With lower budgets, retailers are reporting growth in sales of all value own label products, and their value branded products. But, importantly, several brands are building sales against this trend. The strategies they are following are critical for clients wishing to build sales in the tough climate ahead.

Developing a strategy to protect and grow your brand takes time, perseverance and patience; it also requires investment. Here, The Oxford Research Agency describes the approaches that their most successful clients follow to grow in tighter economic times.

Innovate

Innovation becomes one of the most important strategies to follow. Those who followed this strategy in the last recession became stronger companies with growing brands.

Innovation can follow many paths, from cost reduction, quality improvement and range refreshment. All of these strategies are important short-term drivers of volume, but for longer term success you need to push the boundaries and identify tomorrows products. Differentiation and targeting new needs is critical to winning the war against own label.

Pack Design

Over the past few years The Oxford Research Agency has identified the power of packaging to deliver sales and importantly, a price advantage. We have tested and optimised packs for brands collectively worth over £2B, protecting their positioning and difference against own label.

Differentiating your offer with fantastic pack design is even more critical today that it has ever been. In research terms, packaging research is one of the most effective areas in research spend today.

Marketing Mix

Your new idea will face 40,000 other products for space in the consumers shopping basket, no mean task when it is estimated that just 40 products make it into the average shopper’s basket per week. As well as being different in your offer and packaging, you need to develop the marketing mix which will deliver the sales.

Promotions in these times are extremely effective in generating volume and sales. However, you have to get the mix right and going to deep in price cuts and BOGOFs can create ‘volumetric deserts’, where the volume is only generated, for instance, when off shelf on BOGOF.

The Oxford Research Agency optimises and develops marketing plans for new launches, relaunches and extensions to some of the biggest brands in the world. With consumers behaviour changing, and sales data from retailers showing the changed impact of price and promotions, optimising the mix has never been more important.

In these interesting, exciting and challenging times, those who invest in innovation are more likely to be the leading food and drink brands when growth returns. For help in developing strategies which can identify, develop and launch your new innovations, contact Chris Sinclair at The Oxford Research Agency on +1865 728272, or email