The CPG Landscape

With the rise of e-commerce, health-conscious and eco-friendly brands, as well as local and gourmet offerings available everywhere, today’s consumer packaged goods landscape is different than what it used to be. The new landscape is setting up the scene for bold trends to emerge within CPG brands that have to work harder to get consumer attention, and loyalty. The good news is that a stabilized economy here in the U.S., and globally, opens up new opportunities. According to insights from Deloitte (www2.deloitte.com), CPGs are developing daring strategies to capture more business. Among the latest trends are:

• Globalization. Companies in the consumer products industry will strive to strategically capitalize on growth in emerging markets and seek opportunities to acquire or partner with companies to enable access to consumers, leverage market solutions, and in some cases, access sources of raw material.

Facing issues of weak demand and increased competition in North America across consumer products company categories, many U.S. companies anticipate growth opportunities from outside the United States. These companies could gain a foothold in the marketplace by developing deep insights about consumers in the emerging markets they wish to enter.

• Innovation. Companies in the consumer products industry have traditionally looked to innovate as a source of growth and will try newer and bolder strategies in 2018. Expect many to take an agile approach to developing, testing, and iterating innovative ideas compared to traditional, highly structured, more time-consuming testing methods.
• M&A activity. These companies are often increasingly looking to expand across geographies and reach out to markets that can drive both sales and profitability.

• Digitization. CPG companies are aligning technology in creative and efficient ways to optimize customer engagement and influence the consumers’ path to purchase. Investing in digital technologies could also benefit companies in the consumer products industry by driving efficiency in supply chain. Digitization also promotes e-commerce, and promotes real-time customer engagement through mobile apps, QR codes, and the like.

Today’s CPGs are working and creating in a more intense and competitive marketplace than ever before. The stable economy, consumer excitement over emerging brands, and in increase in health-conscious products mean big opportunities for these companies. These new strategies aim to assist CPGs in creating better products, a more global presence, and more consumer engagement– a win-win for all parties involved.