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 …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Shopper and Consumer Insight
The beginning of the year brought some surprising good news for retailers: retail sales (excluding automotive) rebounded in January and February.  While the figures were not earth-shattering – sales grew 1 percent and January and 0.7 percent in February – they were significant improvements on the last four months of 2008, where declines ranged from 1.2 percent to 3.1 percent.

Using data collected by the Nielsen Homescan Consumer Panel, we saw improved trip performance in the first two months of the year in …

Yesterday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported earnings for the fourth quarter of 2008 that beat analyst expectations, an all-too-rare occurrence in the retail world today.  Revenue increased 1.7 percent to $109.1 billion on U.S. store sales that grew 6 percent.  In its comprehensive year-end review of Wal-Mart, Nielsen looks at how the company innovates and differentiates itself from competitors as well as trends across categories.
Sales across all of the company’s key divisions – Walmart Stores, Sam’s Club and International – grew on a year-to-year basis by more than 6 percent.  Comparable …

As consumers work hard to make their money go further, stores are feeling a hit.  But supercenters are actually benefiting.  Nielsen’s analysis of 2008 unit sales shows that nearly every department in supercenters showed growth, including dairy, dry grocery and prescription drugs.  In fact, the supercenter channel was the only retail channel to post overall unit sales growth, albeit a modest one percent.
“Mass merchandisers and grocery stores are feeling the impact of the supercenter,” said Todd Hale, senior vice president, Consumer & Shopper Insights for Nielsen.  “While the grocery channel …

Despite the slowing economy, new product introductions in 2008 remained steady compared to 2007.  According to a new Nielsen report, 122,743 new UPCs were sold through U.S. grocery, drug and mass merchandiser channels, excluding Walmart. Of these, 39 percent were food and beverage items, 29 percent were general merchandise items such as DVDs, 20 percent were health and beauty items with the remaining 12 percent non-food grocery items such as paper products, diapers and detergent.
Of the more than 122,000 items introduced, 3,882 (3.2%) achieved more than $1 million in sales, …

Sales of food and beverages have been more resilient than non-consumable goods during the economic downturn.  But according to Nielsen, consumers are changing the way they buy food as they seek to stretch their dollars farther.
Grocers, drug stores and mass merchandisers are seeing strong growth in store-brand items.  Unit sales of those items grew an average of 4 percent in the last six months of 2008, led by dairy, packaged meats, frozen foods, deli, dry grocery and beverages.  Meanwhile, branded items declined an average of 3.3 percent during the same …

Credit markets freeze. Financial institutions implode. Economic benchmarks plummet. Consumer spending plunges. Unemployment skyrockets. Bail out plans are unveiled. Global markets fall like dominoes and consumers tighten their hold on wallets. What are a retailer and manufacturer to do? Read on for strategies on how to manage the economic downturn.

In October, as global financial markets plunged amid multiple bank bailouts, U.S. consumers showed marked caution at the cash register, focusing their purchases at food, drug, and mass merchandiser stores on basic necessities: food, medicines, and other household items.
Edible essentials, like bread, milk, cheese, and fresh produce, were among the top retail categories for October, according to Nielsen. 
Discretionary items like carbonated beverages, candy, and snacks were also among the top sellers in October — but most of these categories showed year-over-year unit and dollar sales declines.
Top Categories: October 2008 (Dollar Sales: Food/Drug/Mass Merchandiser Sales)

Rank
(by 2008 Dollar Sales)
Top Food/Drug/Mass Merchandiser Sales Categories
(October 2008)
Dollar Sales:
4 …