With 2024 wrapping up in the next few weeks, I’ve highlighted some of our top consumer products insights from 2024. Produced by leading industry experts, these pieces showcase a few key insights, trends, and challenges for 2024 and beyond. From timely industry news to category management and strategic planning, these pieces cover a wide range of topics that consumer products organizations should continue to think about as we approach the new year. You can read more of our consumer products insights here. 

Top 10 Consumer Products Insights from 2024 

1. Breaking Down the Mars Kellanova Merger 

The year’s largest merger occurred earlier this year: the Mars Kellanova Merger. If you have never heard of Kellanova, you’ve likely heard of the company it was recently formed out of – Kellogg. Kellanova was launched in 2023, as a carveout from Kellogg with the aim to separate the faster growing convenience foods from the slower growth cereal business. And you likely know the acquirer, too – Mars, a leading global organization in multiple industries with net sales of over $50 billion. In this article, Evan Shirley and Steve Rosenstock break down the details of the Mars Kellanova merger and what it means for the CPG industry. 

Learn more about the Mars Kellanova merger > 

2. Considerations for Building a Successful Affiliate Marketing Strategy 

Affiliate marketing is a promotional tactic where businesses collaborate with an independent party, often a content creator or social media influencer. The content creator promotes the company’s product using an affiliate link, and in return, they receive a commission for each sale made through that link. In this piece, Brooke Comune and Megan O’Toole outline considerations for building a successful affiliate marketing strategy, including how to move forward with acquiring and leveraging affiliate marketers as well as how (and when) to get started.    

Dive into building a successful affiliate marketing strategy > 

3. Critical Factors for Realizing M&A Deal Value in Beauty 

In a time of pervasive economic uncertainty, beauty remains a mature and stable industry, relying on innovation as a catalyst to sustain it. In this post, Clarkston expert Ingrid Herman unpacks industry considerations for M&A deal value in beauty.  

Read more about M&A deal value in beauty > 

4. Conducting Executive Business Strategy Planning Workshops for a Leading Produce Company 

In this case study, Catherine Ault, Evan Shirley, and Sebastian Valencia break down Clarkston’s recent work with a produce company to conduct executive business strategy planning workshops. This client is continuing to evolve their business, focusing specifically on how they can be customer-obsessed, consumer-centric, and use data-driven insights to unlock growth and innovation. To continue their transformation and build on success, they engaged Clarkston Consulting to facilitate a series of strategic planning workshops with their executive team to refine their strategy and priorities for the coming years. 

Learn more about executive business strategy planning workshops > 

5. The Evolution of Direct Store Delivery Technology 

Technology has revolutionized Direct Store Delivery (DSD), transforming it into a more efficient and real-time data-driven strategy for improving consumer satisfaction, optimizing supply chain operations, and driving sales. Modern DSD technology solutions leverage cutting-edge tools such as mobile applications, GPS tracking, geofencing, telematics, and cloud-based platforms to streamline delivery routes, improve inventory management and competitive insights, measure driver behavior, and ensure real-time visibility into product availability and freshness. In this article, industry experts Seraj Benkhayal, Ling Lin, and Sebastian Valencia further explore the evolution of DSD. 

Explore direct store delivery technology > 

6. The Shift Toward Underconsumption in Beauty 

In an era characterized by an overwhelming influx of new product launches and constant, in-your-face advertising, the concept of underconsumption has emerged as a compelling countertrend. Underconsumption – broadly defined as the practice of using fewer resources and making more deliberate purchases – is gaining traction in the beauty industry, influenced by social media dynamics and the evolving preferences of Gen Z consumers. Kayla Turk dives deeper into the topic in this blog post. 

Continue reading about underconsumption in beauty >  

7. Completing a Supply Chain Diagnostic Assessment for a Leading CPG Manufacturer 

In this case study, Catherine Ault, Jerry Janis, and Sebastian Valencia explore Clarkston’s recent partnership with a leading CPG manufacturer and distributor. The organization was saddled with a dated Warehouse Management solution, siloed analytics capabilities, and limited visibility into cost to serve their customers. As the client embarked on their journey to revitalize and innovate their supply chain and ensure continued technology investments are fully aligned with a broader supply chain strategy, they engaged Clarkston Consulting.   

Take a closer look at the supply chain diagnostic assessment case study > 

8. ERP for Wine and Spirits Producers: 6 Implementation Considerations 

Companies in the wine and spirits industry need to navigate a complex landscape marked by unique challenges ranging from the three-tiered distribution system, rapidly changing consumer preferences, unique inventory management and traceability requirements, and disparate state and federal regulations. To help manage this, many wine and spirits producers need an ERP system to support the end-to-end processes of their business from R&D and product development to accounting and warehousing. James Savage breaks down six key implementation considerations in this post. 

Dive deeper into ERP for wine and spirits producers > 

9. 3 Common Challenges with Trade Promotion Optimization and How to Mitigate Them 

With this new mainstream surge in generative AI, interest in trade promotion optimization is only increasing, and as a result, more of our clients have questions about what this means for them. Our trade promotion optimization (TPO) experts have been talking about and working with our clients for years on how TPO can enhance and optimize the return on investment (ROI) they’ll see with the trade promotion plans they execute. In this blog post, PK Sundar and Kyle McDonald offer guidance on common challenges with trade promotion optimization as well as some mitigation strategies to realize that ROI.  

Read more about challenges with trade promotion optimization and how to realize ROI > 

10. Optimizing Category Management for a Consumer Products Manufacturer 

A large consumer products company with a focus on confectionaries was seeking to implement a number of solutions developed in collaboration with Clarkston Consulting. In conjunction with the Category Management team, Clarkston worked to implement the solutions that had been developed previously to optimize their current processes and the overall vision for the Category Management organization. In this case study, Taylor Philippe, Amy Levine, and Evan Shirley break down how Clarkston supported the client in optimizing their category management processes and vision. 

Explore how we helped our client optimize their category management > 

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