According to Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) and Information Resources Inc.’s (“IRI”) annual “CPG Growth Leaders List,” the consumer packaged goods (“CPG”) industry – which includes products such as food, beverages and cleaning products – grew by about 10.4% in 2020, outpacing the prior three-year annual growth rate of 1.8%. In addition, the BCG/IRI report found that CPG volume growth (at 6.4%) outpaced price growth (3.7%) for the first time in more than a decade, driven by heightened demand in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Brands Association (“CBA”) reports slightly different figures, indicating that, during 2020, sales of CPG climbed by 9.4% to $1.53 trillion. Further, for the first quarter of 2021 (latest available), the CBA says CPG saw year-over-year growth of 8.0%, with sales totaling $1.62 trillion at an annualized rate. During January 2021, CPG sales were up 15.0% year-over-year, while February saw a 12.1% increase, even in spite of winter storms. In March 2021, CPG sales posted a 1.4% year-over-year decline, but the CBA noted that is in comparison to a 21.0% spike in CPG sales in March 2020. To put the data in perspective, annualized CPG sales of $1.65 trillion in March 2021 were only slightly lower than the $1.68 trillion in panicbuying that occurred during March 2020, and March 2021 sales were the highest number seen during the pandemic since March 2020. “We couldn’t have predicted that a full year into the pandemic we’d still be seeing demand at these levels,” said CBA President and CEO Geoff Freeman.
Moreover, the BCG/IRI report highlighted 2020’s growth leaders among large, medium and small CPG companies. Food and beverage manufacturers dominated the rankings, propelled by the shift toward athome eating. Bimbo Bakeries USA led among large CPG companies, followed by General Mills, Conagra Brands, Mondelez International (“Mondelez”) and The Hershey Company (“Hershey”). Mid-sized growth leaders ($1.0 billion to $6.0 billion) included Land O’Lakes and HP Hood, while Idahoan led among small players ($100.0 million to $1.0 billion). Notably, according to Food Business News, in many cases, small- to midsize enterprises and start-ups “were able to get into the marketplace [in 2020] because of out-of-stocks of large CPG brands in retail…”
Download the newsletter to read more.
