In 2009, consumers have upped their use of coupons for CPG product purchases compared to 2008, and affluent consumers ($70k per year or more) are more likely to use coupons than the population as a whole (39 percent compared to 35 percent, respectively). The Nielsen Company Press Release on BusinessWire.com Sept. 3, 2009
The mega food marketer, which posted better-than-expected results quarterly profits and raised its full-year forecast yesterday, attributed recent success to the growing home-dining trend. The New York Times (Sept. 18, 2008)
Safeway will begin making two of its own-label brands — “O Organics” and “Eating Right” –- available in other retail chains, and believes that the brands have the potential of generating $1 billion in sales in the next few years. Brandweek Cited on MorningNewsBeat.com Brandweek (Sept. 12, 2008)
The Kellogg Company will revive Oreo also-ran Hydrox Cookies and Reserve Brands is re-introducing Eagle Snacks, which research suggests six out of ten U.S. adults remember. Re-creating that kind of brand awareness might cost $300 to $500 million today. Other, venerable brands try to draw on their heritage, while updating their marketing message to remain fresh. [...]
One analyst professed surprise at the size of the price increases, which the company said are being instituted to offset increasing ingredient costs. The Boston Globe (Aug. 18, 2008)
One store in Chattanooga, TN, reports flat sales compared to last year, while another (in a prime tourist location) has seen a 20% fall-off. The proprietors cite affordability and familiarity as reasons for confection’s relatively high resistance to broader economic troubles. Chattanooga Times Free Press (July 22, 2008)
White Plains, NY-based yogurt maker Dannon last fall assembled a “shelf-obsession team” to press its case for expanded display space at retail. The special-operations-type unit supports existing sales teams with account-specific market research and merchandising concepts gleaned from Dannon’s global operations. Sure to be among their oft-cited research is that the dairy category comprises 9% of grocery store sales, [...]
When the trucks go into service throughout the U.S. and Canada later this summer, Coca-Cola Enterprises will have the largest hybrid truck fleet in North America. The per-vehicle cost is $85, 000 – higher than non-hybrid alternatives – but each one will produce 37 percent fewer emissions and use 32 percent less fuel than a standard delivery truck. [...]
Although the industry’s sales, still going up, amounted to $16.8 billion in the U.S. last year, there is evidence that tap is the new chic in water. Thrifty consumers are buying re-usable containers. Nestle now produces half-liter bottles in an “eco-shape” that contains 30 percent less plastic than the average bottle. And, Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the [...]
At an investment conference in New York yesterday, Hershey Co. ceo David West outlined the confectioner’s plans to take on the bohemoth that we arise from the combination of Mars Inc. and the Wm. Wrigley Co. in the coming months. Some observers think that reinvigorated marketing may not be enough, and that Hershey’s scant international [...]