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Extreme reactions or are some suppliers not facing the truth?
When Sainsbury’s recently announced its strategy to address losses to the discounters, the reactions from some suppliers were extreme. On the news that it was assessing both the ‘emotional’ and...
Front of house = front of mind
Out of Home (OOH) used to be the poor relation to Retail. The latter commanded disproportionate mind share, investment and the so called best talent whilst the OOH teams plugged...
Don’t get left behind. Are you leading or are you led?
At Quantic we believe that the best suppliers know where their categories are going. Leaders interpret and shape trends that will dictate their future results. They future-proof their brands by...
A new look 6P’s
After an amazing ‘Brew Class’ with Dear Green last week I’ve been reflecting on why theirs and other start ups have captured not just my shower time but also my...
Quantic’s guide to achieving your growth ambitions
At this time of year, many of us start to plan our personal goals and ambitions for the year ahead — more time with the family, getting super-fit or finally...
This Valentine’s Day, it’s time to invest in emotional intelligence
Valentine’s is the one time in the year when it’s deemed OK to talk openly about our feelings, yet we all know that it’s emotions that rule every waking second...
Do the winter Olympics have the answer to winning in new channels?
One of the big questions of today for sales leadership is how do we win in new channels that aren’t our traditional heartland e.g. OOH, discounters and e-commerce. Watching the...
First purchase research and Quantic strike a chord
In an age of big data and black box algorithms, it made such a refreshing change to hear the joint approach from First Purchase Research and Quantic providing shopper research...
Have you ‘executed’ any shoppers recently?
I attended the Executing Shopper Insights conference in London last month, and thought two things; has anyone acted on any of the learnings from the conference yet, and WHAT were...
Quantic’s guide to achieving growth in the second half
January seems a long time ago but do you remember starting to plan your personal goals and ambitions for the year ahead – more time with the family, getting super-fit...
The increasing importance of AQ as a growth driver. What’s your ability to ADAPT?
The late great Stephen Hawking defined intelligence as ‘the ability to adapt to change’ and change dominates all of our landscapes. In the single second it took to read that...
World Cup football… is it all about winning?
As the dust settles on a wonderful football World Cup magnificently hosted by Russia, we have winners and others not quite so successful. Well done France, deserved winners who should...
Winning that all important 1st purchase
Byron Sharp’s well proven law of growth, that both brands and categories grow primarily as a result of penetration gains and not as much via frequency or AWP as previously...
Transforming IT from supplier to partner
The value of technology becoming even stronger in the future is unquestioned. Every day it becomes more embedded in the way we live and work and has become a primary...
Optimising your ROTI (Return on Training Investment)?
L&D teams are busy reaching out to their functional leaders reviewing 2018 programmes and co-creating the shape of their 2019 capability priorities and plans. Our findings show that all too...
Getting the right promotional mix
With the majority of the Food and Drink category values being at best flat and often actually in decline, it’s all too easy for manufacturers to throw badly-aimed monies at...
Create a culture for people to shine
Well, 2019 has arrived like a flash. Special festive times have come and gone and we have what might feel like a mountain to climb ahead of us. Economies are...
3.5% vs 1.8% — Are you following the money?
Like many people today, I’ve both bought and consumed my meals out of home. It’s been good for the chains and independents who’ve had my spend. On the flip side...
Are you connected for growth?
How connected is your organisation behind a single vision for growth? If nothing else, Brexit is a wonderful example of how dysfunctional an organisation can become when its members can’t...
Are you a consumer-led business?
Delivering your growth agenda: Marketing’s critical role In our first post we said that a growth agenda lives and dies by the strength of its under-pinning cross-functional strategies. In this...
Are you maximising the shopper marketing opportunity?
Delivering your growth agenda: Shopper Marketing – a shared capability Quantic’s core principle is that connected organisations outperform their competition. By connected, we mean those businesses whose commercial functional strategies...
Delivering your growth agenda: customer marketing’s role
Quantic’s core principle is that connected organisations out-perform their competition. By connected, we mean those businesses whose commercial functional strategies are aligned behind one consistently understood growth agenda. Our previous...
Delivering your growth agenda: the sales role
Quantic’s core principle is that connected organisations out-perform their competition. By connected, we mean those businesses whose functional strategies are aligned behind one consistently understood growth agenda. Our previous posts...
Do you sometimes need a little nudge?
