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How many brands are there?

In spite of an abundance of claims to rationalise, the number of brands per category is continuing to rise More than 100 […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 10, 2026

How FMCG volumes and food/beverage spend have evolved over two decades

Stable for a long time, but the pandemic and inflation have led to some substantial changes in expenditure Volumes still up after […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 03, 2026

Visual signals: the effect of nutritional labels, transparency and colour grading

Every few weeks we will share a mix of insights from academic papers, often based on household panel data Nutritional labels: how […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 24, 2026

Winning in crises resembles winning in growth periods

Brands that have gained share over the past few years were more active than brands that lost share Winning brands – more […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 03, 2026

Private Labels (PLs) on the rise during high inflation periods

As in past years of economic turbulence and high inflation, downtrading by consumers has benefitted PL. PL gains value, volume and shelf […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 27, 2026

Every brand has significant opportunities to gain buyers – even the biggest

Following up from last week’s blog we examine the percentage of one- and two time buyers for all, leading and #3 brands. […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 20, 2026

One-time buyers dominate your customer base – even if you’re a #1 brand

For all brands, even large ones, the majority of buyers only purchase once a year. This varies by how often the category is […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 13, 2026

A more differentiated look at penetration: there is always room to grow

Relative penetration should be observed in more granularity: some examples how it differs across retailers and over time. Massive variation of penetration […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 16, 2025

A long-term perspective on Private Label (PL) growth: what has changed from 2014 to 2024?

We study category PL success in 12 European markets from 2014 to 2024: how much change? how common they exceed National Brand penetration? […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 18, 2025

Innovations: how many and who is launching?

Building on last week’s pick we revisit a Western European market and look at the companies that launch most actively. We also examine […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 11, 2025

The fate of innovations – prevalence, listings and survival odds

We took a deep dive into the launch activity in 89 categories in a large Western European country. The yearly number of launches […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 04, 2025

Who Cares? Who Does?

Highlights from our global health survey 2025 How is GLP-1 affecting your category shoppers? Our GLP-1 shopper typology was created by mapping […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 28, 2025

Penetration and its variation (2): how penetration varies with time – and the importance of retailer listings

This week, we focus on the change in reach** when we double the typically used observation period of one year to two years. […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 14, 2025

Penetration and its variation (1): how brand share and category frequency relate to the reach of a brand

The importance of buyer numbers for brand success is one, if not the most, recurring theme in this blog. This and next week’s […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 07, 2025

Assortment sizes continue to grow: up 8% between 2014 and 2024

Growth mostly due to Private Label Private Label assortments grow, branded assortments stable The number of SKUs offered in the average category […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 30, 2025

Assortment Size Revisited

How much to expect from a larger range? Assortment size variation shows a similar impact across categories A linear regression on thousands […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 23, 2025

A closer look at purchase frequency: over time and across brand rank tiers

While the purchase frequency for categories, brands and PLs has dropped for a long time (essentially up to and during the pandemic), the […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 16, 2025

Promotion levels dipped in 2023 when inflation was at its peak

National brands’ conduct did not help curb the higher appeal of Private Labels in tough times Brands should remain particularly vigilant during […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 09, 2025

It’s difficult to get on top – yet possible

This week we look at leading brands in 2024 and how they were performing ten years ago Number 1 brands in 2024 […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 26, 2025

How to influence shopper choices when it comes to sustainable and healthy alternatives

Evidence from two recent academic studies How technology can reduce the environmental impact of food choices In spite of growing concern for […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 19, 2025

Shrinkflation: a smart way to implement higher prices?

Some highlights from a recent webinar shared by Professor Kathleen Cleeren What is shrinkflation? Instead of increasing price for an existing SKU […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 05, 2025

The bigger you are, the more you launch

But the less you rely on each individual launch Really large brands much more active than smaller ones Brands that command at […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 29, 2025

Both the number and sales share of launches has dropped over the past 12 years

Brand launch intensity has declined In our BG20 database we distinguish between new products (i.e. launches that carry a new brand or […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 22, 2025

A spotlight on large brands – Part 2

The role of availability Winning large brands have been able to increase availability In line with previous learnings, even for brands with […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 01, 2025

A spotlight on large brands – Part 1

The role of penetration, frequency, category growth and assortment size When large brands grow, the number of buyers is key In line […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 24, 2025

A spotlight on small brands with impressive growth since 2019

Rising brand stars – how have they earned the title? Rising stars are defined as brands that were small prior to the […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 17, 2025

Category Private Label trends 2019-2023

What differentiates winners from losers Private Label follows the rules of growth – driven by additional buyers PL increased share in 72% […]

posted by: europanel date: May 27, 2025

Winning brands 2019-2023 – Part 4

Some have increased prices more than Private Labels Not all winning brands have been able to maintain price gaps vs Private Label […]

posted by: europanel date: May 20, 2025

Winning brands 2019-2023 – Part 3

Innovation, Distribution and Pricing Brands that have lost share since 2019 continued to launch new products Slightly more losing brands introduced new […]

posted by: europanel date: May 13, 2025

Winning brands 2019-2023 – Part 2

A closer look at their innovation activity Brands that have lost share since 2019 continued to launch new products The vast majority […]

posted by: europanel date: May 06, 2025

Winning brands 2019-2023

Penetration is key and Private Label performance links with brand share gains Winning share and winning penetration closely aligned As shown for […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 29, 2025

Brand performance in Europe between 2019 and 2023

what we can learn from past crises for the future? More share losers than winners among Top 10 brands in 2019 Of […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 22, 2025

Authentic, Human, Trustworthy

Qualities we reward in the brands we buy Brand authenticity: manufacturing site matters Many brands, as they grow from local icons to […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 08, 2025

Pack Size Learnings

Smaller packs may backfire – for suppliers in terms of volumes, for consumers in terms of calorie intake Downsizing: smaller packs hurt […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 01, 2025

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 4

A final set of learnings (for now) from 16 countries Winning brands limit churn better Building on last week’s pick of the […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 25, 2025

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 3

Another set of learnings (for now) from 16 countries Getting more buyers key to winning share A common theme over the past […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 18, 2025

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 2

More learnings from 16 countries Winning and Private Label growth are linked Given the massive gains Private Labels in Europe experienced over […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 11, 2025

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 1

Learnings from 16 countries Almost all winning brands grow penetration Among brands that gained vs lost share from 2019 to 2023 we […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 04, 2025

Wellbeing and being not so well: which activities differentiate?

Some insights from our first Who Cares Who Does survey with a focus on health Top activities amongst people reporting to feel […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 25, 2025

How category purchase frequency impacts brands and not just launches

Getting distribution is harder in rarely purchased categories Last week we showed that launches face more competition from other launches in frequently […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 11, 2025

What to expect from an innovation

The role of the category Launch numbers vary a lot across categories Different categories show very different levels of innovation activity. The […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 04, 2025

What to expect from an innovation

The role of price and parent brand The average launch reaches about 1% of category buyers We tracked the performance of all […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 28, 2025

Category growth

The impact of assortment and pricing More modest price increases help winning Like brands, winning categories over the past five years increased […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 21, 2025

This and next week we will turn our attention to category growth

How did the 100 most winning categories differ from the 100 most losing categories over the past few years? Both penetration and […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 14, 2025

Happy 2025!

We start the new year by revisiting some insights on assortment variety, success and presentation The average Top 10 Brand in Europe […]

posted by: Hampus Bornebusch date: Jan 07, 2025

Our final edition of 2024 focuses on yearly changes in reach and frequency for winning vs losing brands since 2020

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! We’ll be back Jan 7 Winners gain buyers – or are more successful in limiting […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 17, 2024

Pricing and how it relates to winning share during Covid-19, inflation and recession

On average, winning brands have increased prices less than losers and less than Private Labels The past four years were characterized by […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 26, 2024

Who Cares? Who Does? – In our 300th weekly post we focus on health

Some highlights from our 2024 survey of 103,000 shoppers in 36 markets Health is a major concern for many When asked to […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 19, 2024

Our fourth entry on brand growth between 2019 and 2023

Momentum from growing share has become less common, especially for large brands Long-term growth of share winners down Before the pandemic some […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 05, 2024

Our third entry on growth between 2019 and 2023

A closer look at brand performance in different category types and for different brand ranks Where do we find the winners? We […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 29, 2024

Growth 2019-2023

Some more learnings on what distinguishes winners from losers in this high-inflation and Covid-19-impacted period Almost all winning brands grow penetration Among […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 22, 2024

How much change is there anyway?

