There’s been a lot of buzz around small brands right now. Smaller brands want to be the next best thing and big brands want the growth of small brands.

While they often don’t receive the same level of attention as men’s sports, a new Nielsen Sports research project highlights untapped potential and new commercial opportunities for rights holders, brands and media.

The rate of change in women’s sports is one of the most exciting trends in the sports industry right now. For rights holders, brands and the media, this represents a chance to develop a new commercial proposition and engage fans in a different way.

With rising consumer uptake across e-commerce categories, online FMCG growth is accelerating across the globe. In fact, we estimate that online FMCG growth will accelerate four times faster growth than offline sales in the next five years.

The marketing and advertising landscape in Latin America is becoming more fast paced and complex. To grow in this environment, companies must meet consumer demand for convenience and personalization and leverage digital strategies and innovation.

Smartphones in India have benefited from the rise of inexpensive high-speed 4G internet. Affordable data has also paved the way for affordable handsets. The price band of a smartphone now reveals much about the consumer purchasing it, thereby enabling businesses in devising strategies for better ROI.

This report looks at the changing FMCG e-commerce landscape in eight markets (Colombia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates), influenced by 10 key drivers, along with deep insights for each of these markets.

A slight drop in consumer sentiment in the second quarter was reflected in a slight pullback in spending in certain markets, as skepticism about the future had some consumers feeling as though their free cash would be better served in savings rather than on discretionary purchases.

Generally speaking, global conditions for the FMCG industry remained positive in second-quarter 2018. Some regions showed significant growth promise, while others showed a slight pullback from gains earlier in the year. With many markets experiencing notable increases in GDP growth, conditions were favorable for manufacturers and retailers.

In recent years, companies have bowed down to big data and hailed it as the next game-changer. But even as big data keeps getting bigger, its promises somehow seem smaller.

Learn more about the music landscape in India and the commercial opportunities it presents in the Nielsen Music’s India 360 Report.

Following the advent of the Pro Kabaddi League in recent years, the popularity of this high-contact team sport is soaring in India. But the league is doing more than simply proving the commercial viability of the professional sport: It’s boosting the popularity of Kabaddi overall.

As a business concept, agile has migrated well outside of the tech world, touting the benefits and buzz once grounded in the software space to an array of new industries and sectors. In the process, however, the meaning behind the term has frequently been misinterpreted.

Consumers have more snack choices than ever these days, and it’s changing the way they think about snacking. Premium snacks are just one sub-category that’s emerged in recent years.

Demonetisation woes and uncertainties around GST had created short-term stress on retail stock levels that witnessed around five per cent decline during each of the two events. With the passage of time, retail stock levels have bounced back and they now stand at 10% higher level from p re-demonetisation period.

If you think it’s hard to develop a marketing budget, you’re in good company. Most marketers today must do more with less. Faced with steep competition, B2C marketers need to spend every penny wisely.

Single urban consumers are shaping market dynamics because they are digitally forward and have a greater disposable income than other consumer groups. These super consumers are early adopters, making them influencers.

Marketers often think about how important it is to communicate all of a product’s key benefits to their consumers directly on the pack—using images, colors, logos, words, typography, etc. But very often, this overload of information makes the design extremely complex and difficult to understand.

Convenience isn’t just about store formats, products or packaging. And it means more than the latest technologies or new engagement strategies. Rather, it’s about every encounter, interaction and action that can help fulfill consumers’ growing demand for efficiency.

Shortcuts and automation are top of mind as consumer chase ways to overcome everyday obstacles to effortless living. For FMCG companies, the task at hand involves adapting and enhancing their solutions to do more than keep pace—they’ll need to stay ahead of the pace.

How prepared would you be if inflation took hold again? In some ways, it has already started. Learn how to build price and promotion strategies for a fast-paced economy.

For many large, multinational global brands, other companies don’t become competition until they’re operating at the same scale and in similar markets. As a result, global companies often don’t pay much attention to the small brands that operate well outside of their global peripheral vision.

For years, confectionery, crisps and soft drinks were the most popular go-to snack choices for the British consumer. But over the last five years, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the world of snacking.

Aligning your organization toward common goals is challenging, especially when the goals change. That’s because it’s common for marketing teams to operate in silos. Most marketing organizations are split between marketing and media, and the split is compounded by multiple layers up and down the org chart.

If you can’t see it, it must not be there, right? In the FMCG market, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. That’s because every category has a certain concentration of brands that aren’t top of mind for many, but they have the ability to shift the overall landscape if conditions are right.

With the growth of streaming apps available through the TV glass come new opportunities for advertisers to connect with consumers in the living room. In the past year alone, we've seen an almost 10% increase in the number of people who have access to a connected TV device.

