IRI Times & Trends: Merchandising for Growth

This IRI Times & Trends report — Merchandising for Growth: Connecting the Dots for Maximum Activation — provides guidance to CPG marketers looking to redeploy pricing and merchandising strategies to support dollar sales and margin goals versus pure volume growth.

In brief

CPG volume trends are flat and industry growth is largely coming from price increases. Promotional activity is being used as a lever to drive engagement, but marketers have fallen victim to a vicious cycle: funneling more and more resources into trade to increase promotional intensity and spur purchase behavior, all the while sales lift from said programs is on the decline. The CPG industry is in trouble, and the time for change is now.

Click on the image for the Average Lift by Channel graphic.

In 2012, 39% of categories were getting lift of 90% or more from merchandising efforts. Today, only 30% achieve lift of this magnitude. Erosion of lift is not new; it has been occurring for several years. Declines are occurring across retail channels. On the whole during the past few years, average lift is down nine points across IRI’s multi-outlet geography.

Click on the image for the Comprehensive Price, Promo Strategy graphic.

Ground-up redesign of price and promotion strategies can yield up to 2% in annual growth, or up to $12 billion for the CPG industry. CPG marketers must rebuild their strategies, beginning with the creation of a comprehensive pricing structure (price pack architecture) that cuts across the brand portfolio:

• Broad and diverse product assortment at price points to meet the appetites of a wide spectrum of shoppers.

• Solid value proposition.

• Lasting competitive advantage, with improved profits and margin and solid customer loyalty.

IRI's Times & Trends reports highlight new developments and critical events across all major CPG categories and channels, providing powerful benchmarking data to help guide strategic decisions.