🎙 EPISODE 310 — Why Most CPG Advice Fails (And What Actually Works)

You’re Not Failing. The Advice Is.
If you’re an emerging CPG founder right now, you’ve probably felt this:
You’re doing everything people tell you to do.

You’re:
running promotions
posting on social media
working with brokers
pitching retailers
investing in trade
hiring help
chasing distribution

And yet…
Your growth feels inconsistent.
Your cashflow feels tight.
Your strategy feels reactive.
And nothing quite seems to “click.”

Your sales aren’t moving.
Your SKU looks like it’s underperforming.
Your retailers are losing confidence.

And suddenly, you’re staring at the one thing every founder dreads:
👉 The threat of discontinuation.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth most founders never hear:

Most brands are not discontinued because they aren’t loved.
They’re not discontinued because they didn’t promote enough.
They’re not discontinued because their velocity was poor.

No—most brands are discontinued for a far simpler, more frustrating reason:
👉 Shoppers couldn’t find the product.
That’s it.
Not strategy.
Not marketing.
Not demand.

👉 Execution.
Specifically:
inconsistent merchandising
incorrect placement
missing shelf tags
out-of-stocks
broken schematics

Your merchandising is the first impression shoppers have of your brand.
Make it a good one.

Because in retail, you rarely get a second chance.

So you start asking:
“What am I missing?”
“Why isn’t this working?”
“Why does this feel harder than it should?”

Here’s the bigger truth:
👉 Most CPG advice doesn’t fail because it’s wrong.
👉 It fails because it’s incomplete.

It’s fragmented.
It’s tactical.
And it ignores how the business actually works as a system.

No one teaches founders how to connect the dots.

That’s exactly why I built the Retail Operating System™—
but we’ll save that for another episode.

Today, we’re focusing on something far more immediate:
👉 How merchandising—and the lack of a system behind it—silently destroys brands.
And how to fix it so shoppers can actually find, buy, and come back for your product.

THE STORY — When “Good Advice” Almost Cost Everything
Years ago, when I was building and preparing to launch a brand, I did what most founders do.
I became a sponge.
I:
joined incubators
attended industry events
listened to experts
followed “best practices”
studied successful brands
And I learned a lot.

But something didn’t sit right.
Because when I looked around, I kept seeing the same pattern:
Great brands.
Great products.
Great missions.
👉 All struggling.

Not because they weren’t working hard.
But because the advice they were following was:
disconnected from execution
disconnected from retail reality
disconnected from profitability
disconnected from how shoppers actually buy

And most importantly…
👉 It lacked strategy, purpose, and intention.

I remember sitting in conversations where founders were being told:
“Just drive velocity.”
“Just run more promotions.”
“Just get more distribution.”
“Just hire a broker.”

And I kept thinking:
👉 “That sounds right… but it’s not complete.”

Because I had also sat on the other side of the table.
I had:
worked for big CPG companies
been classically trained in category management
managed retail stores including being a grocery manager
worked directly with buyers
Worked with clients of every size
Mentored brands
seen how decisions actually get made

And I knew something most founders weren’t being told:
👉 Retail doesn’t reward activity.
👉 Retail rewards alignment.

That’s when it clicked.
Emerging brands don’t need more advice.
👉 They need better strategy—from people who understand how the entire system works.

WHY THIS MATTERS — Advice vs. System
Most advice in this industry lives in isolation:
marketing advice
retail advice
trade advice
broker advice
pricing advice

Each one sounds good… on its own.
But your business doesn’t operate in silos.

Everything is connected:
pricing impacts promotions
promotions impact margin
margin impacts runway
merchandising impacts velocity
messaging impacts conversion
execution impacts everything

👉 If you don’t see the system, you can’t fix the outcome.
So let’s break down the five biggest reasons most CPG advice fails—and what to do instead.

⭐ STRATEGY #1: CHASING TACTICS INSTEAD OF BUILDING A SYSTEM
👉 “Most CPG advice doesn’t fail because it’s wrong…
…it fails because it’s incomplete.”

The Trap
Founders are taught to chase tactics:
run a promotion
launch a campaign
post more content
get more doors
Advertise more
But tactics without a system create chaos.

The Reality
Tactics only work when they connect:
pricing
promotions
positioning - merchandising on shelf
retail strategy
execution
Without that, you’re reacting—not leading.

The Better Way
Build a simple operating system:
What drives your growth?
What drives your margin?
What drives repeat purchase?
Then align everything to that.

👉 This alone can dramatically improve your promotion ROI.

Action Step
Write this down:
👉 “Our growth system is driven by ______.”
If you can’t answer it clearly, start there.

