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A happy Labor Day to those in North America! At the time of writing from the UK, I can say it’s not just the “unofficial end of summer”, as I look out onto another day of rain. Anyway, I’ll be back in Minneapolis and Bentonville for most of September - let me know if you’re around.
Read on for more on shopper trends, including creatine, nicotine, and sustainability, and the history behind the British staple, Bovril. We’ve also got two events upcoming - the Category Management Association in Minneapolis on 10th / 11th September, and our own “What’s In-Store” event on 16th October in London - sign up below.
August’s Interesting Things
- Man Cereal - A new breakfast cereal is launching, dubbed “the world’s first creatine cereal.” The stripped back packaging is described to appeal to the “man-aissance” () for the category. First reaction was that this was an AI-powered joke, but given the way this flew around our office and the conversation it created, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a new gym-bro staple.
- The Nicotine Trend - Despite traditional smoking rapidly falling globally over the past 20 years (roughly a ~40% reduction), alternative nicotine sources (vaping, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches) have exploded. This has occurred alongside growth in demand for energy drinks. Smash the two together? New nicotine energy drinks.
- AI in Everything- In a rare swerve in subject matter from this newsletter, this is not purely a CPG / FMCG related trend, but more broadly an interesting report from MIT shows 95% of GenAI pilots are failing. And yes - failure rate should be high because they are pilots, but we have also seen a lot of AI snake oil out there (powered by spreadsheets is not powered by AI). However, when these are grounded in very specific use cases to automate manual workloads, these pilots can be successful and keep improving. This month, see Unilever’s move to support their digital creative, and Walmart’s AI agents to support store associates.
- Sustainable Packaging - We’ve shown in many studies that whilst shoppers say sustainable packaging is important to them, very few (<2%) actually switch products as sustainability ranks lower in importance to them than price, promotions, brand, or other product attributes. However, the plastic bag tax in the UK introduced in 2015 was one of the most successful sustainable initiatives created. After launching a 5p charge in 2015, single-use plastic bag demand dropped by 98%. Latest figures, though, show that the number of single-use plastic bags sold in England has risen by 7% in the past year - the first time since its introduction. Why? More use of these bags in online shopping (and often returned), but also more shoppers doing smaller, unplanned shops, and possibly a signal that environmental priorities are shifting even lower in the minds of shoppers, despite them saying otherwise.
- A History of Bovril - Bovril (for those outside of the UK) is a dark, salty paste made from beef extract used in cooking or as a hot drink (the only acceptable drink consumption in a football stadium on a February evening). However, this article goes into the roots of the product from the 1870s, and how the name was influenced by the most popular sci-fi book of its time. I focus a lot on CPG being influenced by popular culture, and now very much by celebrities - nice to see popular culture influencing food brands for >150 years ago. If you’d like to see the 1875 version of this newsletter, let me know.
Upcoming Events
Category Management Association - Minneapolis - 10th / 11th September
We are sponsoring the “Excellence in Retail Space” Category Management Association event on 10th and 11th September in Minneapolis. I’ll be there, and you can register here.
What’s In-Store - London - 16th October
We are hosting an event to tackle how shopping behaviour is changing the way we need to display products, how to land better changes in-store, and what retailers need from CPGs right now.
We’ve got some excellent guests confirmed and it’s at the fantastic Museum of Brands. We’ve got a small number of spaces left to attend. If you’d like to join, you can register via the link below, or reply to this email and I can add you to the list. Find the full agenda is on the LinkedIn Event page.
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