IRI and Boston Consulting Group Announce 2022 U.S. CPG Growth Leaders

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IRI^®, which recently merged with The NPD Group to create a leading global technology, analytics and data provider, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading global consulting firm, released their 11th annual Growth Leaders report today. The report analyzes the growth performance of hundreds of large, medium and small public and private consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and highlights drivers of success in today’s market.

“The leading CPGs in 2022 won by delivering pricing-led growth while maintaining or driving demand as consumers faced increased economic and inflationary pressures, and consumption patterns continued to stabilize in a post-COVID-19 'new normal,'” said Cara Loeys, principal, Client Engagement, IRI.

Key Findings

• CPG omnichannel sales grew 8.4% in 2022, over 2021's accelerated COVID-19-driven growth of 4.6%. Growth in 2022 was driven by price/mix (10.0%) while continuing to ease back on COVID-19-era volume growth (-1.5%). Aggregate CPG volume remains elevated over a three-year horizon (2.7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), 2019-2022).
• Select Growth Leaders strategically drove or held volume growth in concert with price/mix strategy.
• Overall, CPG growth accelerated with all size segments delivering high single-digit or double-digit growth. Smaller branded CPGs continued to accelerate and take share, while private-label dollar sales share increased 0.4 percentage points.
• Trends from COVID-19 are long-lasting. Self-care, indulgence, energy and performance, and pet care were key portfolio trends that emerged from the pandemic.
• Promotions and marketing were essential to growth. Strategic shelf pricing and continued reduced promo activity, and accelerating impact from digital and social go-to-market capabilities, were key execution levers for CPG Growth Leaders.

Growth Leader Rankings

While the top three leaders drove meaningful volume growth in 2022, overall large CPG growth was driven by double-digit price and mix growth. Constellation Brands was the 2022 Growth Leader among large companies with 9.7% sales growth. Three of its top brands, Modelo, Pacifico and Corona, respectively, contributed to 102% of its overall growth. Constellation Brands was followed by Reckitt, L’Oréal, Bimbo and Mars.

Among midsized companies, Upfield led the list with 30.9% sales growth driven by significant portfolio-wide price/mix with only modest (1.2%) volume declines.

Launched in 2022 by online media celebrities KSI and Logan Paul, Prime Hydration was the growth leader among small-sized companies, disrupting the sports hydration and energy drinks categories. Within just one year, Prime grew an estimated $100 million-plus in retail sales.

“To drive growth in 2023, CPGs must concentrate on four key priorities: forward-looking and de-averaged revenue management, precision demand science to unlock underlying pockets of consumption growth, sustained operational efficiency rigor, and growth via M&A investment or divestiture,” commented Aman Gupta, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group.

The "2022 U.S. CPG Growth Leaders" report can be downloaded here.

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IRI and Boston Consulting Group Announce 2021 U.S. CPG Growth Leaders

About IRI

IRI unifies technology, analytics and data to reinvent how people and companies make decisions, take action and optimize performance. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated into an on-demand, cloud-based technology platform, IRI helps to guide its more than 5,000 clients around the world in their quests to capture market share, connect with consumers, collaborate with key constituents and deliver market-leading growth. For more information, visit www.iriworldwide.com.

Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.