Recently, at Nielsen’s Consumer 360 Conference, The Nielsen Company featured a unique exhibit, Consumed: The Economy Hits Home, which looks at how today’s uncertain economy is shaping consumer attitudes and behaviors and how marketers can navigate this new landscape to uncover growth opportunities. Mark Leiter, President, Professional Services, provides a guided video tour.

Read the corresponding presentation: Consumer or Consumed.
More video and presentations available at Consumer360.com.

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Shopper Insights
Over the latest six (4-week) periods ending 5/16/2009, store brand unit sales averaged a 5.7% increase in consumer-packaged-goods departments tracked by Nielsen in food, drug and mass-merchandisers (including Walmart).  Most of this growth is from edible departments (i.e., fresh meat, fresh produce, packaged meat, dairy, dry grocery, frozen and deli).  While branded unit sales declined, on average by 3.1%, unit sales in the last two periods were up 2.2% and off 1%, respectively.  While this is not a definitive sign that brands are turning the …

Tom Pirovano, Director, Industry Insights
There’s been some buzz in the news recently about Toys “R” Us acquiring FAO Schwartz. I’m confused by some of the perceived pessimism regarding toy retailers struggling to keep pace with mass merchandisers. From my “food guy” perspective, Toys “R” Us and FAO Schwartz have some very strong brand equity that has the potential to be leveraged in several creative ways. Here are a few opportunities I’d love to see Toys “R” Us pursue if they haven’t already been tested or discussed.

First, change the focus from …

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 …

 Tom Pirovano, Director, Industry Insights

Health Claims – “Now with More Calcium”, “Good Source of Antioxidants”, “Natural”, “Made with Real Sugar”.  First look for claims you can make without reformulations.  Then consider adding nutrients to add perceived value. 
Unique Packaging – Consider Dean Milk Chugs in a category dominated by private label.  Older shoppers may appreciate packaging that easier to open, easier to re-seal, and easier to read without glasses.
Line Extensions – Look at the soda category with only 6.1% private label share.  Every year we see many new soda flavors, but …

Todd Hale, SVP, Shopper and Consumer Insight, The Nielsen Company
2008 was a stellar year for store brands in the U.S., with both dollar and unit growth outpacing branded offerings across consumer packaged goods (CPG) categories. Store brand dollar sales within food, drug and mass merchandisers grew 10.2% for the year, while branded dollar sales grew by just 2.6%. Although the gap in unit sales was not as wide, indicative of how store brand dollar growth resulted from inflationary pricing across a number of commodity-based categories, store brand units grew 2.6% …

Tom Pirovano, Director, Industry Insights
Sales of store brands, or private label products, began to spike in 2007 just as we were seeing the first signs of an economic downturn. At first, these private label sales were driven by higher commodity prices, but volume growth began to catch up with dollar growth in mid-2008. As the economy continues to struggle, more and more consumers are replacing their branded products with private label equivalents. Store brands are up 10% to $84.4 billion in annual sales across categories …

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 …

While the economic downturn is affecting everyone, not all consumers respond in the same ways. Finding opportunities are not impossible—but knowing where to look is key to success.

Are consumers shopping more often? Spending less? Buying more store brands? Shifting channels? How are retailers responding? The Nielsen Economic Current tracks trends in 11 linchpin countries, indexes financial health and predicts growth trends on critical measures including GDP, consumer spending, inflation, market value and volume indices.