Circana Unpacked

The emergence of Greek yogurt was the biggest disruption to the dairy case since pasteurized milk. In the 10 years since Greek yogurt’s big splash, the dairy case has evolved at an increasingly rapid pace. Whether or not your focus is dairy, you can’t ignore the major trends impacting the dairy case, including the rise of products that promote digestive health, advancements in reduced sugar, and plant-based product trends. Melissa Rodriguez, principal, client insights, Dairy here at IRI, shares her insight into some of the key trends shaping today’s – and tomorrow’s – dairy case, including how manufacturers and retailers should be responding to shoppers.  

Whether you are a retailer or CPG manufacturer, cannabis will impact your business. BDS Analytics estimates that the market for cannabis products will reach $45 billion by 2024. Listen to learn why legal cannabis is the biggest CPG market disruptor, what retailers and manufacturers must build into their cannabinoid plans, and why your organization might already be two years behind the market. This episode features Jessica Lukas, SVP of Commercial Development, BDS Analytics, and Chris von der Linden, EVP, Market and Shopper Intelligence, IRI.

If you’re involved in retail food sales, you’ll want to listen to this episode of IRI Growth Insights. Deli has been experiencing an unusual phenomenon of seismic shifts and stagnant sales, and they don’t go hand-in-hand. While Deli is its own department, the changes taking place are causing ripple effects throughout the store. Featuring IRI’s Jonna Parker, Principal, Fresh Center of Excellence and Jim Carlson, Consultant and Team Leader, Client Insights, tune in to learn how Deli is impacting your business.

Confession time: just the thought of snacking makes us a little hungry! We’re clearly not alone, as snacking and snack options continue to increase across the U.S. Consumers are now snacking up to six times per day, and there is a snack for every taste bud, whether you prefer high-protein, antioxidants or the spicy stuff. And, while snacking has long been considered an impulse buy, e-commerce doesn’t support that “in the moment” purchase.  

Sally Lyons Wyatt, Executive Vice President and Practice Leader for IRI’s Client Insights Division (and IRI’s resident snacking expert) talks about the reported demise of impulse snacking. While snacking may have morphed into more of a planned purchase for many consumers, retailers and CPG companies have plenty of opportunities to turn both planned and unplanned snacking purchases into “on demand” ones while also building interesting experiences for consumers. Tune in and find out why snacking still rules!

The fresh perimeter was on an exploding growth trajectory for a while as consumers gained more interest in fresh food. Now, not only has growth slowed, the competition across the store, including in center store – which is experiencing its own healthy gains – is fiercer than ever. Also, many consumers are buying produce outside of the traditional grocery store, and these new channels have made the landscape more confusing. Even e-commerce is seeing growth in produce.

Who’s really buying fresh and where? During this episode, Jonna Parker, Principal for the Fresh Center of Excellence at IRI, talks about the consumer groups that are most likely to drive sales of fresh foods. She also dives into the various opportunities in fresh and what CPG manufacturers and retailers need to know to succeed in this still very important part of the store.

 

For any company trying to grow, especially CPG manufacturers, product innovation is a necessary and often demanding part of doing business. Consumers today have higher expectations and more choices than ever in both products and ways in which to buy them – so it takes a lot to stand out. Unfortunately, the vast majority of new CPG products being launched today fail to reach their financial goals. How can you innovate in a way that is both profitable and sustainable?

During this episode, Larry Levin, Executive Vice President for Market and Shopper Intelligence at IRI, talks about what it takes to succeed when launching new products in a hypercompetitive marketplace. Larry co-leads IRI’s New Product Pacesetters research – which looks at the most successful CPG product launches – and has worked on product innovation for CPG and other industries through much of his career. He shares his take on the most common – and avoidable – mistakes that are made during the new product development and launch process. His tips on research, market strategy and segmentation for new CPG products can help your company save time and money when you are managing your own innovation projects.