Leveraging CPG Insights for Exponential Brand Growth.

Initial progress can occur solely based on relentless effort in a brand’s growth journey. However, every brand has that moment when strategic decisions become imperative for capturing a larger market share in more channels and broader geographic regions. This next evolution is made possible by tapping into CPG insights relevant to your brand.

But the quest for uncovering insights is more challenging than one might think. Many CPG companies transitioning to the next phase of their brand evolution fail to perform even with the help of consultants, branding agencies, and data analysts. 

Access to insights is the first but not the only step. Actionable insights based on brand testing are how you find points of brand penetration in your particular category.

We will unpack all of this and more in this guide to CPG insights, but first, let’s understand where these insights come from. 

Existing CPG Data Analytics

Historical data is a great place to begin in understanding consumer insights. These 30,000-foot views of what’s happening in a retailer, category, or particular audience help consumer packaged goods brands understand what’s happening in their specific business.

We can pull three particular CPG data insight levers to identify key insights to guide our initial strategy. 

Observational Data

The simple act of observation can lead to profound category and consumer insights. Whether it’s your effort or leveraging compiled information from data providers, this information can help you better understand the market you plan to enter. Here’s a look at simple and robust forms of observational data your brand can access.

In-store observations	Researchers or analysts observe consumers in physical retail locations, noting their product preferences, behaviors, and interactions with CPG products.
Online observations	Observational data can be collected through digital channels like ecommerce websites or social media platforms. Researchers may analyze user behavior, browsing patterns, and product reviews to gain insights into consumer preferences and usage.
Usage monitoring	Some CPG products, such as smart appliances or connected devices, may have built-in sensors or monitoring capabilities. This allows companies to gather data on how consumers use the products, which features are most popular, and potential areas for improvement.
Panel studies	Observational data can be collected through panels of consumers who agree to provide information about their product usage, purchasing habits, and experiences over a specific period. Researchers can then analyze this data to identify trends and patterns.

Activity Data

Much data is acquired from products, categories, and channels as it moves through the supply chain. Data providers pay to access this information from distributors and retailers and then resell it to brands. Often, they will include specific insights they discover as they comb through the process. Here’s a look at the activity data a CPG brand can acquire. 

Sales and transaction data	This includes data on product sales, revenue, units sold, and transaction details. It helps track the performance of specific products, brands, or categories.
Promotional and marketing data	This data captures information about promotional campaigns, marketing activities, and advertising efforts. It includes metrics such as the number of coupons redeemed, promotional discounts applied, advertising reach and engagement, and customer response to marketing initiatives.
Trade and distribution data	Activity data can encompass information about the distribution and supply chain activities. It may include data on the number of retail stores carrying the products, stock levels, inventory turnover, and distribution network performance.
Customer engagement and loyalty data	This data focuses on customer interactions and engagement with CPG products. It may include metrics such as customer reviews and ratings, loyalty program participation, social media engagement, and customer satisfaction scores.

Sales Data

Existing brands with a product in the market can and should leverage shopper data to develop insights. The information brands collect through this process can be used to optimize the supply chain, improve per-store performance, improve customer loyalty, and more. Let’s look at some of the data points CPG brands should review. 

Seasonal Demand	Analyzing sales data helps identify seasonal trends and consumer preferences, optimizing production, inventory, and marketing campaigns.
Product Performance	Sales data evaluate individual products or categories, identifying best-sellers and areas for growth or improvement.
Pricing Strategies	Analyzing sales data alongside pricing information reveals consumer response, helping adjust prices for profitability and assess the impact of different strategies.
Market Share Analysis	Sales data compare market share with competitors, guiding strategies to increase market presence and target specific segments.
Channel Effectiveness	Categorized sales data to assess channel performance, optimize distribution strategies, and identify expansion opportunities.
Regional Preferences	Segmenting sales data by region uncovers preferences, allowing targeted marketing, product localization, and regional expansion planning.
New Product Launch Performance	Sales data assess the success of new product launches, enabling adjustments to marketing strategies and product improvements.
1st Party Website Data	Analyzing data from a company’s website provides insights into customer behavior, preferences, and engagement.

Creating CPG Data Analytics

While existing data creates the foundation for the strategy, many questions remain unanswered. To answer these questions, brands can create new data through consumer research and brand testing. 

Through consumer research, individuals or groups within the target audience are placed into immersive environments to understand how changes influence purchase decisions. Here’s a look at some of the services we offer at SmashBrand for our clients. 

Competitive Perception Testing	Consumer Habits & Attitudes
Brand Resonance Testing	PackWords™ Message Testing
Concept Diagnosis Testing	Purchase Intent Testing

An agency conducts these tests for greater brand understanding. Determining each of the CPG branding elements that impact memorability and brand loyalty. The bottom column represents package design testing, which is critically important as the retail shelf is closest to the point of purchase in the CPG industry. 

