year growth. But, in order to sustain this impressive growth, natural products retailers and manufacturers need to know as much as possible about the natural consumer.

To help accelerate the natural and organic products industry’s growth, we recently announced a partnership with SPINS LLC, the leading provider of information and insights surrounding the natural and specialty products industry. The partnership bolsters IRI’s Consumer Network™ household panel by integrating SPINS’ unique natural/organic food segmentation data to create a new natural/organic segmentation capability.

In partnering with SPINS, we’ve significantly expanded our knowledge of the natural/organic sector and can give our clients a more holistic view of both the natural/organic products industry and the overall health and wellness sector. With IRI and SPINS’ combined data, CPG manufacturers and retailers can gain a fully integrated view of how consumers think about, shop for and actually buy natural products.

Together with SPINS, we’ve created a comprehensive view of consumers in the rapidly growing natural/organic sector. We now offer specific segmentation data and insight into this unique population, allowing manufacturers and retailers to more effectively identify, understand and market to the consumers who purchases natural and organic products. This powerful segmentation also enables marketers to better craft and execute plans for natural product distribution, marketing, trade spending and product development.

Please see our recent press release for full details on the partnership, and leave us a comment to let us know how your company is taking advantage of the natural/organic industry’s enormous growth!

Tags: cpg, Health, manufacturers, Marketers, natural, Organic, SPINS LLC, Wellness
Posted in Organic | No Comments »

Ranking the Top-Performing CPG Companies

Monday, May 20th, 2013

Most studies measure brands’ success using a single metric, or perhaps a combination of two, such as dollar and volume sales. But that’s only a fraction of the whole picture. To gain a more complete view, we collaborated with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to rank the top-performing companies in the U.S. CPG industry based on a combination of three metrics—dollar sales growth, volume sales growth and market share gains.

Using comprehensive retail- and consumer-market tracking data, we analyzed the 2012 performance of more than 400 public and private CPG manufacturers with annual U.S. revenues of at least $100 million. We generated three distinct top-ten lists of winning companies: large (more than $5 billion in retail sales), midsize ($1 billion to $5 billion in retail sales) and small ($100 million to $1 billion in retail sales).

One primary takeaway from the report is there are various paths for growth. Some companies effectively manage innovation, others effectively manage pricing.

So which companies took home the top honors? Among large companies, the top three performers were Lorillard, the Hershey Company, and Anheuser-Busch InBev. The top-performing midsize companies were Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., Chobani, and Starbucks, while the top-three small company spots went to TalkingRain, Idahoan, and Handi-foil.

The road to success is different for each company, but several trends are stimulating growth for CPG manufacturers. Here are few of the insights we gleaned:

Small and midsize companies are increasingly taking market share from large competitors. All top-ten small and midsize companies gained market share in 2012. In contrast, large companies have given up 1.4 share points as a group since 2009, amounting to more than $10 billion in lost sales.

Focused portfolios are delivering results. Small and midsize winners are generally focusing on a few product categories, while the large winners that saw higher share growth tend to compete in fewer categories.

Large CPG leaders are largely relying on pricing for growth. All 10 winners in the large company category show higher sales trends for dollar sales than volume.

Larger companies have an opportunity to drive growth through more effective portfolio-mix management. Large manufacturers should consider expanding into categories with high growth potential through acquisitions or new product development, and should frequently re-evaluate their existing categories to determine and focus on the greatest opportunities.

IRI is continuing to work with BCG to track company performance and ongoing trends shaping the CPG industry. We will update the report annually, and we’re excited to deliver further insight and foresight for our clients and the CPG industry overall. To request a copy of the full study, “The BCG-IRI Momentum Report,” please contact John McIndoe at John.McIndoe@IRIworldwide.com .

Tags: BCG, cpg, Distribution, Growth, IRI, KK Davey, manufacturers, Market Share, Portfolio Mix Management, pricing, sales, Volume
Posted in CPG | No Comments »

A Look Back at IRI Summit 2013–Activate Your Growth Engine

Monday, May 6th, 2013

It’s been a couple of weeks since this year’s IRI Summit. As I sit here at my desk reflecting on all that took place, I can honestly say the event lived up to its promise and was one of our most memorable yet. We were excited to see more than 1,000 attendees from the CPG industry congregate at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas. This year’s event was packed with provocative general sessions, engaging breakouts, exciting performances and the chance to network with colleagues and industry experts.

