Welcome to The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods, a weekly roundup for marketers from Quad Insights that covers the latest news in the CPG space.
Inflation hammering ‘middle-tier’ CPG brands the most: CEO
Amid continuing inflation, “middle-tier consumer packaged goods” are facing the steepest challenges, Eric Skae, CEO of Carbone Fine Food, said in an interview with Pymnts published on Tuesday. (CPG brand Carbone Fine Food grew out of iconic New York Italian restaurant Carbone.)
“I wouldn’t want to be in the middle today. I’d want to be out there on the low or the high. I think the middle is getting squeezed in CPG in general,” Skae told Pymnts, which, in a May survey, found that “47% of consumers have switched to merchants that offer better prices for at least one grocery product” and “57% have cut back on nonessential grocery purchasing.”
There is a silver lining in Skae’s view, though: With consumers favoring cooking at home more versus going to restaurants, they may be reaching for better-quality ingredients at the supermarket as part of that budget trade-off.
Related coverage:
- “Americans Seeking Cheaper Everyday Essentials Threaten Corporate Growth” (Bloomberg)
- “Inflation is easing. What does that mean for your grocery bill?” (NBC News)
Heineken’s ‘genius move’ in the non-alcoholic category
Non-alcoholic Heineken 0.0, with its distinct blue label, was the best-selling beer in its category last year by far, according to data from The BWC Company cited by Food Dive’s Christopher Doering. “Now it’s a genius move that was a couldn’t-miss, it was inevitably going to be a success,” Jonnie Cahill, Chief Marketing Officer at Heineken USA, told Doering. “But if you go back five years, there was an element of, like, ‘Are we sure this is really a thing? Is this going to work?’” Keep reading here.
Related coverage:
- “Why Bud Light Boycott Was So Devastating to Sales: Ex-Anheuser-Busch Exec” (Newsweek)
- “Molson Coors’ Michelle St. Jacques Revived Coors Light and Elevated Creative Effectiveness” (Adweek)
Liquid Death eyes a 2024 IPO
Canned water company Liquid Death, which has built something of a cult following, has enlisted Goldman Sachs ahead of a potential initial public offering, according to The Information’s Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Erin Woo. The development follows “one of the few IPG ‘bake-offs’” held this year, per the report.
News first broke that Liquid Death was contemplating an IPO back in October 2022, when a funding round for the growing company gave it a valuation of $700 million.
Further reading
- “L’Oréal and Verily to conduct largest study of skin and hair health to inform personalized product development” (Global Cosmetics News)
- “Nestléeyes sustainability in DiGiorno supply chain” (Baking Business)
- “Johnson & Johnson sues researchers who linked talc to cancer” (Reuters)
Thanks for reading this week’s edition of The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods. We’ll be back next Friday.
