Posts Tagged ‘brands’

Another Opportunity to Benefit From Updating Packaging

Friday, April 9th, 2010



The Center of Science in the Public Interest is taking on food manufacturer’s for deceptive packaging.  This time, it’s for the size of packages that have little relation to the amount of content inside and not for the usual target of questionable claims.  The story was in the Baltimore Sun but look for it to show up on broadcast media as this group has been quite successful in getting media attention for their point of view in the past.  The target is air, the extra air that is in packages they deem as unnecessary and dishonest in that it deceives the consumer about the amount of product inside.

I’m surprised that companies like WalMart have not made a bigger issue of this as part of their environmental initiatives to reduce waste in packaging, in shipping and in shelf space.  This is an opportunity for a brand to differentiate themselves by right sizing their packages ahead of the competition.

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America Leads in Pre-packaged Foods

Monday, April 5th, 2010

There is an interesting graph in the NY Times that shows how the US leads all other nations in pre-packaged foods.  This graph shows me three things.  First there is a tremendous opportunity for US based food producers to become global and export the convenience of pre-packaged foods to the rest of the world.  As the economic picture for citizens of many foreign countries continues to improve, just like the demand for cars is rising, so can the demand for pre-packaged food.  The second observation is that we should plan on seeing more foreign food producers entering the US market due to its size.  And the third observation is I think we will see continuing pressure from many areas, including the government, to improve the nutritional value of pre-packaged foods as the article also points out how many of these foods are loaded with salt, fat and sugar.  Read more here

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Brand Name Foods Make A Resurgence

Monday, March 8th, 2010

February brought some good news for brand name food manufacturers. According to the article Branded Foods Tick Up from last Friday’s Wall Street Journal, branded-food unit sales increased 2.4% in February. This is a nice swing from the 0.2% decline in January. This isn’t necessarily bad for private label brands either, as mentioned in an excerpt from the article:

For grocers, giving back market share to pricier branded items is not a bad thing. Over the past year, supermarkets lowered private-label prices to widen price gaps with branded goods. Grocers sought to gain leverage when negotiating prices with big-name suppliers. Now, retailers are slowing those aggressive price cuts, according to a Morgan Stanley price survey.

Will the trend continue? Driven by increased promotional activity and narrowed price gaps, can brand name foods take back some of the market share lost amidst a volatile economy?

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Regional Brands Dying

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

An almost obituary like article from the Wall Street Journal shows how regional candy brands are disappearing.  This is the same fate of brands in many grocery categories as they are squeezed off the shelf by growing national and private label brands.  Many of these regional brands are family owned and they have given up the fight as they ride the cash cow down to the sad end.  A hopeful sign is in the beer category where many small independent brands are making life miserable for the larger national brands.  They do this with youthful enthusiasm, a willingness to take risks and a sincere belief that they just simply make a better product.

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