What made this year’s Summit the most memorable were the week’s set of announcements that included the unveiling of our company rebrand back to IRI. The move back to IRI represents the company’s embracing of our rich heritage of disruptive innovation and embarking on an updated strategy we call “Growth Delivered.” Other announcements included corporate partnerships and new studies from IRI.

Every year, Summit devotes a substantial amount of time to General Sessions—covering business intelligence, revenue growth and market strategies. These sessions are highly regarded as 100 percent of attendees found it the most beneficial part of Summit, according to the Summit 2013 Attendee Survey. This year was also the debut of a new event component: Client Specific Solution Clinics. These carefully designed clinics gave attendees one-on-one time with an IRI expert to discuss particular issues surrounding their marketing and sales initiatives.

We were excited to learn that Summit attendees had an overly positive response, as 92 percent agreed that the event met or exceeded their expectations. We constantly strive to offer the latest information regarding innovative solutions created by today’s competitive and complex CPG and retail markets. We hope that future Summit events will continue to deliver growth, exceed expectations, ignite ideas and create actionable insights. Thanks for attending!

Did you attend this year’s Summit? How was your experience this year? What would you like to see more of?

Tags: business intelligence, cpg, IRI, manufacturers, Retailers, Summit
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Summit 2013 Day Three: NPP, DigitaLink and New Analytics Offerings

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

The 2013 Summit may be coming to a close, but IRI has plenty more news to share. We kicked off the third and final day of another action-packed Summit with not one but three major announcements. Check out the summaries below or click the links for full details.

IRI Announces the Most Successful Consumer Packaged Goods Brands of 2012

The results are in! Today IRI’s annual New Product Pacesetters report revealed the most successful food and beverage and non-food CPG product releases of 2012 across the U.S. multi-outlet geography (a new feature of this year’s report!), which includes traditional grocery, drug and mass market retailers, as well as sales from dollar and club channels, Walmart and military commissaries. Dannon Oikos, Starbucks K-Cups and Bud Light Platinum were the top three best-selling new food and beverage brands, while Allegra, Colgate Optic White and PetArmor earned top honors in the non-food category.

New IRI DigitaLinkTM Study Demonstrates Increasing Importance of Effective Online Strategies to CPG and Retailers

It’s no secret that social media has drastically impacted the shopping experience, but understanding how various shopper segments use online resources can be much more complex. IRI’s second annual DigitaLink segmentation study analyzes shoppers in the United States, France, German, Spain and the U.K. based on how they use smart devices and online media to research and buy CPG products.

IRI Advanced Analytics’ Revenue Growth Management Practice Expands by Revealing New Price, Trade and Promotion Opportunities

IRI’s Revenue Growth Management practice, a division of IRI Advanced Analytics, has announced enhanced versions of three software solutions available to clients: Price Trade Advantage™, Trade Planner™ and Trade Value Drivers™. The three new solutions give CPG and retail decision makers new insights and opportunities for generating revenue through improved application and socialization of analytics.

To learn more about day three of Summit and to share your thoughts on these exciting announcements, be sure to follow us at our new Twitter handle, @iriworldwide and use hashtag #cpgsummit!

Tags: analytics, cpg, CPG Summit, DigitaLink, IRI, John McIndoe, manufacturers, New Product Pacesetters, Retailers, revenue growth
Posted in Summit | No Comments »

Summit 2013 Day Two: IRI Delivers Enhanced Value Through New Partner Collaborations

Tuesday, April 16th, 2013

Today, during day two of Summit, IRI announced three new offerings made possible through collaborations with our industry-leading partners. By leveraging our strategic partnerships, IRI is able provide our CPG retailer and manufacturer clients enhanced value and innovative solutions for stimulating and measuring their growth. Check out the announcement recaps below or click the links for full details.

IRI and BlueKai Join Forces to Deliver Direct-to-Consumer Audience Platform for Greater Scale in Digital Audience Buying and Beyond

Identifying and targeting prospects and customers is a crucial endeavor for CPG marketers, and digital marketing is becoming an increasingly important aspect of any successful marketing mix. To offer CPG manufacturers, agencies and media planners the ability to use purchase-based, third-party data for targeting at scale, IRI has teamed with BlueKai, a leading complete enterprise data activation platform. IRI and BlueKai’s new direct-to-consumer digital activation platform combines BlueKai’s data platform with IRI’s segmentation and predictive modeling solution, ProScore™ Targeting.

