Channel Migration: Charting a Course on the Voyage for Value

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SymphonyIRI's Times & Trends highlights new developments and critical events across all major CPG categories and channels, providing powerful benchmarking data to help guide your strategic decisions. This edition of Times & Trends explores the changing dynamics within the CPG marketplace, examines CPG manufacturer and retailer opportunities and risks and explores what the future holds as new formats and new media evolve and gain traction across a rapidly changing consumer marketplace.

Introduction

To say that the past several years have been challenging for consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers would be an understatement.

Manufacturers and retailers alike have struggled against very high cost of goods sold equations, stemming from spikes in commodity, packaging and other product inputs and transportation costs. On the other side of the business, as consumers have been changing their attitudes and behaviors in an effort to survive and thrive in a challenging and rapidly changing economic landscape, keeping up with consumer trends has been difficult and, at times, downright overwhelming. And, in the midst of it all, competition within the marketplace has been intense. 

Fortunately for CPG marketers, rays of opportunity have peaked through the landscape. In particular, consumers’ conservative approach to daily living brought a renewed focus on the home as the center of day-to-day life. Detailed in SymphonyIRI reports published throughout the economic downturn, the CPG industry has done a phenomenal job embracing the challenges of the past few years and providing solutions across a wide range of consumer needs and wants.

But, the dynamics within the industry continue to change. Consumers have more options to choose where to shop, and they have become more savvy in their approach to shopping.

Select Findings

• The battle for share of CPG sales continues to intensify. Grocery lost share across most CPG departments, but has been able to post wins across some important categories. Meanwhile, drug, club, dollar and specialty channels are seeing growth across almost all CPG departments, reflecting the success of efforts to bolster assortment, hone pricing and build shopper loyalty.

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• CPG trip frequency has been on a slow decline during the past year, while per trip expenditures have inched upward. The decline in trip frequency has occurred despite the fact that the average gas price has receded significantly during the past year. Indeed, the trend to less frequent but larger CPG trips is reflective of an ongoing shift in trip missions.

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