From a global perspective, prospects for the remainder of the year appear largely positive. In Q1, confidence grew across Western Europe, the economic recovery in Latin America looks promising in a number of markets, dollar sales of FMCG in North America performed well, and growing disposable incomes across Asia-Pacific are having an effect well beyond the immediate region.

For the last decade or so, Millennials have been the generation that every brand has sought to engage as their spending power has grown. With this generation now past teenage years, however, digital advertisers are shifting their focus to the succeeding generation, Generation Z or Gen Z.

From a global perspective, conditions and prospects for the remainder of the year appear largely positive. In Q1, confidence grew across Western Europe, economic recovery in Latin America looks promising in key markets, FMCG sales in North America performed well, and growing disposable incomes across Asia-Pacific are having an effect beyond the immediate region.

There has never been a more dynamic and challenging time to be a marketer. Since the advent of the internet, fueled by available high-speed access and ignited by the proliferation of powerful new devices, marketers have more access to consumers than ever before.

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer satisfaction assessment tool that’s gained considerable attention. It identifies whether a customer would actively recommend a brand, making it a tool that can gauge if a product will do well through customer loyalty. The popular tool comes with its pros and cons.

Regardless of whether you call it football or soccer, it’s a sport with massive global appeal and fan interest. In fact, more than 40% of people 16 or older in major population centers around the world consider themselves interested or very interested in following football, more so than any other sport.

The global reach of football, or soccer, is unequalled among sports in terms of value to media and sponsors. With the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 upon us, Nielsen offers a snapshot of the vast collection of data and insights surrounding the world’s most popular sport.

The DMP serves as the nervous system for your organization’s digital ecosystem helping you unify, make sense of and unlock the value of disparate streams of data, uncover and build valuable consumer audiences, and reach those high-value audiences with personalized messaging in real-time across the digital ad ecosystem.

Today, access to information is unprecedented, consumers are empowered to make smarter buying decisions and marketers have amassed immense quantities of data about consumers. Technology has transformed many industries permanently, but perhaps none as much as marketing.

Looking across thousands of product launches using Nielsen BASES' rich database, we’ve observed three common causes of innovation failure that often don’t get the attention they deserve.

We expect lifestyle, the “little and often” trend, technology and location to be four of the key influencers on shopper’s behaviour in 2018, which, if executed well, will be true foot traffic drivers for c-store retailers.

There are about 10 million FMCG retail stores across formats in India today. Of these, companies reach only about two million directly, making manufacturers largely dependent on indirect wholesale distribution.

With digital now a critical channel for brands, it’s no surprise that they’re actively looking to better understand and measure returns in the space. They’re also actively looking to social media and sponsorships as a way to amplify their digital returns.

One FMCG category that is seeing significant growth, and is indicative of shifting spending in emerging markets, is beer. So what can beer tell us?

Now in place, the minimum pricing of alcohol regulation in Scotland means that a single unit of alcohol cannot be sold for less than 50p. And as a result, the stronger the drink, the more expensive it will be. So what effect might that have on consumption?

We are at a time of unprecedented commercial opportunity in global sports. Barriers to entry have never been lower. More markets around the world than ever before are receptive to the power of sports. It’s never been easier to reach millions—even billions—of fans.

When it comes to growth, it’s hard to ignore what we’re seeing in emerging markets. In fact, they’re currently generating two-to four-times the FMCG growth of developed markets. But just because the big picture boasts big opportunity doesn’t mean capitalizing on the right opportunities is easy.

Marketers need to think more strategically beyond cheap tricks, making things pink, or adding female icons to labels to reach women.

The only metric that never changes is sales, which begs the question: Will we eventually see an industrywide guarantee on sales?

2017 was a good year for global consumers, with consumer confidence ending the year at a near-record level. Notably, 51 markets finished the year with higher confidence than they did in 2016, and the gains were bigger than 2 points in 46 markets.

Navigating the FMCG landscape has become difficult. It’s not just the consumer path-to-purchase that’s grown in complexity. The playing field for manufacturers and retailers has evolved as well.

Given today’s competitive landscape, brands that leverage proven go-to-market strategies will likely be more successful than those that simply move forward without careful thought and preparation.

One consumer product category that shows promise is snack foods. A rare global growth story, snacks are satisfying consumer cravings around the world—in fact, the snacking business grew US$3.4 billion globally in 2017.

More than any other consumer industry, beauty and personal care are driven by trends. New trending ingredients, formulations, colors and brands come around every season. Walk into your average retail store and you’ll see this reflected on shelves.