IRI and 7-Eleven® Launch 7-Exchange Next Generation Category Management Solution

Oh thank heaven! Today, IRI and 7-Eleven, Inc. launched 7-Exchange Next Generation, a new solution that will give 7-Eleven and subscribing vendor partners a more robust way to partner on category management processes. The 7-Exchange Next Generation solution will provide precise, basket-level transaction data and details on promotion optimization, trip-mission segments, store segmentation, same store, time of day and more, helping to facilitate collaboration and accelerate ROI for joint activities.

IRI and Costco Wholesale Announce Significant Enhancements to Costco CRX Platform and Launch of Costco CRX Mexico

Manufacturers now have an even more complete solution for tracking their total business at Costco Wholesale. IRI and Costco today announced new technology and data enhancements to the popular Costco Collaborative Retail Exchange™ (CRX) program. New features include category performance measurement and benchmarking, real-time sales and inventory data and supply chain management capabilities. IRI and Costco also announced the launch of Costco CRX Mexico to offer manufacturers in Mexico a more global view of Costco sales.

Want to know more about what’s going on at 2013 Summit? Follow our new Twitter handle @iriworldwide and use hashtag #cpgsummit!

Tags: 7-Eleven, BlueKai, category management, Costco, cpg, Digital Marketing, IRI, John McIndoe, manufacturers, Retailers, Summit, tracking
Posted in Summit | 2 Comments »

Integration is the Name of the Game: “Integrating Data in a Big Data Environment” Webcast Recap

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

In today’s fast-paced environment, CPG organizations must have quality data to maintain a competitive edge. Yet, ensuring high data quality and timely data integration in a big data environment can be a major challenge. With numerous disparate data sources, multiple data formats and increasingly high data velocity, many organizations are struggling to accurately and effectively process all of their data in near real time. Handling big data can be a daunting task, and poor big data management can create an uncertain and volatile situation. However, with good integration and the right set of tools, big data becomes entirely manageable.

On March 21, Robert Routzahn, marketing manager for IBM InfoSphere Information Server Team, and I presented an InformationWeek webcast entitled, “Integrating Data in a Big Data Environment.” We led off with a discussion of the complexity of big data and the challenges that arise as a result of the “Four Vs”:

Volume – the sheer amount of data available
Variety – the combination of structured and unstructured data from numerous disparate sources, such as manufacturers, retailers, distributers, websites and third party sources
Velocity – the frequent addition of new products and constantly changing product information
Veracity – the integrity and trustworthiness of various product information

For example, SymphonyIRI works with more than 2 million active products in the United States alone (volume), with more than 3,000 new products added each week (velocity), and our data comes from a broad assortment of sources (variety), some of which are more reliable than others (veracity).

In order to put their big data to work, CPG organizations need a continuous, automated data solution that allows them to effectively standardize, classify and integrate their data, essentially transforming fragmented product data into actionable product information. For accurate classification, a successful data solution needs the ability to standardize phrases and words within phrases, and must be able to account for both syntax and semantics, i.e., being able to register “Red Door” as a brand name, and “Red” as a color.

At SymphonyIRI, we’ve successfully tackled our data integration challenges with IBM’s InfoSphere DataStage and QualityStage, which provide a simple, reliable means of organizing and tracking complex product data. These data solutions categorize our data into more than 800 product groupings based on more than 600 unique product attributes and allow us to easily develop repeatable processes.

Big data can be a significant asset, but only if that data is manageable. For CPG organizations looking to maintain a competitive advantage, the right data management solution is an essential tool for putting big data to work. How are you managing big data, and how has your organization benefitted? Share your experiences in the comments section below!

If you missed the InformationWeek webcast and would like to learn more, you can to register for a recorded version of the WebEx here or view the complete slide deck here.

Tags: Big Data, cpg, Data Management, IBM, InformationWeek, Integration, Jay Yusko, Robert Routzahn, Webcast
Posted in Integrating Data | No Comments »

Harvesting the Pearls of New Products: Lessons Learned

Thursday, March 21st, 2013

Even during the very best of times, launching a successful CPG product is a challenge. Despite the challenges and perilously low new product success rates, manufacturers and retailers continue to enhance their new product development initiatives…and for good reason. After all, new products create buzz and excitement, help consumers with their daily lives and build and strengthen brand loyalty. In today’s world, the success of new products is dictated heavily by the shopper’s pursuit for value and innovation, so it’s more important than ever for CPG and retail decision makers to devote massive resources to product development, marketing, merchandising and promotion to communicate these product attributes.

