My experience with the orange pack of biscuits is typical of how shoppers interact with product packs. Packs catch the shopper’s attention at the “Zeroth moment of truth”—when the shopper is in front of a screen. They then catch the shopper’s attention in front of the shelf—that’s the “first moment of truth”—where most purchase decisions are made.

While it’s still too early to predict the future impact of legal cannabis on the mainstream U.S. retail market, we do know that demand and consumer interest is present and certainly growing.

AI is enabling companies to better understand how consumers are shopping, why they shop and most importantly, predict what consumers will buy in the future. This is fundamentally shifting how companies explore product development cycles, pricing models and understandings of how to change the minds of fickle consumers.

At Nielsen, we have a clear view of open, one that is not ajar or a “bit more open.” To us, open means exactly that—open. We define open as the ability to use different parties and types of data, models to enrich and applications to consume and take action.

Esports fans around the world include some of the hardest to reach consumers for brands because of their cord-cutting and ad-blocking tendencies. While esports unites them as a fan base, their digital-first mindset is pervasive in their approach to broader entertainment consumption.

By placing the shopper at the center of decision making, manufacturers can better collaborate with their retailer partners to address the inefficiencies of trade spend—one of the largest costs of doing business.

There are many ways to create a community of beauty consumers that are loyal to retailers and brands. But don’t be overwhelmed: It’s not too late to join the conversation with your beauty consumers—they’re listening, and they’re more than happy to connect directly with you to provide their feedback.

At a macro level, economic conditions around the globe ended 2018 on an upbeat note. Global consumer confidence was at its highest level in 14 years, but 39 of the 64 countries included in the global Consumer Confidence Index reported declines in consumer sentiment.

Fast-moving consumer goods and GDP growth in Q4 2018 was strongest in Asia-Pacific, and consumers in the region feel the best globally about their financial well-being. Comparatively, only 37% of consumers in Europe believe their conditions have improved over the past five years.

Consumers today are more disloyal than ever before; the once steadfast consumer retail environment primed to grow brand-loyal hearts has shifted to a more capricious climate, where product infidelity is now the norm.

Granularity matters to marketers because it gives them the ability to distill huge chunks of marketing activity so that you can understand the smaller components.

With so many DMP vendors fighting to stand out, it’s no surprise that many marketers aren’t able to truly differentiate the competing solutions. And to be fair, from an eagle’s eye view, I don’t know that there is a way to.

In a predominantly Traditional Trade market, government policies like demonetisation and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax structure, have given a fresh impetus to Modern Trade by speeding up the adoption of digital payments. The size of the Modern Trade market for FMCG categories that Nielsen tracks, is INR 41,416 crore for MAT August 2018, a substantial growth of 22% from a year ago.

In a new gender-focused study, we looked at consumer confidence, economic sentiment and spending intentions by gender over the past five years to understand how the needs and wants of female consumers have evolved.

Marketers today have more than enough data available to them, but they’re looking for better ways to use and connect their data sets to gain deeper, more valuable insights.

While online has been growing as a channel in several developed markets in recent years, it’s broadening in scope, and is fast becoming a popular shopping destination for consumers around the world, particularly those looking to purchase premium products, as these platforms are able to attract shoppers and generate sales by providing exclusive product ranges and compelling deals.

Digital adoption is sweeping the globe. The uptake of mobile devices and increasing access to the internet have huge ramifications for businesses in all industries. Retailers can’t afford to ignore this new reality.

Globally, 58%of global consumers feel they are better off financially than they were five years ago, but there is also a sizeable proportion of consumers who feel that they are only in survival mode, with sentiment differing considerably by region and country.

In this webinar, we explore the regions where consumers have experienced the biggest improvement in their financial situations since 2016. We also discuss consumers’ changing spending behavior on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) categories over the past five years.

The Nielsen Changing Consumer Prosperity report reveals consumers’ sentiment toward their financial situations and explores the behavior and impact on spending, and how this has changed over time.

Start-small strategies take several forms, but the effectiveness of these strategies is questionable when applied to large FMCG manufacturers, at least as a repeatable formula for success.

Now more than ever, brands are “taking stands”—challenging the status quo, and their competitors. It’s a popular phrase, and an evolving idea in today’s social and political moment, not to mention over the past decade as corporate responsibility and sustainability has risen in prominence to the C-suite and beyond.

As we analyze key takeaways from Nielsen’s past two years of sponsorship valuation data and research around fan behavior and preferences, it’s evident that esports stakeholders have a lot to look forward to in the coming months.

There are many problems and challenges ahead of us. We also have many possibilities and options to wade through as we navigate the right way forward. It’s up to us to leverage the opportunities by adopting better strategies for using data and technology.