There’s a new retail revolution underway, and it’s going to affect the global food industry in ways the market hasn’t seen before. The revolution comes at the hand of store-branded products, which continue to gain share across all major geographies.

While sales of fast-moving consumer goods in some traditionally successful markets like the U.S. saw signs of softness in early 2017, opportunities for growth are still readily available if you know where to look.

There’s a new retail revolution underway, and it’s going to affect the global food industry in ways the market hasn’t seen before. The revolution comes at the hand of store-branded products, which continue to gain share across all major geographies around the globe.

For a decade, emerging markets have ignited the global economy, contributing more than 80% to its economic expansion. Today, these markets consistently perform a remarkable three to four times better than their developed market counterparts in the FMCG industry.

Five years ago, mainstream alcohol segments drove the majority of the alcohol sales growth in New Zealand. More recently, niche products have emerged, and Kiwis are increasingly opting for more premium and unique beverage offerings.

The telecom sector has had a tumultuous couple of years. High debts in the industry triggered a spate of M&As, a disruptive new player entered the market and revenues plummeted in the short term. This nudged telecom service providers into pursuing innovative survival and growth strategies, leading to a flurry of activity.

Compared with the everyday consumer products we buy frequently, like paper towels and boxed cereal, durables have a much longer shelf life. Items like electric razors, coffee makers and irons fall into this category, and they play key roles in the everyday lives of consumers—yet in much different ways than fast-moving consumer goods do.

As home to 70% of the nation’s population, the hinterland is marked by low financial inclusion – a problem payment banks have set out to remedy. The cash shortage following the demonetisation drive of 2016 also helped nudge the unbanked towards the formal economy and the adoption of digital financial transactions.

In the face of rapidly evolving business and economic landscapes around the world, the importance of organizational intelligence and foresight thinking as a tool to unearth early indicators of change and unlock growth has never been greater.

What do dental chews for pets, adult incontinence undergarments and sweetened light beer have in common? On the surface, absolutely nothing. A closer look, however, reveals that each solved a specific "job to be done."

The most difficult questions facing growing businesses today include the identification of high potential markets for distribution. What is making the effort increasingly complex is the changing dynamics of people, lifestyles, aspirations and location; not to mention the costs involved in covering the massive rural landmass.

The esports industry is growing quickly, with new leagues, teams and distribution channels. And this growth is attracting new high-profile esports investment from brands, media organizations and traditional sports rightsholders.

Bringing attention to the importance of assortment is easy. It’s getting it right that is highly challenging. Here are the top six hurdles companies face in building an optimal assortment.

The “input button,” an often misunderstood piece of remote control real estate, unlocks a wide range of content for consumers with an array of devices, and it’s no longer invisible to audience measurement.

The world is changing. Fast. The way we work. The way we travel. The way we watch videos and shows. The way we simply interact with each other. And because the pace of change is happening so incredibly fast, it can be hard to understand what, and just how much, change has happened over a week, month or year.

As marketers seek greater accountability in today’s increasingly omnichannel shopper landscape, demand for outcome-based ROI measurement has become more important than ever across the media, retail and FMCG industries.

In these times, when every waking moment is potentially shareable on social media, beauty does seem to be skin deep. The desire to constantly look well-groomed is expanding the beauty market, beyond the conventional boundaries of age, gender, geography and town class.

Backed by rising consumer confidence and optimism, many of the world’s economies are experiencing degrees of positive momentum. In some cases, that momentum is strong; in others, it’s subtle, but still worth noting.

While most Indian households don’t have the financial means to indulge in eating out, the story is markedly different in urban centres. A sizeable number of Indians living in cities spend significant amounts on eating out.

When identifying how valuable sponsorships and brand activation can be in esports, it’s worth exploring the issue from the perspectives of the many stakeholders involved: leagues, franchisees and teams.

The adoption of smartphones and the incidence of online financial transactions has always been high among Millennials. Comparatively, Gen X has been slower to adopt technology in general. What’s interesting is that this trend may be losing steam.

Neuroscience shows us that, when used correctly, music can put viewers and listeners in a more positive mood, leading to a greater reliance on intuition and a reduction in both critical thought and focus on detail.

Saying that driverless cars will have a huge impact on the automotive industry in the next decade is a truism. Saying that driverless cars could also have an equal impact on retail, however, is not.

Thanks to globalization and connectivity, consumers around the world have access to a wider array of products than ever. So how much weight does the “made in” moniker carry when it comes to purchase motivation?

The majority of global consumers are exposed to both multinational and local brands. That begs the question: Just how much does the “Made In” moniker influence purchasing behavior?

We’ve been talking about health and wellness for years. There are two critical forces at play that are shifting this topic from niche to mainstream: increasingly complex needs and massive digital engagement.

