Impact Group

The eating and grocery shopping patterns of Americans are changing, directing many away from the center aisles in the store. Instead, people are shopping the perimeters for fresh and healthy foods. These behavioral changes have resulted in a stagnation of growth for center-aisle brands Luckily, there are workarounds to limit stagnation and fuel growth in the center aisle. Working with a CPG sales and marketing agency that offers deep expertise on center of store best practices can increase brand awareness and lead to success. The strategies that these agencies utilize to increase center aisle success include: Trackable in-store executions The key to driving sales is producing consistent insight into how your products are performing. This can be completed by using a variety of technological resources such as in-store surveys, handheld devices, and online portals that monitor brand performance.   Delivering consistency This requires a regu...

Millennials get blamed for a great many things. They’re responsible for “killing” everything from chain restaurants to straws. They have high expectations, yet these expectations don’t align with previous norms. Coming of age during a staggering recession, their commitments and preferences are much different than the boomers before them.       Millennials are very much a generation who vote with their dollar. Research has shown they prefer companies that give to charity. And, while they are money-conscious, they are certainly willing to spend money on a brand that gives back, be it via charitable donations or a buy-one-give-one model. This generation expects brands to be actively engaged in giving back and has no problem earnestly avoiding brands that misstep. Brands don’t have to adjust to millennial preferences alone. They can work with grocery brokers to quickly adapt and change to inspire the next wave of shoppers to commit. While the proces...

It may feel like kombucha (pronounced kom-BOO-cha) is the latest health craze to hit supermarket shelves, but it’s experienced a great deal more than 15 minutes of fame. In fact, kombucha has been popular in China as a health elixir for more than 2,000 years. Its prominence on store shelves continues to grow as CPG brokers meet the high demand for highly portable kombucha. So, what is kombucha and why does demand continue to grow? To put it simply, kombucha is a fermented sweet tea (derived from green, black, or white tea leaves). For a more scientific definition, Wiley Online Library puts it best by stating, “[kombucha] is obtained from the infusion of tea leaves by the fermentation of a symbiotic association of bacteria and yeasts forming ‘tea fungus.’ A floating cellulosic pellicle layer and the sour liquid broth are the 2 portions of kombucha tea” The floating cellulosic pellicle layer they refer to is also known as a “scoby,” which stands for “symbiotic culture o...