A look into the stability of consumer choices and brand momentum Don’t try too hard changing shopper habits In a simplified world […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 01, 2024

Surprising Consumer Inferences

What we associate with healthy positioning, private labels, and nutrition claims Healthy Diets – Empty Wallets A recent study shows that many […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 24, 2024

Recycling

Why we do it, when we do it, who should do it Inspiring consumers to recycle Do you ever think about what […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 10, 2024

The Power (and Peril) of High Prices

The prevalence and characteristics of premium brands The number of really cheap and rather premium National Brands is stable Both in 2019 […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 03, 2024

Authentic, Human, Trustworthy:

Qualities we reward in the brands we buy Brand Authenticity: Manufacturing site matters Many brands, as they grow from local icons to […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 27, 2024

What happens in the store…

This week we look at three research studies on consumer decision-making in retailers and how to act on these findings. Distance matters: […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 13, 2024

Consumers’ often imperfect reactions to marketing signals

We all know that errors in judgement are human. Today we highlight a few scholarly contributions that investigate lack of judgement when it […]

posted by: Hampus Bornebusch date: Aug 06, 2024

Sport events and marketing effectiveness

Which categories are increasing their spend most during events? Are these efforts more or less effective than in non-event times? What categories […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 30, 2024

FMCG in Western Europe

Easing inflation results in both a positive impact on volumes and downward pressure on value across all 3 super-categories The past ten […]

posted by: Hampus Bornebusch date: Jul 23, 2024

A spotlight on promotions

Academic learnings about their effectiveness during events and the impact of a “Promotion-Free World” Events and promotional effectiveness What a summer: the […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 16, 2024

Category pack size trends and pack size differences between National Brands and Private Labels

How pack sizes offered and bought have changed over five years Our Europanel BG20 initiative contains data for the pack size of […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 09, 2024

Part 2 in our Category Share-of-Wallet (SOW) Analyses

Differences between categories capturing large vs small parts of shoppers’ budgets Private label shares almost identical in high vs low SOW categories […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 25, 2024

Category share-of-wallet

A closer look at categories which capture large vs small budgets Top 5 categories account for one third of spend Shoppers allocate […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 18, 2024

Penetration: a metric that matters

Lots of questions last week on the relevance of penetration as a growth KPI. We share some recent findings and a look back […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 11, 2024

Brand loyalty: what’s the impact of size and price?

Last week’s blog focused on shopping frequency and its impact on loyalty – this week we examine the impact of the brand’s share […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 04, 2024

Brand Loyalty: how big is it and how does it link with purchase frequency?

One of the most established measures to capture brand loyalty, share-of-wallet, shows how much of their category spend the average brand buyer allocates […]

posted by: europanel date: May 28, 2024

Shopping frequency among new, lost and retained category buyers

Following up last week’s analyses focusing on brand purchase frequency this week’s pick investigates the category angle Category frequency substantially higher for […]

posted by: europanel date: May 21, 2024

Shopping Frequency among New, Lost and Retained Buyers

Retained Buyers of a Brand buy it about twice as often in a given year than new buyers in that year or lost […]

posted by: europanel date: May 14, 2024

The Leaky Bucket for Categories

Following up last week’s analyses how many of its buyers brands must expect to lose from one year to the next we focus […]

posted by: europanel date: May 07, 2024

How Brands are Bought: An Update of Purchasing Patterns in FMCG

Over the next few weeks we will look at a number of “established concepts” in consumer buying, starting today with the leaky bucket: […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 30, 2024

The recently launched report State of the Grocery Retail Europe 2024

McKinsey, Eurocommerce, Europanel predicts FMCG retailing to grow 3.5 times faster online than offline Our recently launched report THE STATE OF GROCERY […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 23, 2024

How launch activity has changed

a pre/post Covid-19 comparison More brands were active launchers in 2019 compared to 2022 The percentage of brands launching at least one […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 16, 2024

Brands’ launch activity, new products’ contribution to brand sales, and their price premia

One in two Top 10 brands was innovating in 2022 For a brand, the launch of new products can have many benefits, […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 09, 2024

How the past year compares to long-term trends with respect to FMCG value and volume

Value growth in most countries remains close to record years, apart from Japan, China and US The best and worst years over the […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 02, 2024

How big are the biggest brands? (Part 2)

Today we look at how a high vs a low Private Label share impacts the shares of large and small brands. In a […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 26, 2024

How big are the biggest brands? (Part 1)

Today we examine differences across regions and category types. The Top 3 brands in a category capture almost 50% of the total […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 19, 2024

How many new products in FMCG?

The larger the range, the more launches in a category The new product activity in a category increases with the existing assortment […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 12, 2024

A Closer Look at Assortment Size.

Number of SKUs, its relationship to reach, category differences and how Private Labels play assortment size. The average Top 10 Brand in […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 27, 2024

Private Labels grow more than ever!

And Discounters appeal to all sociodemographics. Private Label growth in Western Europe strongly linked to economic conditions Looking back over the past […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 20, 2024

Another set of results from our yearly Who Cares Who Does survey.

Focusing on shoppers‘ environmental concerns and actions: Packaging matters! Shoppers want retailers to focus on waste reduction (packaging, product and supply chain) […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 13, 2024

Another result from our yearly survey on shoppers‘ environmental concerns and actions.

And some scientific insights which categories are more (or less) suited for sustainable positioning. Price is the greatest barrier to purchasing sustainably […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 06, 2024

Promotion-specific differences between frequent and infrequent categories and between large and small brands.

Small brands’ promo dependence is much higher than for large brands. Brands in frequently purchased categories are promoted more often The average […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 30, 2024

Sustainable shopping matters to many consumers.

While some actions are at their own discretion, a majority feels governments and manufacturers should be in a prime position to limit environmental […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 23, 2024

How successful are National Brands and Private Labels if their prices differ little vs a lot?

Economic theory would suggest that National Brands have a tougher time in categories where they are relatively more expensive than in categories where […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 09, 2024

With a big (non-sport) event just around the corner, let’s close this year’s Pick of the Week by looking at the effectiveness of marketing around big sports events.

We will be back early next year. Merry Christmas! What categories advertise the most during sports events? During sporting events both the […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 12, 2023

Innovation matters

This week we show that innovating companies are more likely to grow and that winning brands are more likely to innovate. Launch […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 05, 2023

A final spotlight on changes experienced in FMCG markets during COVID, more precisely between 2019 and 2022.

Today we focus on the price gap between National Brands and Private Labels. Category Price Premia remained stable In the average category […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 28, 2023

For this week’s selection and also over the next couple of weeks we will review how the FMCG landscape has changed (or not) over the past three turbulent years.

We start with market structure. Almost 40% of FMCG volume in Europe from Private Labels The FMCG market shows quite a distinct […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 14, 2023

One more set of insights focusing on how price (changes) impacts choice.

All from scientific learnings across our network of marketing academics. Why different price threshold patterns exist We showed last week that price […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 07, 2023

FMCG value development in Western Europe has been turbulent in recent years

Strong volume gains during the pandemic, followed by downtrading on price and volume because of high inflation levels Volume and Value changes […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 31, 2023

We celebrate the 5th anniversary of our global Who Cares, Who Does Sustainability Study.

In this weeks edition we look at another top headline from the recently launched WCWD 2023 report. Price is the greatest barrier […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 24, 2023

A closer look at new products

category variations in brands’ contribution to new product activity, launch price premia relative to their parent brand and the distribution they can expect […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 17, 2023

For the next few weeks our focus will be innovation – with some recent FMCG developments and Who Cares Who Does findings sprinkled in.

Based on a very large number of launches we shed some light on a category’s role in launch activity, the importance of the […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 10, 2023

Unusually high inflation has increased the importance of price in consumers’ decision-making.

This edition of Pick of the Week looks at the relative prices charged by brands in comparison to Private Labels in their category. […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 26, 2023

Another week with a renewed focus on Private Label (PL) Growth in Europe (the most developed region in terms of PL offerings).

Is total category expenditure linked to PL success? How is PL success related to the price premium of brands vs PL? Is growth […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 19, 2023

This week we are taking a look at category buyer churn. There are three questions that we aim to shed light on.

How many buyers does a category lose and does this differ between “mega-categories”? Does the size of the category affect the churn rate? […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 12, 2023

This week we are looking at innovations (quantity, shares and type) across key Western European markets.

How many innovations enter the market, and how truly innovative are they? How much do brands rely on the sales of their innovations? […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 22, 2023

Brands must expect a certain number of their buyers in a given period to not buy the brand in the following period. Typically these lost buyers tend to be replaced by buyers that did not buy the brand in the previous period.

This Pick of The Week looks at the number of buyers that stop buying a brand or the category from one year to […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 08, 2023

Being a dominant brand today is a good predictor of still being dominant five years later – but no guarantee.

Today we look at the performance of leading brands between 2016 and 2021, but also at the likelihood of non-leading brands to climb […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 01, 2023

How does shopper purchase frequency of brands stack up against their purchase frequency of categories?

And how much does frequency differ between brands that vary in terms of penetration? The average category in our BG20 database is […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 25, 2023

Focus on innovation survival rates

While companies launching new products may have unrealistic expectations hoping these launches stay on the market forever, anecdotal stories reporting that a majority […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 11, 2023

This week we are turning our attention back to innovations: new product launches are much more frequent in categories with high levels of penetration and high purchasing frequency.

Launches that are truly different from existing category offerings are more likely to be branded than your average launch. The number of […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 04, 2023

Last week we showed that the price gap between National Brands and PLs is more pronounced in Discounters than Supermarkets. This is driven by substantially lower priced PL offerings in Discounters.

When thinking about playing in the discount channel certain brand characteristics contribute to the likely success of these introductions for both the manufacturer […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 27, 2023

How national brands (NB) are priced relative to Private Labels (PL) in a category is a key factor in determining the relative value of either offering: Excessive NB pricing will push shoppers to PL (a move which we know is difficult to reverse), while too small a price difference may undermine the equity of a brand and reduce margins required for maintaining this equity.

In today’s Pick of the Week we examine this price distance across 100s of categories for the top retailers in a Western European […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 20, 2023

Volume growth is hard to come by in Western Europe. Over 4 years more than half of all categories experience a decline, with even more categories shrinking over the past year. More (vs 4 years ago)/less (vs last year) work from home shows its impact.

But the financial uncertainty and inflation will also cause more deliberate choices. Half of all categories lost volume versus pre-pandemic Q1 (2019) […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 13, 2023

Discounters are growing, but not only for the reasons you may expect. Value shares are up more than volume shares because prices in Discounters increase more than elsewhere (and they open more stores).