At the upcoming SymphonyIRI Summit, my colleague, Larry Levin, executive general manager of Consumer Insights, and I will address this issue and offer insights into common attributes of the most successful new products. We will also discuss the best new CPG products of 2012 and how they managed to breathe life into the industry.

Do you have best practices you’d like to share? What was your favorite new CPG product launch of 2012? You can join @Symphiri on Twitter for a conversation about new CPG products by using #sigsummit.

The 2013 SymphonyIRI Group Summit will take place at the Wynn Las Vegas from April 15-17, 2013. You can find out more information on the agenda, speakers and breakout sessions as well as sign up to attend here: www.cpgsummit.com.

Tags: cpg, Larry Levin, New Products, Retail Solutions, Susan Viamari, SymphonyIRI Summit
Posted in New Products | 2 Comments »

Times & Trends Report Finds Additional Opportunity for CPGs Thinking—and Working—Outside the Box When Establishing Merchandising Strategy

Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

Throughout the last decade, consumers have changed drastically their approach to grocery shopping. Mobile devices keep consumers connected constantly to current information on everything from new products and pricing to the latest deals and promotions. Additionally, the Great Recession continues to haunt shoppers financially, compelling consumers to maintain strict grocery budgets and continue shopping high and low for maximum value, even though some measures of the country’s economic health have improved.

Consumers continue to redefine value rapidly, prompting CPG marketers to readjust and develop strategic approaches to withstand an evolving landscape. Our latest Times & Trends report, “Merchandising Trends: Supporting the Value Proposition,” examines common and emerging merchandising trends that CPG marketers are implementing in an effort to satisfy capricious consumers effectively.

Key findings include:

Merchandising activity increased across most CPG channels in 2012, following a momentary decline in 2011.
Although merchandising activity within the drug channel slowed for the second consecutive year, support across key health and beauty care categories increased more quickly in drug compared to the grocery channel.
Price-only merchandising increased across more than half of CPG categories in 2012, even though this tactic generally achieves lower lift versus other tactics.
Average merchandising lift dropped sharply in 2012 across the majority of categories and measured channels.
Media usage and new media adoption trends differ considerably across CPG categories.

This month’s Times & Trends report reveals that “the old way” of doing things is simply not as impactful as it was in the past. To capitalize on new and evolving opportunities, marketers must enmesh the broad and rapidly growing array of old and new media tools at their disposal. These tools, supported by advanced analytics, have the ability to optimize trade promotions and enable more granular executions in support of key consumer rituals in a highly targeted—and profitable—fashion.

To learn more, you may download the full report here. Additionally, you may register for this month’s Times & Trends webinar during which I will discuss our findings in further detail.

Tags: cpg, MarketPulse, merchandising, shopper behavior, SymphonyIRI, The Great Recession, Times & Trends, webinar
Posted in Merchandising Strategy | No Comments »

Cautious Consumers Buckle Down for the Holiday Season

Monday, October 29th, 2012

During the past several years, shoppers have become increasingly diligent in planning their holiday celebration related food and beverage purchases. Frugal consumers have embraced coupons, sacrificed gourmet items, and learned to meticulously plan their lists. Saving has become a way a life, and even the approaching holiday season won’t be enough to loosen purse strings.

SymphonyIRI’s Q3 MarketPulse™ study examined consumers’ budgeting and shopping plans for the 2012 holiday season, finding that shoppers are still proceeding very cautiously, planning their purchases and seeking any and all savings avenues. Forty-one percent of consumers feel that their financial position has deteriorated in the past year, and many shoppers intend to rein in their holiday spending. Specifically, 45 percent of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season, with 36 percent planning to spend less on their holiday-related food and beverages.

Consumers across all shopper segments are keeping their belts quite tight, but moms are especially intent on stretching their holiday dollars even further this year than they have in recent history. In fact, 45 percent of moms plan to reduce their holiday celebration-related food and beverage spending this year, compared to 36 percent of the population as a whole, and forty-six percent of moms aim to cut back on unplanned CPG purchases. But, even frugal moms can be swayed: 47 percent plan to take more advantage of in-store promotions, and 44 percent are still buying premium and gourmet items along their route.

