Written by A merchant said something recently that stuck with me. She felt like her manufacturer suppliers simply weren’t bringing enough excellence to the table, and because of that, she’d rather take matters into her own hands. She saw new launches that weren’t that innovative or rooted in insight. There was a lack of solving real consumer needs. That’s a problem brands can’t afford to ignore.
Retailers need to grow to succeed in a hyper-competitive landscape. Consumers have raised the bar on expectations. As a result, CPG brands need to bring their best foot forward in a way they never have before.
“Faster” gets talked about a lot in CPG and retail these days. Speed to market, moving faster, getting it on shelf. And while speed matters, the bigger question is: speed to what?
Too much of the learning in CPG is happening post-launch. Mistakes, pivots, course corrections: the entrepreneurial spirit celebrates all of it as part of the process. But the mentality of “get it on shelf, we can fix it later” is a costly one. Good, or even pretty good, won’t cut it given the level of competition, value sensitivity, and private label pressure. Excellence is required.
What does excellence mean? It means the packaging and perceived value works with shoppers at the First Moment of Truth, getting into carts and being purchased, and at the Second Moment of Truth, delivering a product that lives up to expectations and feels worth buying again. Only then will a product achieve real success.
Speed to success is what CPG needs to be focused on. Not just speed to market.
Fortunately, involving in-context research at the right points is one of the few reliable paths to get there. It doesn’t take getting lucky. It takes the right process, the right consumer touchpoints, and the right partner to get you from a good idea to an excellent launch, and the success that follows.