We do not see a link between Discounter growth in a category and that category’s price path. Discounter shares are growing – […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 06, 2023

This 226th edition of Pick of the Week will be my last because after many years in the business and at Europanel, I am retiring. Future editions will be in the very capable and insightful hands of Oliver Koll and Filippos Kaliakatsos. Many thanks to you all for reading and responding to Pick of the Week!

My final contribution is on Private Label and the complex drivers of it’s current growth path influenced by much higher than average price […]

posted by: europanel date: May 30, 2023

Although inflation is driving strong FMCG values, we are now seeing weakness in volumes for the first time in Western Europe since the pandemic.

more than half of the product categories are in decline vs Q1 2019. FMCG values are growing significantly but only due to […]

posted by: europanel date: May 23, 2023

Even if basket size and shopping frequency are not behind current Discounter share growth, the channel is still increasing in importance and is one in which brands should try and play.

But how and with which brands? Shopping frequency in Discounters in Western Europe is increasing but only marginally As shopping frequency returns […]

posted by: europanel date: May 16, 2023

Discounter value shares are back on a growth path driven by increased store numbers and higher than average price increases.

But how is this reflected in numbers of shoppers and what they are buying? Discounters in Western Europe are increasing their shopper […]

posted by: europanel date: May 09, 2023

The online channel for FMCG continues to become more ‘mainstream’ in terms of shopper behaviour and it is a strong channel for brands.

An important long run consideration bearing in mind the current down-trading. Online share of shopping trips continues to increase in the long […]

posted by: europanel date: May 02, 2023

Whatever the reasons (Discounters or above average price rises) behind current Private Label growth, the fact is that shoppers are getting a wider experience of these products.

Brands must continue to invest to counter the threat but driving this agenda has pitfalls for retailers. Private Label is growing again […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 11, 2023

The main Food and Beverage ‘super-categories’ continue to perform well compared with pre-pandemic – and those that are increasing volumes are driven by attracting more buyers.

The rules of growth remain true over this Covid and Inflationary period. A wide range of categories in 2022 were well ahead […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 04, 2023

This week we update the grocery market trends in Ukraine. Our GfK colleagues there continue to resist and maintain operations in agreement with panel members.

We can now share the latest trends up to the end of 2022. Our best wishes continue to go out to our team, […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 28, 2023

As discussed in last week’s edition, Number 1 brands are not immune to long term decline irrespective of the economic situation.

But why and how difficult is it to recover? Many brands gain or lose category leadership and it’s not easy to recover […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 07, 2023

What happens next, after this period of inflation?

What happens next, after this period of inflation? Looking first at big brands, they are not immune to periods of uncertainty. And importantly, […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 31, 2023

Whilst inflation is having an impact on specific category purchasing

Moves to Private Label and Discounters are more general and are not focused on particular products Category volumes are declining most where […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 24, 2023

How is inflation impacting specific category choices?

how much to buy, which products and in which retailers? Price Inflation by category is impacting the volumes bought. Although the current […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 17, 2023

To start the New Year we look at how Discounters and Private Labels are developing across Europe

And the reasons why – especially the levels of category inflation. Discounters are growing share but due to store numbers and price […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 10, 2023

How is inflation affecting the take-home Grocery market?

Are shopper choices changing in terms of store and product? And if so, why? Despite inflation FMCG volumes remain very resilient. The […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 13, 2022

Last week, we looked at the wide variation in inflation experienced by different households

Which households are impacted most? What is the effect of the categories and products in their basket? Lower income groups are much […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 06, 2022

Brand equity and business cycles

Business cycle fluctuations may affect different brands differently: Some brands may be able to ride the wave of expansionary periods while others may […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 01, 2022

Cyclical innovation by brands

In our latest blogs we examined how category innovation developed during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, we saw category innovation declining. This blog […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 01, 2022

The impact of inflation varies enormously between different households – some experience deflation whilst others see huge increases.

This is always the case but is worse in the current high inflationary times. How does this affect your brands? There is […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 29, 2022

This week we concentrate on the grocery market in Ukraine

Our GfK colleagues there have been resisting and continuing operations in agreement with panel members. We can now share the latest trends covering […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 22, 2022

This week’s edition is the 200th Pick of the Week!

I have chosen three highlights – the value of our BG20 datasets in understanding growth through thousands of brands; the importance of long […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 25, 2022

Despite the importance of the environment to a large number of shoppers, barriers mean that many are unable to buy sustainably.

This remains a huge opportunity for brands. A huge value gap remains between those who want to buy sustainably and those that […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 18, 2022

Last week’s Pick of the Week showed the huge importance of the most environmentally aware Eco-Actives segment.

The views of this group on sustainability are all encompassing and it is important to recognise this in brand communication and action. […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 11, 2022

Naturally all the current headlines and discussion are about inflation.

But what does this mean for the environmental agenda? Our latest #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2022 study shows the continuing importance of sustainability. Interest in […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 04, 2022

Biceps or triceps?

We assume that retailers don’t want shopping carts to reduce spending?! But their design does not help: Pushing a shopping cart with a […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 23, 2022

Category Innovation Down

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues many households have changed their shopping behavior to cope with the situation. We already showed that shoppers shop […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 23, 2022

Private Labels increase their share of innovations

In our previous blog we showed a large drop in innovation activity at the category level at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 23, 2022

How are the current inflationary pressures Impacting the global grocery market?

And how are the online and Discounter developments impacted channel trends in Europe? Global FMCG value will increase by at least 5% […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 13, 2022

During the pandemic, shopping frequency fell and basket size increased.

Is this still the case and how have Discounters and Private Labels developed in the wider European context? The second quarter of […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 06, 2022

Over the pandemic and lockdowns, the online channel market share increased significantly.

Whilst this has now stabilised or even started to fall back, there are many questions about its effect on shopper behaviour. Online […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 30, 2022

Following last week’s edition, there have been a number of questions about Discounter and Private Label price rises.

How have absolute prices risen and what is the impact on volume share changes this year? Increase in absolute prices paid is […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 23, 2022

There has been a lot of commentary recently that inflation is leading to people cutting back and buying cheaper products in FMCG. The evidence is that this is not the case.

In fact more “normal service” is being resumed after the last 2 years – as shown in last week’s edition on overall purchasing. […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 16, 2022

FMCG for the first half of 2022 shows the expected declines and increased prices

BUT the declines compare with record market levels in the last two years and are also linked to less working from home than […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 09, 2022

The importance of getting as many buyers as possible

Last week’s edition analysed what drives successful new products, based on 60000 new products in 3 countries. This week we look at the […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 02, 2022

New products and the relative importance of trial and repeat

Recently there have been a number of questions about new products and especially the relative importance of trial and repeat. Analysis across 3 […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 26, 2022

More on the longer term implications of inflation and economic downturn

How do we now see the FMCG market developing? How does shopper choice change? And how can manufacturer brands counter these changes? […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 18, 2022

What are the longer term implications of inflation and economic downturn for prices, for Manufacturer Brands and Private Label?

What are the longer term implications of inflation and economic downturn for prices, for Manufacturer Brands and Private Label? After a recession […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 12, 2022

How do discounters grow in times of uncertainty, in ‘normal’ times and in 2022 so far?

How do discounters grow in times of uncertainty, in ‘normal’ times and in 2022 so far? This varies by type of category by […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 05, 2022

What are the effects of inflation so far?

What are the effects of inflation so far? Where is Private Label growing? Which categories are suffering the biggest price rises? How is […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 28, 2022

‘Just below’ pricing can backfire

When shopping we often encounter prices just below an even number: A latte for $2.95, a pair of jeans for $89.99 or a […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 09, 2022

Brand growth during a financial downturn

Following the last period of inflation and financial downturn, manufacturers were concerned about a lack of volume growth. However, our ‘Hot or Not’ […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 07, 2022

Financial uncertainty and value/volume growth

In 2014, FMCG companies were concerned that the recent period of financial uncertainty had led to a lack of volume growth in developed […]

posted by: europanel date: May 31, 2022

Online shares and shopping behaviour

Online shares and shopping behaviour changed significantly due to the pandemic – has 2022 brought any changes? And also, following a question this […]

posted by: europanel date: May 24, 2022

Inflation and Q1 2022

Inflation – what has been the impact in Quarter 1 2022 on the FMCG market, product and store choice in Western Europe? The […]

posted by: europanel date: May 17, 2022

Inflation and innovation

This week we look at what we can learn about new product activity from previous periods of inflation and economic downturn. Competitiveness remains […]

posted by: europanel date: May 05, 2022

Inflation and pack size

There have been a number of questions on this recently and here are 3 articles looking at the dangers and impacts of smaller […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 26, 2022

Shopping behavior & turbulence

Households frequently experience changing financial conditions because of shifts in personal and economic circumstances. For example, the main breadwinner receives an increase in […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 21, 2022

Brand Price Premia and Private Label Success

Private labels usually benefit from worsening economic conditions because these put (actual or perceived) pressure on consumers‘ budgets. Buying more Private Labels, which […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 21, 2022

Changes in Brand Price Premia

Changes in the price premium of National Brands versus Private Labels can result from various trends. For example, NBs increasing prices more (or […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 21, 2022

Discounters and inflation…

…Several questions recently have asked about my conclusion that inflation doesn’t seem to drive changes in store choice! Here I examine a number […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 19, 2022

Inflation and promotions…

…Has there been any acceleration of promotional tactics in periods of higher inflation? The answer seems to be no! Promotions were increasing […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 12, 2022

Net impact of inflation on Private Labels and Brands

Whilst inflation impacts both Brands and Private Labels, the net effect on price development and relationships can be quite different Food price inflation […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 05, 2022