⭐ STRATEGY #2: CONFUSING VELOCITY WITH VALUE
👉 “Velocity isn’t your problem…
…it’s what you’re sacrificing to get it.”

The Trap
“Velocity is everything.”
So brands:
discount aggressively
promote constantly
chase spikes

The Reality
Velocity without profitability destroys runway.
And worse:
👉 It trains your customer to only buy on deal.

The Better Way
Focus on contribution, not just velocity:
profitable dollars
high-value shoppers
bigger baskets
sustainable margins
That’s what retailers actually take to the bank.

Real Example
I once worked with a retailer obsessed with contribution.

We showed them something simple:
Their premium shoppers:
bought more per trip
spent more per basket
and were driving category growth

We used their own produce section as proof.
Everything was easy to find.
Everything was merchandised logically.
And the premium items were outperforming.

👉 The answer was already in their store.
Sometimes the best insights are hiding in plain sight.

Action Step
Stop asking:
“What’s our velocity?”
Start asking:
👉 “What is our contribution to the category?”
That changes the conversation instantly.

⭐ STRATEGY #3: TREATING RETAIL LIKE A TRANSACTION
👉 “Retailers don’t buy products…
they buy confidence.”

The Trap
Founders try to “get placement.”
They pitch:
their brand
their mission
their story

The Reality
Retailers aren’t buying your product.
👉 They’re buying confidence.
Confidence that you:
understand their shopper
understand their category
can help them grow profitably
will support execution

The Better Way
Shift from:
👉 “Here’s why we’re great”
To:
👉 “Here’s how we help YOU win.”

Action Step
Write this:
👉 “Our brand helps [Retailer] win by ______.”
Build your pitch around that.

When you do this consistently, you stop being a vendor…
👉 and start becoming a trusted advisor.

⭐ STRATEGY #4: IGNORING EXECUTION (WHERE EVERYTHING BREAKS)
👉 “Shoppers can’t buy what they can’t find.”

The Trap
Founders spend:
months on strategy
weeks on launch
days on execution
Then wonder why nothing works.

The Reality
Execution is where everything breaks:
poor placement
inconsistent merchandising
out-of-stocks
missing shelf tags

The Story
A listener once told me she went to support her friend’s brand launch.
She walked into the store excited, ready to buy.
She went to the section her friend told her.
👉 It wasn’t there.
She searched.
Asked an associate.
Still nothing.
Eventually…
They found it.
👉 In the wrong category.
👉 On the wrong shelf.
👉 Nowhere a shopper would ever look.

That brand had:
spent thousands on promotion
driven traffic
built excitement
And it all failed.
Not because of demand.
👉 Because of merchandising.

The retailer assumed:
the product didn’t perform
the promotion failed
the SKU wasn’t worth keeping
👉 That one mistake nearly killed the brand.

The Better Way
Treat execution like a system:
placement
inventory
merchandising
replenishment
store-level consistency

Action Step
Ask:
👉 “What must be true in every store for us to win?”
Then enforce it with scorecards and audits.

⭐ STRATEGY #5: BUILDING A BRAND WITHOUT ALIGNMENT
👉 “A confused brand doesn’t convert.”

The Trap
Ask 10 people what your brand stands for…
You’ll get 10 answers.

The Reality
Inconsistency leads to:
weak marketing
poor conversion
wasted trade spend
confused shoppers
👉 A confused mind always says no.
And inconsistent merchandising makes it worse.

The Better Way
Create a unified voice:
clear positioning
simple story
repeatable language
consistent execution everywhere
Align merchandising with how shoppers actually shop.
Make it frictionless.

Action Step
Define:
what you stand for
who it’s for
why it matters
Then make sure it shows up everywhere.

🔁 RECAP — WHY MOST CPG ADVICE FAILS
It focuses on tactics, not systems
It prioritizes velocity over value
It treats retail as a transaction
It ignores execution
It lacks alignment
Fix these—and everything changes:
your strategy becomes clear
your execution becomes consistent
your trade spend becomes effective
your retail relationships improve
your runway extends

WHAT TO DO NEXT
You don’t need more advice.
You need:
👉 clarity
👉 consistency
👉 and a system you can run every week
Choose one strategy from today and implement it immediately.
Then do it again tomorrow.
That’s how this becomes your operating system.

If this resonated:
Subscribe and follow the show
Visit RetailSolved.com for tools and resources
Download the free Merchandising Checklist in the show notes
And share this with a founder who’s working hard… but stuck
Because you don’t need to play the same game as big brands to win.
👉 You just need to understand how the game actually works—
and how to stack the odds in your favor.

I’m Dan Lohman, and this is the Bulletproof Your CPG Brand Podcast.