Retail grocery prices in the U.S. continue to creep higher overall compared with 2008, according to new research from The Nielsen Company. The good news is price increases appear to be slowing compared with the price spikes experienced by shoppers in the spring of 2008 and 2007.
These were some of the findings from the “Supermarket Pricing Trends” study which looked at pricing of the top-selling items across 45 categories over the course of five years. It concluded by measuring the 12 weeks ending May 16 in total U.S. supermarkets.
Overall, …

Tom Pirovano, Director, Industry Insights

For the past several months, we’ve seen sales for U.S. store brands grow at unprecedented rates with annual sales of $85.5 billion, up by $13.6 billion (+19%) vs. just two years ago. (Nielsen Grocery/Drug/Mass including Walmart). At first, this growth was driven by higher prices for milk and other commodities. Then the economy got even worse, and many just assumed that shoppers were switching from national brands to store brands to save money.
But what about the other factor we sometimes forget to mention? Could it be …

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 …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
Last June, we fielded a survey to our Nielsen Homescan panel which included a question asking primary shoppers about their tendencies for reading labels on food and beverage packages.  Just under two-thirds of U.S. households (61%) agree completely or agree somewhat that they read these product labels, with 31% agreeing completely.  And as you might expect, we do see some differences when we drill down across demographic groups, but we thought it would be interesting to also look at how shoppers at …

Todd Hale, Senior Vice President, Consumer and Shopper Insights
For those of you who attended our 2009 Consumer 360 client conference, you heard the opening remarks from John Lewis, President & CEO, Nielsen Consumer North America, on the impact of the economy on our industry.  His message was about how our company is “investing considerable resources in the area of thought leadership to mine Nielsen content to understand what will happen tomorrow; where (our economy) will settle; and what will the new paradigm look like?”
When John looks at the economy he …

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 …

After the salmonella scare at the start of the year, sales of jarred peanut butter took a hit as consumers tried to determine which products were affected.  Last month, sales returned to their normal historical patterns, a trend that continued in the most recent four week period tracked by Nielsen.  On an equivalized unit volume basis, sales were up 3 percent from the same period in 2008 and down 1 percent from the previous four week period in 2009 – a trend Nielsen has seen in previous years.  Sales rose …

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.

At the Consumer 360 Conference yesterday Malcolm Gladwell gave some fascinating remarks on compensatory learning. I thought it was a perfect frame for what Nielsen is doing in the area of Shopper Management. The basic message is that some people, or businesses or processes, achieve greatness through continuous and iterative improvement. That is precisely the path we are in Shopper Management at Nielsen.