This edition focuses on how stock levels and consumer prices have actually panned out in comparison to expectations, as well as the extent to which, retailers have understood, adapted and created opportunities around this new tax regime.

How can manufacturers and retailers win on price in a changing FMCG industry? Here are five opportunities to help drive profitability despite today’s challenging marketplace.

This year, a range of ad execs have said digital advertising is broken and in need of repair. While they’re right to insist for better performance, their focus has been on surface issues related to the ad experience, while a larger problem lies beneath.

Global FMCG retail is pegged at $4 trillion today, growing at a rate of just 4%, with signs of continuing sluggish performance in developed markets. On the other hand, total retail e-commerce is predicted to grow by 20% (combined annual growth rate) to become a $4 trillion market by 2020.

Retail e-commerce is an underutilized channel that is about to change rapidly. Discover what the key forces are in winning in this fast changing market environment.

Growth in the online FMCG sector is outpacing offline FMCG, with e-commerce sales set to surpass traditional retail sales within the next five years.

We’ve gotten used to emphasizing the divide between digital and physical, but it’s quickly disappearing: when digital data about the physical world is comprehensive, real-time and freely available, the physical and digital augment each other.

When testing innovations, it’s risky to ask consumers to compare a new concept against an actual product that they currently purchase. This unbalances the entire evaluation by setting up an unfair comparison.

Creative is the thing that drives what we engage with, share, talk about, debate, remember and buy. Creative has great power, regardless of where, when and how it runs.

The world is increasingly complex, instrumented and virtual. There’s vast amounts of information about consumers and the factors that influence their behavior that simply didn’t exist in the data warehouse era. Here, we take a closer look at how all this data will affect retail when it comes together with recent technology trends.

Beyond in-store clinics and the traditional health care aisle of the store, a handful of departments should be top of mind for drug store retailers where more multicultural dollars are spent in comparison to non-Hispanic whites.

Africa’s vast potential is the stuff of investors’ dreams, but capitalizing on that opportunity is less about identifying or quantifying prospects and more about execution stemming from knowledge, insights and data to enable on-the-ground success.

Backed by improving global consumer confidence, many regions are seeing improved conditions for businesses and the fast-moving consumer goods industry. Here, we’ll look at trends in a few select countries.

Consumers globally were more confident in the second quarter of 2017 than at the end of 2016, but concerns remain. So where are consumers spending any extra cash and cutting back on expenses?

For a long time, no one outside IT showed much interest in APIs, but MIT research shows that the most successful digital companies make above-average investments in APIs; these companies know that APIs are fundamental to their strategic success. Why do they think that?

With the advancements in big data, advertisers know more about consumers than ever before. And yet, they’re still challenged with how to drive the greatest return for their marketing budgets. And we all know what happens when executives don’t see the ROI they’re expecting—they cut budgets.

In contrast to the ongoing market challenges facing global fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers and retailers, consumers are in better spirits than they were at the end of 2016. In fact, global consumer confidence has risen three index points since the close of last year.

Global consumer confidence showed signs of continued improvement in the second quarter of 2017, with an index score of 104, which was up three points from quarter four 2016.

GST is the biggest tax reform that India has undertaken in recent years. Though fairly well-prepared, a certain amount of disruption is likely as businesses adapt to the implications. As a follow-up to Nielsen’s initial point of view on GST, the attached report Shifting Dynamics: GST- The Nielsen View (Part II) focuses on the current market preparedness for GST as well as what FMCG manufacturers and retailers need to watch out for in the GST era.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last couple of years, you’re seeing the FMCG industry transform right in front of our eyes. That’s scary, but equally exciting. So here are three things big FMCG marketers need to do to win as the industry evolves.

Has the traditional planning process become obsolete? Many signs within the industry point to “yes.” So in order to succeed today, companies need to move to a new form of adaptive planning that is responsive to continuous market change.

Your kid tore his favorite pair of jeans and you need to know if your local store will be open after work so you can pick up a replacement pair. If only you had a personal shopper who could find out what time the store closes.

FMCG success today is now dependent on quality product images, solid SEO and prominent placement on e-tailer websites—far more so than simply having an abundant quantity or variety on the shelf at the local store.

Consumers are getting increasingly experimental and aspirational, and the outcome on FMCG is the growing popularity of small pack sizes. Despite a minor setback during demonetisation, small packs continue to sustain and even drive growth for several brands. Earlier thought to be a rural phenomenon, consumers in metro cities are now as enthusiastic about small SKUs. This issue of Featured Insights explores why small packs are such a big hit with consumers and how brands can explore the opportunities and get their strategy right.