Unravelling the growth of consumer and packaged goods during the crisis with EJ Dalius

Summary: The unforeseen 35% boom in CPG sales since the lockdown has created huge growth opportunity for prominent brands to bolster their market share.

Consumer packaged goods firms are essaying a crucial role during the pandemic. They supply consumers with essential products. The changing patterns indicate that the loyalties and connections they have made in this time could go well into the distant future.

Companies blending the premier consumer-driven experiences with flexible supply chains are in the best position to respond to consistent uncertainties and risks that define the current environment. During the initial phase of the outbreak, people stockpiled food and auxiliary essentials. These goods saw an initial slide. Next, there was a sustained rise in the production.

Online shopping includes both home delivery and store pickups. This domain also saw a sharp increase or commercial uptick. The new market movement creates ample scopes for CPG manufacturers to collaborate with retailers and succeed in the long run.

These trends or indicators may float for a while in the wake of the economy reopening. Needless to say, uncertainty is still the defining character of the day, necessitating firms to prepare for a change, Eric Dalius says.

Growth opportunity for companies

Consumer brands with immense consumer trust and high brand equity levels are consistently advertising their operations through the ongoing marketplace issues/disruption. The companies have become the main beneficiaries of expanded market hold/share and consume loyalty.

According to Eric J Dalius, there are five pivotal trends that consumer packaging brands need to encompass in the quarantine phase.

• Growing brands grow more. During the extreme/panic buying and pantry loading phase, companies that were booming before the pandemic experienced a disproportionate rise in their share.
• As purchasing patterns settled into the home quarantine period, many emerging brands have surfaced with a robust leadership guideline and position.
• Declining or struggling brands have lost their share. They have struggled in the home confinement phase.
• However, both declining and growing brands experienced growing sales from new consumers.
• Experts see massive opportunities for declining companies to influence trial and first-time buyers to move up the loyalty rack. Inventory and supply chain problems are creating enough grounds for sampling new companies.

Shift in sustainability

According to EJ Dalius, 75% of customers are ready to change their buying habits to enhance the environment. It goes beyond saying that the pandemic has propelled consumer priorities and patterns to undergo a paradigm shift.

• Panic buying of essentials and hoarding them during the first few weeks of the lockdown led to backorders, bare store racks, and negative shelves and inventories for online and brick-and-mortar stores.
• Customers who usually prefer environment-friendly goods and mission-driven companies had no option left but to settle for ordinary companies of essential products. On another side, customers have realized and underlined their loyalty to specific products and brands.

Subscription services and meal kits are a rage these days. Before March 2020, there were a few companies that were providing affordable and fast alternatives to frequent trips to stores and one-off purchases. Now, you can receive essential items like clothing, meal ingredients, and shaving items by mail.