New superfruits, “free range” products and gluten-free food are among the packaged goods trends to watch out for in 2010, according to market research firm Datamonitor. Among ten emerging trends expected to blossom are new generation superfruits like baobab and borojo, a renewed “back to basics” approach when it comes to product ingredients and a ‘greening’ of the image of plastic water bottles. A More Humane World Animal rights have emerged as a growing worldwide... ...Read more »

Nielsen announced today that image-based online ad spending by Consumer Goods companies increased in the US by 57 per cent over the last two years, despite the concerns over the economic environment. “While direct response advertising has been very successful on the Internet, with categories like finance and travel devoting a significant portion of their budget to online advertising, on-line advertising will not continue to grow as rapidly without major brands beginning to devote larger portions... ...Read more »

The global recession has taken a toll on brand loyalty in the grocery sector, according to new research from the United States. A study by Catalina Marketing’s Pointer Media Network and the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council identified the purchasing patterns of over 34 million US shoppers purchasing patterns for two-years across 685 leading CPG brands and 24,000 retail stores and discovered a rise in brand defection. The milestone study, entitled Losing Loyalty, The Consumer Defection Dilemma,... ...Read more »

The relationship between retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies has significantly changed and CPG companies need to broaden the skills of their sales forces to meet retailer expectations, according to a new study released overnight in the US by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the Network of Executive Women (NEW) and A.T. Kearney. Titled Talent Triage: Raising the Bar on CPG Sales Force Talent Management, the study reports that CPG sales and human resource executives rated... ...Read more »

The economy is starting to cast a shadow over green living’s glow. According to new consumer research from Mintel, the number of Americans who claim to almost always or regularly buy green products remains unchanged since last year, at 36% – suggesting the “green” trend has begun to stagnate. This lack of growth comes after tripling the previous year (from 12% in 2007 to 36% in 2008, according to Mintel consumer survey data). Marcia Mogelonsky, Ph. D and senior research analyst... ...Read more »