Online grocery, which currently accounts for 3%-4% of total grocery sales in New Zealand, continues to drive growth, and we expect that growth to accelerate in 2019 as retailers meet rising consumer demand with the continued rollout of their e-commerce programmes.

Some companies take the world's long-term sustainability to heart and build their entire brands around it. But even if your company isn’t ready to dive into the deep end of sustainability, it’s important to take steps in the right direction.

As companies look to break into new markets, they must understand that each market demands its own approach. In burgeoning sustainability markets, however, natural and organic are paving the way for more detailed and specific claims.

Choosing the right marketing mix modeling vendor has a huge impact on your overall marketing effectiveness and business growth. To help you avoid regretting your decision, get the answers to these five questions before taking the plunge.

The next frontier for growth in the Indian beauty industry may well be hair care. The size of the hair care segment is now INR 22,500 crore and rising, with sub segments like colourants and conditioners leading the growth. This edition of Featured Insights explores the trends in the hair care segment including the increasing focus of male consumers on hair care, rural and urban dynamics, and particular areas that are driving disproportionate growth. It also delves into potential avenues of expansion for the hair care industry in the near future.

Modern marketers have a number of tools to drive growth in the competitive environment which are supported by data to make confident decisions—like pricing, promotion, assortment and media. But when we talk to marketers about growth, no lever is cited more often than innovation.

It’s rational that shoppers would be willing to pay more for a product that is of a higher demonstrated quality or value, but there is also a more subjective component that factors into many shoppers’ ideas of what premium means.

Christmas is an important time of year for the alcohol industry in the U.K., as off-trade alcohol sales over the 12 weeks of Christmas account for around a sixth of all Christmas fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales and a third of total annual off-trade alcohol sales.

As 2018 starts to wind down, economic and consumer spending trends for a majority of markets around the world are in better standing than they were earlier in the year.

Confidence on a global scale ended the third quarter two points higher than in the previous period and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales in many countries are trending upward as a result.

One of the biggest is that small start-ups are generating 53% of the growth and cutting into the share of established manufacturers. And so FMCG manufacturers of all sizes are looking to the successful start-ups for inspiration on how to be more agile, but is it that simple?

Here’s a look at some of the major shifts we’re tracking to help our clients stay in prime position to capitalize on the opportunities they’ll present in the coming years.

With the flexibility to reallocate budget across select platforms, Tempo OMD used Digital Ad Ratings’ overnight reporting to identify optimisation opportunities.

To do it right, companies need to invest in truly understanding their consumers and embed sustainability into their brand’s foundation. Authenticity comes through the end-to-end integration of sustainability into your processes and complete transparency with consumers along the way.

As manufacturers and retailers seek to capitalize on the opportunity of e-commerce, they need to understand consumers’ online usage, behaviour and habits, as well as what’s driving e-commerce adoption.

In today’s crowded car market, auto advertisers are hard-pressed to connect with consumers, encourage new sales, and do it all under shrinking budgets. It’s a steep challenge, and one that can only be met with a full understanding of how consumers shop for cars and how they react to automotive advertising.

Seasonality has a huge impact on OTC sales performance, and although it varies by category, 60% of sales are subject to this. We, of course, associate summer with hay fever and allergies; however, lots of other categories also enjoy the seasonal uplifts that come with summer.

It’s undisputed that internet accessibility, mobile technology and digital innovations are redefining consumers every interaction and will continue to enable and disrupt many aspects of consumers’ lifestyle well into the future.

Looking for a better lifestyle, consumers are searching for options that are healthier for them and for their homes. The good news is that companies can be benevolent and bankable if they understand the intricacies of these forces and react accordingly.

Even after the buzz of new product innovation wears off, growth is still possible. Here’s how a refined approach to price and promotion can amplify your brand proposition.

Nearly 80% of the value growth clocked by FMCG industry in the Q3 quarter was volume driven (13.4%). Rural markets continued to grow faster (20%) in the quarter; urban India also had a good run with 14.5% value growth.

A new era of sustainability is rising and it’s touching every corner of the world. Consumers in markets big and small are increasingly motivated to be more environmentally conscious and are exercising their power and voice through the products they buy. But why do these shifts feel so urgent?

It’s well known across the media landscape that consumers in the U.S. are connecting with more content across more devices than ever before. But as an industry, we have not tapped into the truly unique opportunities presented by this increased consumption at the same pace as consumers.

Data is everywhere. As our individual behaviors leave an ever-expanding data footprint, we are faced with the challenge of making sense of all of this data and extrapolating meaningful insights to drive performance.

Agile market research can help manufacturers prototype ideas in a safe environment and identify the best possible version of each prototype before they invest in more expensive execution steps.

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.

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.

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.

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.