Imagine a promotion lifts sales by 35%. That sounds like a win. But did you acquire a valuable shopper, create a new occasion, increase the basket, earn repeat purchases, or simply pay someone to buy three weeks of product early? In Episode 343 of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, I explain why measuring trade promotion [...]
A category management report can be mathematically correct and still point you toward the wrong decision. In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, I share what happened when one of the lowest-velocity, highest-margin items in an assortment looked like an obvious candidate for deletion. The ranking made sense. What it could not fully [...]
I didn't make the decision. I fought against it. And I still paid for it dearly. Years ago, I helped build a mission-driven CPG company that I believed could make a meaningful difference. I put my consulting practice on hold. I invested my savings, retirement money and eventually credit cards. I built the website, [...]
We were the category leader with nearly twice the sales share of our nearest competitor. The retailer still planned to remove us. By the time I walked into the meeting, they told me the decision had essentially already been made. What changed their mind taught me one of the most important retail lessons of [...]
Growth is supposed to make your CPG brand stronger. So why do more stores, more sales, more people, and more data so often leave a brand with tighter cash, more fires, and harder decisions? In this episode, Dan Lohman breaks down one of the biggest problems growing brands face. As the company grows, different [...]
Getting into retail is a big win. But for many founders, that is where a different set of problems begins. In this episode of Bulletproof Your CPG Brand, Dan Lohman sits down with Julia from Livemore Superfoods to talk about what happens after the retailer says yes. Julia shares how Livemore grew, what they [...]
A CPG brand can add distribution, grow revenue and become financially weaker at the same time. I've watched it happen. A profitable brand expanded into more distributor DCs and markets. Distribution increased. So did inventory, free fills, chargebacks, distributor costs and the resources required to support all those new doors. The sales report showed [...]
I found a roughly $15 million growth opportunity gap inside a brand that was already in the stores. They did not need another retailer. They needed the right products in the retailers they already had. The brand had 16 SKUs, growing distribution, brokers, promotions, and plenty of reasons to believe things were moving in [...]
Getting into retail can be one of the most expensive yeses your brand ever receives. Most founders are taught how to pitch investors: founder story, product, traction, market opportunity, growth, and the ask. Retail buyers are making a very different decision. They want to know where the product belongs, who buys it, what it [...]
Your promotion is live. The retailer approved it. The funding is committed. Inventory shipped. The team believes everything is ready. Then someone walks into the store. The sale tag is there. The shelf is empty. Or the display never got built. Inventory is sitting in the back room. The product was moved. A competitor [...]