Inflation and prices paid – what happens, when and how to manage

Food price inflation leads to down-trading when prices rise and up-trading when inflation falls As prices rise, shoppers look to contain their spend […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 29, 2022

Out of home versus in-home

How have they performed and how will inflation affect the relationship this year? Out of home consumption recovered well in 2021 but was […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 22, 2022

How we can learn about brand growth in times of high inflation

Inflation and brands. What can we learn about brand growth in times of high inflation? During periods of high inflation the rules of […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 15, 2022

Category effects

Over the past few weeks we have looked at inflation and impacts for product choice, store choice, total market and country. This week […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 08, 2022

How inflation affects the regional and country FMCG markets

This week we continue to look at the effect of inflation on the total FMCG market – this week homing in on regional […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 01, 2022

Stable context – higher repurchasing

The most basic manifestation of brand loyalty is repurchasing – making the same choice on the next category occasion. A study in the […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 22, 2022

Stable price gap between NBs and PLs

Strong brands can benefit from higher reach and higher willingness-to-pay. The previous blog entry reports the (modest) gains PL has made in terms […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 22, 2022

How inflation affects the total market

Inflation. In the last couple of weeks we have looked at the impact on product and store choice. This week we turn to […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 22, 2022

How will price inflation impact Discounters

Many things change during a periods of high inflation. Last week we learnt about Private Label share and this week we cover Discounters. […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 15, 2022

How will price inflation impact shopper choice

Last week we looked at the dynamics of Private Label and how that differs by country relative to brand investment. But how will […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 08, 2022

Private label

Following up on some of the investment points in the New Year’s Resolutions and also with an eye on the potential inflation issues, […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 01, 2022

Unchanged rules of growth

This week we continue to look at some of the issues raised in our recent New Year’s resolutions – the unchanged rules of […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 25, 2022

2022 Market growth forecast

Our first Pick of the Week this year looks at some of the issues raised in our recent New Year’s resolutions – market […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 18, 2022

How has the pandemic effected shopping behaviours around the world

The pandemic has led to different effects on FMCG product category shopping behaviour around the world. In Western Europe/USA more categories are being […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 21, 2021

How FMCG market remains strong compared with long term norms

The FMCG market globally and especially in Western Europe remains strong compared with long term norms – and the return of more Covid […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 14, 2021

The issue of wish-cycling

Recycling becoming wish-cycling is an increasing issue because many consumers, even the Eco-Actives, are unclear on what can be recycled and which packaging […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 07, 2021

Who rules the portfolio animal kingdom?

Brand portfolios come in many shapes and sizes. To try and provide some structure we have distinguished between five types of players competing […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 03, 2021

Female > Male

What do Ikea, Nestlé, Tiffany, Burberry, L’Oreal or Adidas have in common? They all share linguistically feminine names according to a recent study. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 03, 2021

Private Label increase

Recently there have been many questions relating to shopping behaviour when inflation is high. Private Label increased sharply during the ‘credit crunch’ recession […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 23, 2021

Which brands and manufactures show genuine concern

Many shoppers look to manufacturers to help limit environmental damage but less than half can name a brand that shows genuine concern – […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 16, 2021

Climate change and its importance to shoppers

With the recent news dominated by COP26, we concentrate on the importance of Climate Change to shoppers and that many of them see […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 09, 2021

Sustainability sells! Really?

New product failure is a common companion for brand manufacturers. Some of these newcomers are labeled as sustainable which could either add to […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 01, 2021

What are the disadvantages of appealing to Eco-Actives

Last week we considered the potential downsides for categories and brands as sustainable choices increase. This week we look at the upsides of […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 26, 2021

Getting it wrong with Eco-Actives will be costly

The new #WhoCaresWhoDoes study shows the risk for categories and brands as this group grows and their purchasing becomes more important. Also this week, […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 19, 2021

What is the value-action gap between brands that want to be more sustainable and the ones that already are

Continuing the main insights from the new 2021 #WhoCaresWhoDoes study, this week we focus on a huge $800+ billion opportunity for brands. This […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 12, 2021

Shoppers have clear intentions to be sustainable

COP26 is coming up in a few weeks time and climate change will again feature highly in the news. Our latest #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2021 […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 05, 2021

Sustainability is an even more important influence on shoppers

Our latest #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2021 study shows that sustainability is an even more important influence on shoppers and that there is yet another increase […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 28, 2021

Price thresholds and latest FMCG Volume Trends

This week we build on the insights related to price thresholds – in what circumstances the different patterns occur and secondly at what […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 14, 2021

Price thresholds and latest discounters trends

Recently we have received a number of questions about pricing. So the first 2 topics this and next week look at Price Thresholds […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 08, 2021

How manufacturers with a single category brand have expanded their portfolios

Our first two articles look at brand portfolios: manufacturers with a single category brand are increasingly building multi-brand portfolios and this type of […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 31, 2021

Who are the category leaders?

Changing our usual perspective, this article focuses on the largest manufacturers in 839 categories across 10 countries in 2019. We also treat a […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 25, 2021

Sustainability isn’t just “green”

The discourse around the climate crisis has been hitting new peaks – likely a result of more natural disasters (e.g., flooding, wildfire, storms) […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 25, 2021

Brand Portfolios

Brand Portfolios come in many forms – single brands dominate but over 40% are multi-brand of differing typologies. This week, we also look […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 24, 2021

How individual brands penetration relate to portfolio market share

In manufacturer brand portfolios, how do the penetrations of the individual brands relate to portfolio market share and does buyer overlap matter? And […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 03, 2021

Manufacturer brand portfolios – what increases buyer overlap across brands?

Manufacturer brand portfolios: firstly, apart from brand size and category frequency, which other factors increase buyer overlap across the brands; secondly, the average […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 27, 2021

Manufacturer brand portfolios dynamics

The dynamics of manufacturer brand portfolios are not as supposed – small brands in the portfolio are not especially premium priced and buyer […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 20, 2021

Biggest brands dominate manufacturer brand portfolios

Manufacturer brand portfolios within a category are dominated by the biggest brand and it is this brand that leads portfolio growth – but […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 13, 2021

Manufacturer brand portfolios and FMCG market predictions

Manufacturer brand portfolios: this week we summarise the number and size of portfolios and then look at how each additional brand develops manufacturer […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 09, 2021

Manufacturer brand portfolios

This week we begin a new focus area – manufacturer brand portfolios – here looking at the relationship with category buying frequency. The […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 22, 2021

Outstanding displays boost sales

Store displays represent a strategic touchpoint for brand manufacturers and retailers alike. Brands regularly come up with innovative and unusual ideas to promote […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 16, 2021

Listings affect buyer overlap

The degree to which brands share their buyers roughly follows the Duplication of Purchase law (see Andrew Ehrenberg’ seminal book Repeat Buying). The […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 16, 2021

Innovation and promotions vs. growth in retailers

This week – innovation and promotions vs. growth in retailers: new product introductions are a key driver; but more promotions are not! Also, […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 08, 2021

How the same rules and drivers of growth apply to retailers as for manufacturer brands

Our first article continues the theme that the same rules and drivers of growth apply to retailers as for manufacturer brands – this […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 01, 2021

Light shoppers

Even the biggest retailers have many light shoppers – more than one third of their shoppers buy no more than 5 times a […]

posted by: europanel date: May 25, 2021

Retailers growth

Retailers follow the same rules of growth as brands – the over-riding importance of buyers to growth and decline – and the ‘leaky […]

posted by: europanel date: May 18, 2021

Private Label growth and trade channel development

Although Private Label did not gain share in several Western European countries last year, it is growing in many other countries – hence […]

posted by: europanel date: May 11, 2021

Private Label growth: where and how to counter it

This week we turn to retail as a topic initially looking at Private Label growth, where and how to counter it. We also […]

posted by: europanel date: May 04, 2021

Category Frequency and Portfolio Size

As shown in past blog entries, category purchase frequency affects, for example, loyalty, shoppers lost and gained from one period to the next […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 27, 2021

Ugly but honest

Fresh food often falls short of the aesthetic expectations of consumers. Shoppers consider “ugly” food as less tasty and also as less healthy […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 27, 2021

New products at times of economic hardship

Continuing our theme of new products at times of economic hardship, we look at how true innovations significantly outperform minor innovations at such […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 27, 2021

The importance of innovation

With tough times likely post Covid-19, we look at the importance of innovation and how volume share increases translate into added value over […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 20, 2021

How to drive new product to success

What drives new product success and which competitors is it most likely to impact? These are first two topics. Our third subject this […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 13, 2021

The importance between innovation success and the leading retailers

This week we look at the very important link between innovation success and the leading retailers – in terms of trial and longevity. […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 06, 2021

Innovation performance

Many studies on new products show that true innovations perform the best in themselves and towards the overall business. This study highlights a […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 30, 2021

Innovation and online FMCG growth

This week we have two topics on innovation – the importance of new products having a net contribution to range and that new […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 23, 2021

How behaviour changes due to the pandemic will continue in the ‘new normal’

I have received a number of questions recently about how behaviour changes due to the pandemic will continue in the ‘new normal’ and […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 16, 2021

How much competitive clutter does a new product have to cut through?

This week we continue with our new product theme looking at the amount of competitive clutter that a new product has to cut […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 09, 2021

Innovation in different countries

This week we continue our theme of innovation looking at how innovativeness differs by country. We also develop last week’s Discounter listings topic […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 02, 2021

Product trial rates by country and Discounter insights

This week we continue our theme of innovation by looking at new product trial rates by country. But first there are some insights […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 23, 2021

What you see is what you buy

Walk in for a pack of milk only and leave the store with lots of other things. Visual focus explains why such unplanned […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 18, 2021

Brand strategy and performance of true innovations

This week, following a question about brand strategy, we look at the importance of recognising that brands lose a significant number of buyers […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 16, 2021

How are eco-active profiles growing more than others?

