The way consumers shop for everyday products continues its transformation towards the Web. In 2008, online retail accounted for approximately 7% of total retail sales in the U.S, with 1.5% of consumer packaged goods (CPG) spending done on the Web.

Tom Pirovano, Director, Industry Insights
I recently shared some thoughts on how CPG manufacturers can protect their brands from private label expansion. Of course, it didn’t take long to hear back from retailers asking for tips on growing their own brands so here are a few private label ideas for our retailer friends.

Study the category consumer before going upscale. Consumer understanding is the common thread among top-selling brands. It’s not enough for a retailer to roll out a quality product in premium packaging.
Disguise your premium store brands. Many consumers still associate …

Our CPG world is one where technology is rapidly evolving and transforming how consumers receive, seek and use information to impact buying and shopping decisions. This makes our jobs exciting and challenging at the same time as it is harder than ever to manage the ever-changing technology landscape and almost impossible to control.

With the economy effecting consumers, retailers, and marketers alike, this week’s Nielsen’s Consumer360 Conference presents an opportunity to think about new ways of addressing this marketing challenge.

On Tuesday, a session called “Data Mining the Recession”, presented by Nielsen’s Mark Laceky and Mitch Kriss identified three main ways shoppers are trying to save money.

When the economy is buzzing, most companies can afford to overlook inefficiencies or take a broader view of what their customers want. But when times are tough, as they are now, companies have little choice but to re-evaluate how they do business if they hope to continue to grow and prosper. Managers are faced with essentially two choices: cut costs or understand precisely where the most profitable market demand is and align more effectively with it. Both options are difficult, but only one can achieve both short- and long-term objectives.

Each new day seems to bring more bad news about the economy.  With uncertainty and fear looming, American consumers have cut back on their shopping trips and changed the way they spend their hard-earned money.  For food retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers, these new trends do not necessarily spell doom.  If they know how to address consumers’ changing needs and can successfully engage them by appealing to their desire for value, significant opportunities remain.
Even though some analysts predict that the U.S. economy may have hit bottom and are cautiously …

Change is quietly shaking up rural America — both the traditional economic base (farming) and the ethnic composition (strongly skewed to non-Hispanic whites) are rapidly diversifying.
With roughly one-third of the total U.S. population and at least three-quarters of the country’s land area, rural America is a diverse and important marketplace for marketers of consumer products, Doug Anderson, EVP, Research & Development, Nielsen, argues in the January issue of Nielsen’s “Consumer Insight” online newsletter.
Marketers intent on reaching rural Americans should pay attention to marked differences in media usage and consumer preferences that …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
William P. Young’s ”The Shack” was the top-selling fiction book through November 30.
Among non-fiction books, “A New Earth,” by Eckhart Tolle was the top-seller.
The audio version of Tolle’s “A New Earth” was the top-selling audio book of the year.

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
It’s official: Americans love their carbs.  The Bread and Baked Goods category ranked number one for 2008 — both in terms of consumer purchases and retail sales.  According to Nielsen, 99% of U.S. homes purchased bread/baked goods at least once during the 52 weeks ending June 28, 2008.  The Bread/Baked Goods category raked in $18.3 billion in sales through November 1.  Other …

Nielsen has issued a year-end look at the most popular trends among Americans during 2008, covering everything from the top TV programs to the most popular consumer packaged goods.
Sony’s Playstation 2 was the top game console of 2008, claiming 31.7% of all measured console minutes, according to Nielsen.  The Xbox 360 and Wii ranked second and third, respectively, with 17.2% and 13.4% of all usage minutes between January and October of this year.
Blizzard Entertainment’s “World of Warcraft” was the most popular PC game title of the year, drawing an average of 0.723% of all PC …