Pricing Strategy

Price sensitivity testing is one of the most valuable tests for CPG products. How a brand prices its product directly impacts consumer preference. Testing helps the CPG brand understand the highest price it can receive for the current level of value the consumer perceives the product to have. 

Opportunities For CPG Brands

Now that we have a baseline of the historical and researched insights for CPG brands let’s look at real-time opportunities based on what consumers are currently attracted to.  

Brand Collaborations

There has been an uptick in brand collaborations, but given how powerful this CPG brand strategy is, opportunities remain for brands willing to put forth the effort. Brands big and small can collaborate to reawaken their existing audience and capture new consumers through brand collaborations. 

Limited Time Promotions

Static, unchanged product lineups and pricing models only work for brands with a giant moat and massive market share. We’re talking about brands such as Apple and Nike. Unless you are one of these giants, offering limited-time promotions through product drops or pricing models. 

These strategies tap into the psychology of scarcity, one of the best ways to convince consumers to “act now” before being interrupted by other brands vying for their attention. In today’s world, promotions are a necessary part of an activation strategy for any brand seeking growth.

Product Personalization

There’s never been a more critical time for personalizing the product experience-tailoring messaging and branding to a specific target audience. How you achieve this is distinct for each brand category and product positioning, but it remains an ever-growing importance for CPG brands. 

CPG Trends

Brands should proceed cautiously when considering the latest CPG trends as valuable insights for their product. Emerging trends speak differently to each category, some of which are like a match that lights quickly but only lasts a short time. 

Chasing consumer trends isn’t the best idea for CPG brands unless it naturally flows through your brand theme. Trying to put your square brand into a round trend is a noticeable misalignment by the consumer that will cost you street cred and revenues. 

The Role Of AI In CPG Insights

We’ve mentioned many strategies for identifying insights, but how do you bring these together into actions your brand can take? And once you have those actions, how can you implement them into your CPG business? Here’s how.

Machine Learning For Data Understanding

The rise of omnichannel CPG has driven the development of machine learning tools that turn each data point into actionable insight. The process delivers unique channel, category, and competitor trends that improve your optics for better decision-making. Combining these data points establishes predictive analytics for consumer insights with the greatest chance of moving the needle for your brand. 

Generative AI For Content Distribution

Natural language processing is lighter fluid on a CPG brand’s marketing department. The consumer requires significantly more touchpoints before purchasing as compared to previous years. Any product launch, promotion, or new media enthusiasm can be leveraged with generative AI, such as ChatGPT, to create press releases, white papers, and social media content. These tools are a marketer’s dream come true. 

How To Approach CPG Insights For Your Brand

The reality is that your brand cannot afford to identify and take action on every insight. But while advanced analytics may be reserved for companies with big budgets, every brand can start to include data to develop their “next move.”

Strategy 

What consumer insights around the competitive landscape and consumer behavior can you take advantage of as you develop your product? For small brands, perform competitive audits where you thoroughly review the competitor set in each sales channel. Then, use free or low-cost services such as Byzzer to start your journey on the CPG market research path.

Go-To-Market

Retailer confidence is a critical component of retail execution. You can no longer establish relationships with national retailers without the support of data demonstrating your product’s market potential, consumer demand, and competitive advantage. For new brands, you must create data that tells a story. 

Presenting data to the retail buyer makes the decision-making process smoother. When the data looks promising, it gives your brand better positioning in the store, where more eyeballs will see your product. The success or failure of your marketing efforts hinges on your ability to persuade the retailer about your brand’s potential.

Presenting consumer insights might sound like an unavailable tool for emerging brands, but there’s plenty to report on. Leverage insights such as your ability to fill a competitive gap where there is demand alongside first-party data from your ecommerce website to seal the deal. 

Activation

Many of the insights we’ve discussed will help you create a solid foundation for your marketing campaign, but once you are in-store, you have a unique opportunity. Personalized in-store advertising shows your commitment to the retailer and provides valuable data simultaneously. Few brands use customer analytics acquired through in-store advertising to help them make better decisions moving forward, and they need to take advantage of an ample opportunity.  

An Insight To Remember

Data-driven insights are the way a brand succeeds in this world. Test every idea to validate its potential in the marketplace. If you wish to grow your brand, you must invest in identifying insights and regularly report on the data you receive as your product lives in the market. 

Data-Driven Brand Development For CPG Brands

If you are looking for an agency that can help you define and execute new positioning that attracts more potential customers, we can help. SmashBrand is a brand development agency for CPG brands. Our PathToPerformance™ process guarantees a performance lift.