This week we firstly look at how brands with an eco-active profile are growing more than others; secondly setting the scene for a […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 09, 2021

Brands and their eco profile

This week we continue our theme on brands and their eco profile, showing that many big brands perform well with environmentally aware shoppers; […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 02, 2021

How a brand’s Eco profile is critical to marketing strategy

This week we look at: how a brand’s profile amongst Eco segments is critical to marketing strategy; developing the theme on the Premium […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 26, 2021

Low contribution of younger age groups on purchasing of top ‘eco’ brands

This week we look at: the relatively low contribution of younger age groups to the purchasing of top of mind ‘eco’ brands; the […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 19, 2021

How few people can name an individual brand that does a good job for the environment

This week’s 3 items look at: how few people can name an individual brand that does a good job for the environment; a […]

posted by: europanel date: Jan 12, 2021

Highly sustainable attitudes and behaviours of Eco-Active

This week we look in more depth at some of the highly sustainable attitudes and behaviours of Eco-Actives and that they are influenced […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 22, 2020

Active involvement of younger age groups in reducing their environmental impact

This week we respond to two questions – the first on the active involvement of younger age groups in reducing their environmental impact; […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 15, 2020

Environmental concerns and how brand communication should vary by country

This week we continue 3 themes. Environmental concerns and how brand communication should vary by country; the importance of small stores in physical […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 08, 2020

Brand extension beats brand addition

Brand growth has been the focus of this blog over the past five years. However, some manufacturers do not put all their eggs […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 01, 2020

Confusion and lack of knowledge about recycling

Our first item this week looks at the confusion and lack of knowledge about recycling even amongst those most keen to do so. Secondly […]

posted by: europanel date: Dec 01, 2020

The importance to shoppers of water

This week our first topic looks at a question on the importance to shoppers of water – in terms of waste, shortage and […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 24, 2020

How shoppers are looking for effortless solutions

Last week we looked at the gap between desire and action when trying to purchase in an environmental way – our first article […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 10, 2020

The opportunity to close the gap between shoppers wanting to act sustainably

This week we look at: the opportunity to close the gap between shoppers wanting to act sustainably and their ability to act; how […]

posted by: europanel date: Nov 03, 2020

The attraction effect and shoppers views on environmental damage

This week we conclude our review of the impacts of new products on choice – the attraction effect. In addition, we look at […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 27, 2020

Sustainability and the online channel

This week we look at: the significant relationship between sustainability and the online channel; which types of category fared better during the last […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 20, 2020

#WhoCaresWhoDoes sustainability study and the impact of new product launches

This week we look at further questions from our #WhoCaresWhoDoes sustainability study – that few brands or retailers are instantly recognised by consumers […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 13, 2020

Brand prices are up

In one of our last blogs we reported that NB price changes have outpaced PL price changes in recent years: especially for beverages […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 07, 2020

Change to protect

Another pair of shoes, a weekend trip to a favourite city, or a Fiorentina steak once a week. We as consumers display various […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 07, 2020

Eco-Actives and Eco-Consideres growth

This week we look at the importance of the rapidly growing Eco-Active and Eco-Considerer shopper segments and how their attitudes are reflected in […]

posted by: europanel date: Oct 06, 2020

Environmental insights and long term volume trends

Following our summit this week on the #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2020 study, two of the articles look at insights on environmental influencers and shopper view […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 24, 2020

What are the expectations towards manufacturers for controlling environmental damage

This week we continue with our environmental theme, and the role and huge implications for manufacturers. We also provide a new update on […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 10, 2020

How recycling could lead to brand opportunities

This week, we continue with headlines from #WhoCaresWhoDoes 2020, looking at recycling, linking it to academic insights and how this could lead to […]

posted by: europanel date: Sep 04, 2020

How shoppers’ opinions and influences are shaping their purchasing behaviour

This week we continue to look at the environment and how shoppers’ opinions and influences are shaping their purchasing behaviour. We also look […]

posted by: Anna Reinbold date: Aug 27, 2020

Sustainability and latest FMCG trends

Whilst we concentrate this week on sustainability, just a few points on the latest FMCG trends. A couple of weeks ago, we showed […]

posted by: europanel date: Aug 21, 2020

#WhoCaresWhoDoes 2020 headlines and private label trends

This week we look at the first surprising headlines from our global #WhoCaresWhoDoes study 2020 We also aggregate a number of countries from […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 30, 2020

Promotional balance and latest FMCG trends

In recent weeks we have looked at brand winners and losers. This has shown that promotions, if not managed in a balanced way, […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 28, 2020

Winning and losing brands

This week we develop the theme of winning and losing brands by looking at brands that lose after winning, respond to a question […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 21, 2020

Losing brands insights and FMCG online

This week our three themes are developing losing brands insights, FMCG online – hype or myth and the latest FMCG trends In recent […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 09, 2020

Brand growth patterns across Asia and Latin America

Over recent weeks we have concentrated on Europe and brand growth over recessionary and other periods. This week we look at whether the […]

posted by: europanel date: Jul 06, 2020

PL Success and Price Premia

In our post “Higher Price Premia for National Brands“ we showed that NB price premia over PLs have increased over the past three […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 02, 2020

Higher Price Premia for National Brands

Price setting matters and is challenging: Factors like production costs, value perceptions of different target groups, price ceilings, intended positioning, promotional strategies, seasonality, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 02, 2020

Follow the Crowd?

Crowding impacts shoppers differently. For some people a crowd adds to their experience while for others it spoils the trip. Retailers can reduce […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 02, 2020

Managing Pricing & Winning Brands During Recession

This week we continue to look at managing price plus how winning brands won during the last recession plus the latest on FMCG […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 29, 2020

Pricing and environmental concern

This week we continue the themes from last week – firstly some key considerations on pricing; secondly environmental concern; and thirdly the latest […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 19, 2020

Category differences and climate change

This week’s Pick of the Week firstly follows up last week’s article on pricing in recession with a question about category differences. Secondly […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 15, 2020

Category development during the last recession

With a potential recession looming, this week we look at how categories developed volume and pricing over the last recession – and how […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 05, 2020

Retailers Impact

Following our recent articles about inertia and momentum for brand winners and losers, we have had questions about whether retailers are impacted in […]

posted by: europanel date: Jun 01, 2020

Share gain and share loss

This week we bring together the recent insights into what happens to a brand after a share gain or a share loss. Inertia […]

posted by: europanel date: May 26, 2020

Latest FMCG trends and consumer momentum

This week we look at the most recent FMCG trends across over 20 countries and we develop our recent theme of consumer inertia […]

posted by: europanel date: May 15, 2020

Brand Sticking

Humans tend to engage in routine behaviours and often do not question these choices until forced to do so. For example, a study […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 14, 2020

One for All

Category-specific Private Label (PL) branding is common. For example, Spar Netherlands offered 50+ economy PL ranges like “Casa Italiana” for pasta, “Landhof” for […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 14, 2020

Watch season 2 of #WhoCaresWhoDoes

Last year our #WhoCaresWhoDoes study helped us to better understand environmental concerns and actions of consumers around the globe and how they relate […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 14, 2020

Brand share winners and the extent of consumer inertia

In addition to the latest FMCG trends from around the world, last week we looked at consumer inertia in relation to brand share […]

posted by: europanel date: May 11, 2020

Consumer inertia and latest FMCG trends

This week we continue two themes. Firstly, consumer inertia in terms of how brands behave in the long term following a loss of […]

posted by: europanel date: May 01, 2020

During a recession winning brands innovate much more than losers

Over the last couple of weeks, as well as the latest FMCG trends pre and post lockdown, we have been looking at winning […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 24, 2020

Latest FMCG trends pre and post lockdown

This week we have received several questions about brands over the 2008/9 recession as well as the latest FMCG trends pre and post […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 17, 2020

Recent trends for the FMCG market in China

This week we look at the recent trends for the FMCG market in China and answer a couple of questions on the last […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 09, 2020

Shopping behaviour during Covid-19

Rather than data, this week I have summarised my take-outs and actions based on the latest FMCG shopping behaviour in Belgium, Italy, Spain […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 03, 2020

Covid-19 impact on FMCG

We know that Covid-19 will have significant impact on FMCG purchasing, product and retailer choice This week I am sharing the 2019 […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 27, 2020

Covid-19

This week we naturally concentrate on Covid-19 Here we see some of the initial impact on FMCG in Europe and as expected […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 20, 2020

Climate-active shoppers: Do they differ?

Climate panic (© NYT) has arrived: Reactions range from substantial lifestyle changes (e.g. vegan clothing, meatless diets) to burying one’s head in the […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Mar 16, 2020

Green new products sometimes boost brand attitude

Brands offer green products to address consumer calls for more corporate ambition in protecting the environment. For example, the fashion brand Armedangels recently […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Mar 16, 2020

Brand Loyalty: A Consumer Characteristic?