Like many people, it turns out that consumers also respond well to a little nudge now and then. Whilst Nudge Marketing^ has been around for some time, we still believe...
Are you really engaging customers with your 2020 plans?
Across the world, we see the trading environment undergoing unprecedented change. Discounters, e-commerce and fluid consumption habits across in home and out of home are placing enormous pressures on traditional...
Where is growth coming from?
With today’s environment changing at so fast a pace, thinking about tomorrow can often be a daunting task and one overtaken by the need to manage today’s hectic here and...
Which channels and customers are our next big bets?
If you are in a role responsible for deciding your company’s channel and customer investment strategy, the chances are that the landscape that you look upon is a hugely different...
Who is coming after our business?
The big brands are being nibbled to death. Who is coming after our business? Life used to be so much simpler. TV viewing was limited to four channels. Ordering a...
Is my team really good enough?
Growth is ultimately about asking the consumer, shopper and/or customer to do something differently in the future than they have done in the past. And doing something differently moving forward...
What should we do next in eCommerce?
eCommerce is here to stay, but within FMCG eCommerce is still quite low in terms of market share at circa 6% in 2019 (source: GfK, Intage, Kantar). However, with eCommerce...
Are you leaving money on the screen?
A lack of co-ordinated approach can lead to chaos and missed opportunities leaving money on the screen. eCommerce has been on the agenda of companies for many years now, and...
Creating replay value — a lesson from gaming
It’s very fair to say that I can’t add ‘gaming’ to my list of interests or hobbies unless you count the occasional venture into BubbleXplode or Two Dots as a...
Transforming learning starts with a transformation of L&D
CEOs highlighting that their organisations are not developing skills fast enough should be a rallying cry to L&D to take a look at itself. Here are five thoughts to help...
Innovation versus the Core
The role and benefits of innovation in a category has been a roller coaster journey for many suppliers and retailers. In light of CV19, the question of ‘to go ahead...
Will you be match fit for the ‘Golden Quarter’?
Context Covid-19 came quickly and will depart slowly. Global leaders are walking a tightrope between health and economics. Whilst the situation is fluid and unpredictable, business leaders must quickly shift...
Is your brand and pack price architecture right for these times?
In Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), stockpiling and unavailability have forced consumer trial of alternative options. 30 to 40 percent of consumers in the USA and 65 to 75 percent in...
Will your portfolio weather the storm?
Retailers have slashed product ranges during the Covid-19 crisis to improve both product availability and operational efficiency. There are now over 13,000 fewer SKUs in the top six UK grocers....
Is your trade spend burning money?
Retailers across all sectors are under greater pressure now than ever before. Store or outlet closures signal either the final end of famous retail and restaurant names or the last...
Getting in shape to navigate the commercial adventure of 2021
If your year looks commercially daunting, strip it back to the fundamental challenge and try reframing it to an adventure. Critical to successful navigation is knowing your current location on...
HFSS potentially has implications for EVERY category
In 2022 (was April, now October) the UK government will introduce new rules for High Fat, Sugar and Salt (actually Sodium levels not Salt!). The new rules impact three areas...
Navigating price in unprecedented times
Legacy is your gift to others who follow you as a customer manager
Thoughts about legacy are typically reflective. Celebrating seventy years in one role deserves a significant amount of respectful reflection. Leaving a great legacy, no matter how long you’re in role...
Don’t get blown off course, use category as your compass
Context You’ve completed your Category Strategy. You know where you are heading. You have plotted your timed course to get there because you’ve created a quantified set of prioritised Growth...
The Hare and the Tortoise — an eCategory strategy for eCommerce success
Once upon a time, there was a hare and a tortoise who were part of the same CPG company. The hare’s team was fast paced where technology defined its rules....
Quantic’s approach to developing eCategory leadership
The Hare and the Tortoise Revisited, a previous article we’ve discussed, highlights that for CPG companies to prosper in an ever-evolving retail market requires adopting an eCategory strategy anchored in...
There’s more to RGM than price
As retailers pivot from ‘last’ and ‘least’ on CPIs to ‘first’ and ‘most’ on cost price decreases, you could be forgiven for thinking that price is the only RGM show...
Using sustainability as a commercial currency with customers
Why Joint Value Creation is the new superpower in Supplier-Customer Partnerships
A growth mindset when growth is tough – why it matters most now
How to get after growth – when investment is tight
