Every year hundreds of new consumer brands ship their first cases to retailers or 3P online fulfillment centers. Most will never make it to even $500,000 in trailing annual sales (i.e., gross company sales). They will struggle in what I’ve called the Death Funnel. Fundamental issues of being a de-leveraged company take most players down
OK. You absolutely now have all your 2022 numbers. Topline. Bottomline. Your accountant is working on your corporate taxes. If you didn’t hit your topline goal in 2022, know the following: This is common among folks new to this crazy industry of consumer brands. TikTok is no
I need to confess that the kid in this photo is my Blog editor. He’s a true wunderkind but wishes to remain anonymous. He’s ruthless with the strikethrough. Ruthless. And he rocks a mean, bamboo fiber onesie. He and I couldn’t agree on which PGS blog posts were
Loyalty, defined as exclusive brand usage, may be a mirage in most categories (and in many premium segments within them). But this does not mean you can not retain fans for 2-3 years before the next modern thing catches their eye. Retention is different from loyalty
So…some of you sell in categories that routinely appear under the Xmas tree. Jam. Chocolate. Wine. Spirits. If you do, don’t confuse “Holiday LTOs” with a smart holiday growth play. Why? Well, let’s face it. Many folks who give gifts to others in the above categories make
Before the pandemic, I routinely did store visits by key banner and channel to keep up to date one highly revealing variable: % of perimeter end caps with premium brands (early-stage or middle-market). It seems too simple at first until you step back and think about
Here’s what I said on Friday to answer this question. “When I look at the macros, I am pretty bullish on premium food and beverage. But I want to qualify that. The sector will continue to grow. But the sector's been decelerating, just so some of
In a few hours, I’ll be hosting my annual Author Holiday Q&A with a bunch of friendly folks. This year, I’m celebrating two milestones. The first is that Ramping Your Brand has sold more than 10,000 copies lifetime. This is not a lot compared to
A product line purely a second-mover carbon copy of another emerging brand (e.g., Waterloo copying LaCroix) can scale based on grabbing established market share through sales wins. With a very experienced sales team and seed money. But this won’t create a consumer brand. A brand is an
Most CPG innovators and founders are geeks of some sort. It doesn't matter if the geekiness was professional or amateurish or a committee of both. The point is that you isolated a problem, a gap in your category, and you filled it. Or