Any brand has some buyers that are more loyal than others. High behavioural loyalty (often measured by the share-of-wallet a brand commands within […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Mar 16, 2020

Times of uncertainty

In view of the current Covid 19 crisis, this week we look at insights from previous periods of uncertainty. Primarily these are […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 13, 2020

Brand size

This week there have been several questions about brand size The first two items look at brand size in relation to online […]

posted by: europanel date: Mar 05, 2020

Price premium availability and preparation time

Following on from last week we now take a look at questions of price premium availability and preparation time. Last week we […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 26, 2020

Enjoyment is the main reason for meal choice

This week I have asked my colleague and usage expert Giles Quick (UK) about some of the questions he has received recently. The […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 20, 2020

Regional and category differences

After last week’s look at Innovation (new brands/sub-brands) and Renovation (new variants, sizes, types), I received several questions about regional and category differences: […]

posted by: europanel date: Feb 13, 2020

Retailer shopping frequency boosts basket size and PL share

Households visiting a specific retail chain frequently do so for a number of reasons: such as they live close by and/or they may […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 30, 2020

Discount shopping – a real threat to FMCG growth?

Some shoppers love the simplicity of discount formats, others avoid the format and prefer supermarkets or hypermarkets with broader and deeper assortments. Most […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 30, 2020

Eco-Actives most critical about product labelling

Eco-Actives aim to avoid plastic waste, purchase sustainable products and seek “green” consumption. Does this behavior translate into the information these shoppers seek […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 18, 2019

Product labelling – a critical ingredient

A large number of shoppers base their choices on an intensive examination of food labels, often using signals regarding ingredients and manufacturing to […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 18, 2019

Innovation Enablers

Many new products (NPs) share this fate: After an initial (communicative) hype they are kicked off shelves because performance is below expectations. Different […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 18, 2019

Eco-Actives and Retailer Choice

Out of the four segments created based on attitudes and behaviour around plastic (link to previous) the eco-actives are most concerned and it […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 11, 2019

Plastic Behaviour Segments not as expected

Based on responses of more than 65,000 respondents in 24 countries for our #Who Cares Who Does study we derive four consumer segments […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 11, 2019

Small pack sizes are bad for you!

You may be familiar with this sequence: One small-sized chocolate bar is a justifiable and well-deserved treat because calories per serving are so […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 11, 2019

Shoppers want industry to cut down on plastic

More pro-environmental behaviours may be the result of (un)conscious choices by consumers, government intervention or activities by industry. Regarding specific retailer or manufacturer […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 28, 2019

Less meat – rare feat

Some weeks ago, the United Nations called for a change in human eating behaviour. Specifically, the organization stated that plant-based diets should replace […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 28, 2019

Inspiring consumers to recycle

Do you ever think about what happens to recyclable materials after you drop them at the recycling bin? If not, please do: Current […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 28, 2019

How to stimulate eco-friendly engagement?

What people say and what they actually do may be entirely different. Psychologists call this phenomenon attitude-behaviour gap, which is especially prevalent for […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 29, 2019

Buyer profiles: Can they be altered?

Brands have skewed success profiles for different sociodemographic groups for various reasons: The positioning of the brand within the category, the set of […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 25, 2019

FMCG e-commerce: Asia sets the tone

Isn’t it convenient and less time consuming to sit at home or in your office and do your shopping online? Your preferred retailer […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 11, 2019

Baskets online still much larger than offline

Online trips on average are still infrequent and baskets typically feature lower PL shares than offline trips. But what about basket size? There […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 11, 2019

Why shoppers stick or switch

In a brand owner’s ideal world all buyers of the brand would be loyal and no one would switch to any other brand. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 26, 2019

Categories and their ceiling

A category’s popularity in a country depends on history, cultural and consumption habits as well as marketing activities of brands and retailers. To […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 26, 2019

FMCG and the Environment: Lots of questions, few answers.

Reducing and recycling waste requires a systematic effort from many stakeholders. Currently, retailers and manufacturers sometimes replace plastic packaging with paper-based and biodegradable […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Mar 22, 2019

Nutrition claims: Do they impact choice?

No sugar added. High in protein. With added vitamin C. Many products carry at least one nutrition claim emphasizing healthiness. At the shelf, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Mar 22, 2019

Brand Portfolio Strategies

Brand architecture helps manufacturers to structure their different brands in a systematic way. Two main strategies exist: A Branded House strategy relies on […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 31, 2019

Premium brands – selection is key

High price brands do not prosper everywhere. Amongst top ten brands they are disproportionately frequent in Western Europe and in petfood categories: Examples […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 12, 2018

Green packaging? Not for mainstream brands!

These days eco-friendly products hit store shelves regularly: Companies incorporate a green mind-set into their product and branding to meet many shoppers’ aspirations […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 20, 2018

Small brands: More from less

Big brands are attractive for most retailers because they are able to increase shelf turnover, enjoy high equity and drawing power. Big retailers […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 20, 2018

Rising Stars: Category matters

Rising brands are found more often in specific geographic areas. Besides location, do we also find sweet spots in terms of categories for […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 20, 2018

Rising Stars and their Marketing

Europe and Latin America are promising hosts for small brands to grow, as are household categories and categories with a high PL share. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 20, 2018

Rising Stars: How and where small brands break through

Coccolino, Fever-Tree, or La Campagnola have a common denominator: They are small brands able to increase their penetration substantially over a short period […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 20, 2018

Brand price premium varies substantially

Private labels (PL) challenge national brands by taking away sales, eroding consumer brand equity and squeezing price levels. However, national brands (NB) continue […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 16, 2018

Big brands keep more buyers

One way to assess loyalty in FMCG is the ability to keep buyers from one year to the next. Given the massive choice, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 16, 2018

Brand leaders often cheaper than their peers

National brands on average manage to charge a substantial price premium compared to private labels. But do market leaders achieve this more easily […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 16, 2018

Want to come across more human? Use handwritten typefaces!

Manufacturers increasingly emphasize humanness in their packaging design by using typefaces that appear handwritten. Think of brands like Lindt with its Hello Chocolate […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 22, 2018

Pack sizes: When offerings and preferences diverge

Besides the oft-cited examples of manufacturers reducing established pack sizes to hide price increases, several socio-economic and behavioural trends (e.g.: more single households, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 22, 2018

Winners up their pack sizes

This blog aims to add more nuance to our understanding of pack size changes. We investigate how pack size changes are linked to […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 22, 2018

Share from Innovation: Not necessarily a good indicator of success!

“Share from new products” which shows how much a brand’s new offerings contribute to its total sales is often a measure of innovation […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 25, 2018

Once is not enough

Summary Duration: 01:24 Part 01: Growth Duration 04:37 Part 02: Occasions Duration: 03:38 Part 03: Levers Duration: 2:43

posted by: europanel date: Mar 29, 2018

Small vs. large basket trips

Missions impact the composition of shopping baskets: Consumers may shop spontaneously and buy little on a trip or alternatively plan to refill empty […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 18, 2018

Promotions and popular events

Popular events like the Olympic games, Formula One, the Eurovision Song Contest or the Wimbledon Championships represent excellent occasions for brands to communicate […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 18, 2018

Physical availability and brand size

In FMCG, brands rely on retailers for their physical availability. To understand the relationship between availability and brand size we examine physical presence […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 18, 2018

Premiumisation in FMCG: Difficult to Achieve

Premiumisation is a challenging avenue for growth in FMCG given the focus on low prices in the marketing communication of both retailers and […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 27, 2017

Private labels still selling at substantial discounts versus national brands

Retailers originally established private labels as low-priced alternatives for price-conscious shoppers. Nowadays, private labels in many categories have become very sophisticated often matching […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 27, 2017

Underpriced Innovations!?

Pricing a new product is tough: Charge too much and it won’t sell. Charge too little and forgo revenue or undermine brand equity. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 27, 2017

Do good things come with smaller packages?

Manufacturers regularly use different pack sizes to meet a variety of needs. It’s easy to imagine drinking a can of coke for lunch, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 13, 2017

A typology of pack sizes and variety

Brand manufacturers and retailers are eager to meet consumers’ variety needs. Given the diversity of consumers’ tastes and preferences, offering a wide assortment […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 13, 2017

Shrinkflation: Smaller packages substantially more expensive

It is not a secret that smaller pack sizes are usually more expensive per gram or liter than larger ones. Examples of brands […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 13, 2017

Downsizing: Smaller packs hurt volumes

Brand manufacturers provide choice not only via variety of assortment but also variety of pack sizes. Recently, smaller pack sizes have become fashionable […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 02, 2017

Half of all brands face in-house competition

About 30% of families in New York only have one child1. Imagine that: no competition between you and your siblings, but with it, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 02, 2017

Healthy Diets – Empty Wallets

Today, consumers have various concerns when choosing food and these considerations can often be overwhelming; too much fat, too much sugar, not convenient, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 02, 2017

European consumers shop less: Do brands need to worry?

Across Europe* shoppers are visiting FMCG retailers less frequently, with the average number of visits per shopper declining by 2.2%between 2012 and 2015. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 15, 2017

Buyer churn: 50% does not equal half your sales

FMCG brands struggle to keep more than 50% of last year’s buyers – especially if they are small and compete in rarely purchased […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 15, 2017

What’s the Occasion? Brand growth!

We have previously shown that the most effective way to drive brand growth is by attracting additional buyers (i.e. foster penetration), but fundamentally, […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 15, 2017

Innovation, Innovation, Innovation

For a brand, the launch of new products can have many benefits, such as exciting consumers, outplaying competitors, keeping brand image dynamic, satisfying […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 19, 2017

In Manufacturer vs Retailer… Manufacturer Wins

Retailer and manufacturer battles have been in the news lately across Europe, with some high profile cases making it difficult for some consumers […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 12, 2017

High Frequency Means Many Buyers!

It probably won’t come as a surprise that categories that are purchased at least 20 times per year are also categories that are […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 12, 2017

The usual suspect: Penetration!

