A core Shaver product was in a significant decline in Australia's largest retailers and declined by -48% in sales year-on-year.

Quality, pricing, and distribution of the product remained stable – but the product had changed from transparent plastic packaging to opaque cardboard packaging. With retailer meetings coming up and shelf space at a premium, the company had little-to-no case for retaining the product in the retailers.

Approach & Analysis

  1. Scan Data

    Using Scan (Sales) Data, the decline was confirmed to be across the largest retailers in Australia.

  2. Consumer Panel Data

    Shoppers who previously purchased the range were not re-purchasing the products and were switching to competitors. Other products were performing normally.

  3. Custom Shopper Research

    A survey was conducted with current shoppers of the affected product, and the survey found that consumers couldn't determine what was in the packaging – whereas the old packaging was transparent.

Root Cause

The product and price were fine. The packaging had changed, and the changes were not communicated to the consumer, so consumers no longer understood what they were purchasing.

The Recommendation

A business case was presented to the retailer, along with a plan on how to soften the decline before a new reiteration of packaging comes into the market:

  • Redesign the packaging: new packaging will flow into the market in a year
  • Updated shelf layout: improve visual hierarchy and place the affected products at a higher eye-level with similarly priced products
  • Remove wasted promotions/discounts and optimise the promotional program

Results

Within the next year, the Shaver range reversed from a -48% decline to +18% growth. The company retained the full Shaver range and kept the same amount of space year-on-year.

Skills Demonstrated

  • Multi-Source Analysis: combined Scan data, panel data, and survey data to create a cohesive story.
  • Business Case Development: translated findings into actionable recommendations for a retail buyer/sales audience.
  • Commercial impact: delivered growth to a product range (a +66pt swing) in year-on-year performance for a core product range.

Key Takeaway

The insights came from connecting all three datasets to create a cohesive narrative, and then translating them into commercial recommendations.