MBS Intelligence
Consumer Products
Weapons of mass consumption: the power of consumer brands
I made my first visit to Russia in the early 2000s – about a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and shortly after Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister for the first time. My host took me on some store...
Looking in the mirror: kickstarting the conversation on diversity,…
The beauty industry has never been more exciting or vibrant than it is today. This week alone, we’ve seen Dolce & Gabbana commit to investing €300m in the category to take production in-house; ecommerce giant...
Trust me, I’m a doctor: why we’re listening to…
“We are exiting the era of marketing-based skincare and entering the era of performance-based skincare,” reads a quote splashed across the Dr. Barbara Sturm website. While Dr. Barbara Sturm is an extreme example of...
The future’s bright, the future’s wonky: exploring shifting consumer…
Thirty years ago, buying, eating and cooking with ‘wonky’ fruit and veg was the preserve of the hyper-health conscious and those lucky enough to live near a farmer’s market. For the rest of us, buying our food at...
Movement of the needle: inclusion and diversity in the…
Two years ago, we set out to analyse the state of inclusion and diversity in the consumer goods and grocery sector. At that point, conversations were not advanced, and schemes to promote inclusion were few and far...
Pet power: a sector leaping out of Covid
Listeners of Classic FM over the Guy Fawkes night weekend will have inadvertently tuned into a special ‘Pet Classics’ – designed specifically to keep dogs, cats and other pets calm as fireworks exploded outside....
Sustainability: the challenge to businesses and the talent landscape
This year, the UK is hosting the biggest climate conference in the world: the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, known as COP26. Held in Glasgow in November, heads of state, climate experts and...
The future is femtech, period.
For decades, conversations around women’s health and personal care have been surrounded by embarrassment, stigma and misinformation. From a consumer goods perspective, this lack of open discussion resulted in a stale...
Across the pond: transatlantic trends and talent in consumer…
For European consumer goods brands, achieving 'the American Dream' has long been a key milestone. Promising millions of new customers, massive deals and a whole different league of volume and complexity, breaking the US...
Latest Consumer Products News
Nestle misses sales estimates The world's biggest packaged food company has posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit, despite hiking prices. Organic sales rose 1.4% in the three months to the end of March, less than 2.9% growth expected. Read more.
Unilever reports better-than-expected underlying sales growth The consumer goods behemoth has reported a 4.4% uptick in sales, driven by volume and price increases in the three months to the end of March. Unilever saw particularly strong performance at its Dove and Knorr brands. Read more.
International demand boosts growth at PepsiCo The business has beat Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue and profit, driven by strong demand for its snacks in international markets. International business accounted for about 40% of PepsiCo's sales. Read more.
First-quarter beer sales up 4.7% at Heineken The world's second-largest brewer has posted a 4.7% uptick in beer volumes for the first three month of the year, beating analyst expectations of 2.5% growth. However, Heineken has said that the economic environment continues to be "challenging". Read more.
PZ Cussons to sell St. Tropez self-tanning brand The consumer goods business has announced plans to offload St. Tropez, saying that a new owner would be “better placed to capture the brand’s significant long-term potential” after strong growth in the US. Read more.
Reckitt posts better-than-expected growth The FTSE 100 consumer group has posted a 1.5% uptick in like-for-like sales for the first three months of the year, driven by strong sales in its hygiene business, home to brands including Finish and Lysol. Read more.
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