Earlier this year we identified three ingredients for brand size: Penetration – How many consumers purchase a brand? Frequency – How often do […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 12, 2017

Distribution vs penetration thresholds

High distribution (i.e. the share of all relevant outlets where a brand is on sale) plays a major role in determining a brand’s […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 28, 2017

Tough to keep more than 70% of last year’s buyers

Consumer churn is a major challenge for FMCG brands: The average top ten brand loses about half of its buyers from year to […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 28, 2017

Horizontal beats vertical

Assortment variety is essential for retailer listings and, as we have shown before, for brand penetration. At the same time, choice overload is […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 28, 2017

In-store collection doesn’t deliver

Consumers increasingly shop via click and collect, a blended retailer format that combines online ordering and collecting goods at a pick-up point. A […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 18, 2017

3 ingredients for brand sales success

There are three components that explain high or low brand sales: 1. Penetration – How many consumers purchase a brand? 2. Frequency – […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 18, 2017

Premium brands: Are they really different?

“Premium brands command higher loyalty and are predominantly bought by affluent consumers” – these are two popular beliefs on brand premiumization, a branding […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 15, 2016

Bad neighbours may be other categories

Consumers are often confronted with product categories within a fixed space (e.g. freezer or check-out) that are not connected with their planned purchase. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 15, 2016

Real Lovers are Rare

You would expect popular everyday brands to be chosen frequently by most of its buyers. Let’s take a look at a popular brand […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 29, 2016

Tired of Innovating?!

“Innovate or die” is a frequently used statement to emphasize the importance of launching new products. Some recent trends show that FMCG products […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 29, 2016

On-Off: Aldi’s relationship with National Brands

“Spend a little – live a lot” – is Aldi’s value proposition for consumers looking for superior product quality for a low price. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 29, 2016

Local and Global Heroes

Our last blog entry showed that across eight European countries the top ten manufacturers are responsible for just below half of total value […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 29, 2016

The secret of positioning

“Tummy in, chest out” – a saying which reminds us to correct our body position to signal increased self-confidence. For several years, academic […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 29, 2016

Cookies & Quinoa: the effect of green shopping bags

Green (reusable) shopping bags not only offer peace of mind, but also influence consumer in-store behaviour. An analysis of 936,232 purchases by 5,987 […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 12, 2016

Pet care least innovative

In our last blog we investigated how category penetration and purchase frequency impact the variety shoppers encounter in that category (see April 16). […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 12, 2016

Category clutter – a result of frequency and penetration

How do category purchase frequency and category penetration impact the variety shoppers encounter? To answer this question, we investigate category assortments across 8 […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 17, 2016

Unit pricing helps value brands

Retail prices usually show a price per package, let’s say €1.50 for a 500g pack of Barilla spaghetti. Shoppers may additionally check the unit price […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 17, 2016

How much to expect from a SKU

Do some categories have more star performers than others? We analyzed the value sales coming from the average SKU in food, beverage, household […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 26, 2016

The vicious circle of sales promotions

The increasing reliance on price promotions to boost sales is a frequently discussed and often lamented topic. With good reason. One thousand categories […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 29, 2016

Small + infrequent = LIGHT

The smaller your brand and the lower the purchase frequency of your category the more you rely on light brand buyers. This is […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 29, 2016

If it sounds like me, it is mine.

Does it matter whether a product’s price (when spoken) shares letters with a consumer’s name or numbers of their birthday date? Why should […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 29, 2016

Heart, Mind and Brand Sales

Brand managers and academics agree that strong brand equity is a key to brand success. A recent study empirically links two prominent perspectives […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Nov 30, 2015

Category Growth Higher where Innovations are Plenty

Total FMCG growth has been modest over the past five years. However, this observation hides substantial category differences. We examined whether innovations are […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 28, 2015

Price War – Love it or Leave it

Retailer-initiated price wars are a popular strategy to battle for market share. When in October 2003 Dutch retailer Albert Heijn announced price cuts […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 28, 2015

FMCG shopping in Turkey – Tradition vs Modernity

The Turkish retail landscape is characterised by a mix of traditional open bazars, specialist shops, small grocery shops and modern supermarkets. Traditional retail […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 28, 2015

Innovation by Retailers: Rare, but there

Innovation is an essential growth strategy for both brand manufacturers and retailers. New products allow companies to charge higher prices and create differentiation […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 21, 2015

The Price of New

New products serve many functions for a brand – to introduce technological/functional changes, to attract non-buyers or to enhance positioning. They may also […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 21, 2015

Percentages are hard to grasp

Many people struggle with percentage calculations. One of the challenges arises from a phenomenon called base value neglect (BVN), the tendency to ignore […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 21, 2015

More human – less fair?

Brand anthropomorphization is the association of a brand with human-like characteristics, motivations, and behaviours to enable closer relationships between consumers and brands. A […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 12, 2015

Brand name leverage lower in Foods

Looking at over 13000 brands (all of which are in the top 10) in 79 categories across 14 countries, there are substantial differences […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 12, 2015

Lower shares can lead in frequent categories

Less than 10% of all category leaders have market shares of more than 50% whereas more than one third has less than 20% […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 12, 2015

Small brands rely on promotion

The average brand in a frequently purchased category (more than ten times per year) is sold on promotion by at least one of […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 21, 2015

Wide variation in e-commerce

Grocery E-Commerce reach differs widely between countries in comparable stages of their retail development. While 6 out of 10 South Koreans purchases online […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 21, 2015

Exclusive listings don’t help

A recent trend among manufacturers and retailers are exclusive deals limiting the brand’s availability to only one retailer. A study investigates an exclusive […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 21, 2015

Acquisition drives growth more than retention

A substantial percentage of a brand’s buyers this year will not buy it in the next year (see our previous newsletter how brand […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 08, 2015

Local icon or global hero?

FMCG boasts a balanced mixture of local, regional and global brands. Investigating the presence of some 750 Top 3 share brands across 30 […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 08, 2015

Half of the world’s households buy Colgate

Growth is about penetration: retaining and increasing the number of shoppers choosing the brand. Combining how many households around the world are buying […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 08, 2015

Don’t try changing habits

There are two types of repeat customers: One group repeats choice based on habit and another group repeats choice because of brand preference. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 13, 2015

Leakiness less when large

To maintain a brand’s sales level it needs to continuously attract new buyers. Why? Because for the average brand more than half its […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 13, 2015

Appealing without promoting?

The increasing reliance of brands on price promotions to influence consumer choice is widely reported. While we do not see much difference between […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: May 13, 2015

How to seduce customers online

A recent study covering 36 brands in 15 categories compares online metrics with attitude survey metrics in their ability to explain sales. While […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 02, 2015

Penetration drives share – at different rates

Past contributions to this newsletter have shown that bigger brands have more buyers and growing brands grow by attracting more buyers. How much […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Apr 01, 2015

Online grocery shopping – many pockets for growth

As online grocery shopping continues to grow, interesting regional patterns in the profile of this channel are emerging. In GB, for example, we […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 25, 2015

Experienced multi-channel buyers start cheating

A recent study amongst UK households shows that retailer loyalty of multi-channel shoppers decreases the more experienced they are as shoppers. Initially, shoppers […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 25, 2015

High price and penetration can coexist

A recent analysis covering panel data from 14 European countries, Russia and the US compares the price ratio between brands and private labels […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Feb 25, 2015

Truly dominant brands in FMCG exist, but rare

Identifying the category leader in 79 categories across 16 countries reveals vast differences regarding brand preference. In only 16 categories we find the […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 28, 2015

Value extensions less damaging than expected

A recent study evaluates how extending into higher versus lower quality levels respectively impacts the brand image of middle-tier brands. Results show asymmetrical […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 28, 2015

Price Premia of Brands over Private Labels differ substantially

The examination of national brand (NB) prices relative to their private label (PL) peers in 1100 categories across 16 countries reveal some surprising […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jan 28, 2015

What it’s like being #1

Comparing the leading brand in a category with its followers reveals several interesting commonalities and discrepancies. Looking at some 6000 brands across Europe […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 10, 2014

Price promotions reduce thinking

Price promotions can lower consumers’ motivation to think rationally during the purchasing process. Because the (financial) risk of making wrong decision decreases, emotions […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Dec 10, 2014

New is not easy to do

The positive impact of innovations on brand success is well-known: By enhancing a brand’s equity, they justify the price premium, attract buyers and […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 23, 2014

Similar but different

Across the ‘Big 6’ Western European markets, the average household shops 3 to 4 times per week, spending an average of € 20 […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 23, 2014

Range matters – up to a point

Brand range and size are related – likely reinforcing each other: Bigger brands are able to get more SKUs listed and more SKUs […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Oct 23, 2014

Private Label hurts category volume

A study of 449 FMCG categories in six European markets reveals an interesting pattern between Private Label share and category growth. Categories which […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 25, 2014

Discount shoppers: More upmarket than you’d expect

The discount channel has become an increasingly important channel in recent years throughout Europe, albeit at different levels in different countries. An ever […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 25, 2014

Where are the premium brands?