Moms aren’t the only ones cutting back—even the wealthiest shoppers are concerned about their financial health and watching their budgets as the holiday season approaches. As a result, 27 percent of wealthy households are taking measures to save money during the holidays, and very few are planning to spend more than they did last year.

Consumers across the board will be shopping strategically this year, employing various tools and tactics to maximize holiday savings. In particular, many customers plan to up their coupon use this year, with MarketPulse data revealing a particular emphasis on online-based coupons:

41 percent plan to clip more newspaper and/or circular coupons
39 percent plan to download more coupons from manufacturer websites
36 percent plan to use more coupons from retailer websites
36 percent plan to redeem more coupons received via email
32 percent plan to print more coupons from social networking sites
31 percent plan to use more coupons from group couponing sites

With so many consumers keeping their wallets clamped shut, this holiday season presents a challenge for CPG manufacturers and retailers. Still, it will offer opportunities for marketers that can deliver against the needs and wants of their key shoppers. Throughout the past year, SymphonyIRI has been examining the many faces of the CPG shopper to understand what it is that drives purchase behavior in difficult economic times. It’s a complex puzzle. When looking at influencers of brand decisions, for instance:

Gen-Xers are much more heavily influenced by price than boomers and seniors
Shoppers over the age of 65 rely quite heavily on existing brand equity
Hispanics are much more heavily influenced by household requests than non-Hispanics
Millennial shoppers rely quite heavily on online sources of brand and deal information
Moms are more heavily influenced by shopper loyalty discounts versus the average shopper

To learn more about the many faces of the CPG shopper, click here for our full coverage of consumer segment trends. What strategies will you use to entice shoppers this holiday season?

Tags: Consumers, coupons, cpg, Frugal, Holiday Season, MarketPulse, Millennials, moms, Segmentation, Shoppers, survey, SymphonyIRI
Posted in Holiday Season | 2 Comments »

Q3 MarketPulse™ Survey Results: Don’t Ignore the “Ignored Generation”

Thursday, October 25th, 2012

Often referred to as the “ignored generation,” Generation X is far from forgettable. Sandwiched between two larger generations, the post World War II baby boomers and their millennial children, Generation X borrows traits from both groups but more closely mirrors the millennials.

This quarter’s MarketPulse™ survey narrows in on Gen-Xers (aged 35 to 44) to reveal frugality despite a sunnier economic outlook. Twenty-four percent of the group believes their financial situation has improved during the past 12 months. Because of this positive view, it may seem that Generation X has much in common with the baby boomers. In fact, though, they actually share traits around price sensitivity and tech savviness with millennial shoppers.

Just as millennials are entering adulthood amidst a weak economic environment, Gen-Xers began their adult lives, job-searching and starting a household, during the recession following the 1987 stock market crash. They’ve adopted more frugal purchase habits compared to older generations and use technology to plan shopping trips ahead of time. The Q3 MarketPulse report demonstrates these Gen-Xer traits, such as:

Similar to millennial shoppers, 72 percent of Gen-Xers state price is more important than convenience in brand decisions
37 percent buy brands that are on sale rather than their preferred brands versus 45 percent of millennials, 27 percent of boomers and 22 percent of seniors
33 percent choose products based on loyalty card discounts versus 35 percent of millennials, 25 percent of boomers and 16 percent of seniors
20 percent steer clear of certain aisles to avoid unplanned purchases versus 22 percent of millennials, 15 percent of boomers and 11 percent of seniors
On par with other generations, 69 percent pre-plan by making shopping lists, with Internet and retailer website usage comparable to millennials and higher than older generations

With established families and more advanced careers, Generation X is an influential group. Retailers and manufacturers should not overlook their spending power. Marketers wishing to reach Generation X should approach the group with a comprehensive arsenal of tactics, showing appreciation for their tech savvy ways, and the important role that new media are playing in helping them to get off to a solid start in their adult world.

For more details about Generation X’s shopping behaviors and this quarter’s Shopper Sentiment Index™, please read the press release: http://www.symphonyiri.com/NewsEvents/PressReleases/tabid/97/ItemID/1605/View/Details/Default.aspx.

Tags: cpg, demographics, Gen-X, Generation X, manufacturer, Marketing, retailer, Segmentation, shopper behavior
Posted in Generation X | 1 Comment »

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