Many brand manufacturers strive to position their brands as premium in an attempt to achieve higher differentiation, loyalty and margins. A simple price-based […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 25, 2014

Distance matters: In-store travel drives impulse

The average shopper passes through less than half of the aisles in a typical grocery retailer. Obviously, products in the remaining store cannot […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Sep 16, 2014

Brand Price Premium not related to Private Label Success

Private Label (PL) success in a category is often linked to price in contradictory theories: (1) A large price gap between brands and […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 13, 2014

Brand Authenticity: Manufacturing site matters

Many global brands are shifting production to sites in countries with lower manufacturing costs or share production between different sites. This may result in […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 13, 2014

Even Heavy Buyers Will Stop buying next year

In a previous blog we showed that the average brand loses more than half of its buyers every year. Surprisingly, this loss is […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Aug 13, 2014

The right (or wrong) of changing pack size

A recent study investigates how shoppers make sense of changes in packaging. Not surprisingly, their estimates of pack size changes are most precise […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 16, 2014

Less than 1 in 4 items sold is a brand at regular price

For regular readers of supermarket leaflets this piece of news may not come as a surprise: The percentage of FMCG sold on promotion […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 16, 2014

Price gap between Brands and Private Label widens

Over the past five years prices of Private Labels have increased by an average of 10% – the same change as for National […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 16, 2014

Shopper needs waiting to be addressed

In a project conducted by Europanel and Roland Berger Consultants for The Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council Europe, nine emerging but poorly met shopper […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jul 09, 2014

Winning brands: Only 3% price increase over 5 years

Among some 6000 brands studied in 79 categories across 13 European countries the 500 brands with the biggest volume share gains 2008-2012 have […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 17, 2014

Want to increase sales? Empty your shelves!

Well-stocked shelves are considered important for several reasons: orderly appearance of the aisle, lower likelihood of out-of-stocks and higher visual impact for the […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 17, 2014

FMCG slows in early 2014

The first quarter of 2014 shows a relatively weak trend for FMCG volume sales partly due to different seasonal timings compared with 2014. […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 17, 2014

Private Label Success: Don’t blame the category!

Confronted with high Private Label (PL) shares in their category, brand manufacturers often blame increasing commoditization as if it was a law […]

posted by: Oliver Koll date: Jun 17, 2014

Business Challenge 2

Topics We will invite a professor from our network to present a recent piece of research – most likely in the field of […]

posted by: europanel date: May 21, 2014

Advertising around Sports Events – an own goal?

A study* looking at UK sales of FMCG brands around 15 major sports events shows that: Ad spend around the event increases by […]

posted by: europanel date: May 20, 2014

E-Commerce: will the rest of Europe follow?

When it comes to online shopping, the FMCG industry is still in its infancy. With the exceptions of South Korea (9% share), UK […]

posted by: europanel date: May 20, 2014

Most current brand buyers will not buy next year

An analysis of 2,400 large (> 2% share) brands in 79 FMCG categories reveals that the average brand loses 55% of its buyers […]

posted by: europanel date: May 20, 2014

The safest way to become a category leader…

The safest way to become a category leader is to be category leader five years earlier. However, there are exceptions. In several hundred […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 16, 2014

Shelf space elasticities higher for increases

A meta analysis of the impact of shelf space allocation on brand and category sales reveals that increases in shelf space have a […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 16, 2014

No sign of private labels slowing down

It may start feeling like groundhog day: In 2013 across Europe, we see Private Labels increase their shares by about half a percentage […]

posted by: europanel date: Apr 16, 2014

Leader UK FreeCall Dial-In Number:
UK	0800 279 6549

Leader Std International Dial-In Number:
UK Standard	0207 192 8017

Leader LocalCall Dial-In Numbers:
Australia	0286 078 477
Austria	0125 302 1976
Brazil	2139 581 48
Bulgaria	0249 25436
Canada	1647 426 9164
Denmark	3271 4503
Finland	0923 194 433
France	0488 130 197
Germany	0305 200 2093
Ireland	0148 60827
Italy	0645 236 886
Japan	0345 795 796
Netherlands	0207 965 372
Norway	2156 3279
Poland	2230 74584
Russian Federation	4952 131 409
Singapore	3158 0318
Spain	9176 93472
Sweden	0850 510 066
Switzerland	0315 600 041

Leader FreeCall Dial-In Numbers:
Argentina	0800 444 6710
France	0805 101 460
Hong Kong	8009 01258
Spain	9008 28175
United States	1866 791 8543

Participant UK FreeCall Dial-In Number:
UK	0800 376 6220

Participant Std International Dial-In Number:
UK Standard	0207 192 8016

Participant UK LocalCall Dial-In Number:
UK	0844 571 8931

Participant LocalCall Dial-In Numbers:
Australia	0286 078 829
Austria	0192 84000
Belgium	0240 03421
China	4000 069 312
Czech Republic	2347 49589
Denmark	3272 8046
Finland	0942 450 807
France	0176 722 811
Germany	0692 222 3473
Hungary	0617 789 384
India	0803 357 2629
Ireland	0150 60157
Italy	0236 005 646
Latvia	6616 3053
Luxembourg	2786 0308
Netherlands	0207 132 938
Norway	2103 3053
Poland	2221 20154
Portugal	0308 804 328
Russian Federation	4954 115 413
Slovenia	0160 03967
Spain	9141 40867
Sweden	0856 619 425
Switzerland	0445 804 028

Participant FreeCall Dial-In Numbers:
Argentina	0800 444 3754
Australia	1800 002 487
Austria	0800 005 847
Belgium	0800 48727
Brazil	0800 891 2110
Bulgaria	0080 014 204
Canada	1866 660 3572
China	8008 707 060
Cyprus	8009 6395
Czech Republic	8007 01112
Denmark	8088 4569
Egypt	0800 000 0797
Estonia	8000 111 691
Finland	8009 19347
France	0805 102 165
Germany	0800 000 5409
Greece	8008 481 046
Hong Kong	8009 66733
Hungary	0680 012 986
India	1800 301 040 13
Indonesia	0018 030 441 1382
Ireland	1800 948 483
Israel	1809 214 468
Italy	8009 87346
Japan	0066 338 013 72
Korea (South)	0030 813 2608
Latvia	8000 4603
Luxembourg	8002 3443
Malaysia	1800 816 701
Mexico	0018 777 432 430
New Zealand	0800 443 032
Norway	8005 1875
Philippines	1800 111 017 42
Poland	0080 012 123 13
Portugal	8007 88565
Romania	0800 895 013
Russian Federation	8800 775 6816
Russian Federation	8108 002 361 5011
Singapore	8001 302 023
Slovak Republic	0800 002 310
Slovenia	0800 80175
South Africa	0800 982 783
Spain	8003 00123
Sweden	0200 895 364
Switzerland	0800 000 416
Taiwan	0809 090 323
Thailand	0018 004 421 99
United Arab Emirates	8000 357 034 94
United States	1866 904 9624

Webinar Dial-in Information

How many brands are there?

How FMCG volumes and food/beverage spend have evolved over two decades

Visual signals: the effect of nutritional labels, transparency and colour grading

Does the recipe for winning change whether Private Label is up/down?

Brands can win share – even in categories where Private Labels (PL) are growing

Winning in crises resembles winning in growth periods

Private Labels (PLs) on the rise during high inflation periods

Every brand has significant opportunities to gain buyers – even the biggest

One-time buyers dominate your customer base – even if you’re a #1 brand

A more differentiated look at penetration: there is always room to grow

Share and price trends of Private Labels by category type

A long-term perspective on the NB-PL price gap: what has changed from 2014 to 2024?

A long-term perspective on Private Label (PL) growth: what has changed from 2014 to 2024?

Innovations: how many and who is launching?

The fate of innovations – prevalence, listings and survival odds

Who Cares? Who Does?

Who Cares? Who Does?

Penetration and its variation (2): how penetration varies with time – and the importance of retailer listings

Penetration and its variation (1): how brand share and category frequency relate to the reach of a brand

Assortment sizes continue to grow: up 8% between 2014 and 2024

Assortment Size Revisited

A closer look at purchase frequency: over time and across brand rank tiers

Promotion levels dipped in 2023 when inflation was at its peak

How big are the big brands?

It’s difficult to get on top – yet possible

How to influence shopper choices when it comes to sustainable and healthy alternatives

E-Commerce in FMCG

Shrinkflation: a smart way to implement higher prices?

The bigger you are, the more you launch

Both the number and sales share of launches has dropped over the past 12 years

E-Commerce

Two weeks with insights on global e-commerce

A spotlight on large brands – Part 2

A spotlight on large brands – Part 1

A spotlight on small brands with impressive growth since 2019

Category Private Label trends 2019-2023 – Part 3

Category Private Label trends 2019-2023 – Part 2

Category Private Label trends 2019-2023

Winning brands 2019-2023 – Part 4

Winning brands 2019-2023 – Part 3

Winning brands 2019-2023 – Part 2

Winning brands 2019-2023

Brand performance in Europe between 2019 and 2023

Authentic, Human, Trustworthy

Pack Size Learnings

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 4

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 3

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 2

Growth of brands in Europe from 2019-2023 – Part 1

Wellbeing and being not so well: which activities differentiate?

Growing market share

How category purchase frequency impacts brands and not just launches

What to expect from an innovation

What to expect from an innovation

Category growth

This and next week we will turn our attention to category growth

Happy 2025!

Our final edition of 2024 focuses on yearly changes in reach and frequency for winning vs losing brands since 2020

Winning versus losing in tough times

Premium brands: how did they fare lately?

Pricing and how it relates to winning share during Covid-19, inflation and recession

Who Cares? Who Does? – In our 300th weekly post we focus on health

Who Cares? Who Does?

Our fourth entry on brand growth between 2019 and 2023

Our third entry on growth between 2019 and 2023

Growth 2019-2023

Growth patterns and drivers: what worked over the past five years?

Innovation Matters

How much change is there anyway?

Surprising Consumer Inferences

Pack Size Learnings

Recycling

The Power (and Peril) of High Prices

Authentic, Human, Trustworthy:

A focus on small brands

What happens in the store…

Consumers’ often imperfect reactions to marketing signals

Sport events and marketing effectiveness

FMCG in Western Europe