CPG

Articles and shows describe potential impact to numerous industries.

Spot rates rise, but inflection yet to take hold.

Tariffs, taxes, the FTC and food regulations are among the major issues.

Latest The Stockout show explores sock puppets This is how RFK Jr. sees U.S. food regulators. (Image: FWTV) On Monday’s The Stockout show, which focuses on topics relevant to shippers in the retail and CPG industries, Grace Sharkey and I discussed how the election could impact those sectors. If Trump is elected, the Federal Trade […]

FreightWaves covers ILA from many angles.

Tender rejections are anemic, and most LTL carriers are reporting down tonnage.

Groceries emerge as political football as Harris floats price controls.

Future of Supply Chain discount code expires May 15  Stockouters, I want to see you in Atlanta! My subscribers can still access tickets to FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain at a reduced rate here, but not for long. The event takes place June 4-5 at the Georgia International Convention Center. Click here for what to […]

Key Bridge reports includes news articles, data and expert commentary.

Target Circle 360 leaves The Stockout hosts asking who it is for.

Shippers should facilitate supplier collaboration while bracing for potential freight market turn.

Activist pressure and focus on OR are at odds with optimal service levels.

Tension between stores and suppliers has intensified amid commodity fluctuations.

Frictionless commerce tops list of retail trends.

Payments network is seeing only modest levels of freight capacity exiting the market.

Holiday sports offer welcome reprieve from discouraging newsfeed.

Largest retailer joyously provides best reason yet for Walmart Plus.

Cartograh and TRAC Intermodal CEOs to be featured next week.

Carriers expect muted peak season with few spot opportunities.

GLP-1 drug use and wariness of ultraprocessed foods could hit sales.

FTC complaint highlights challenges that sellers face on the largest e-commerce platform.

Comments from Amazon merchandising expert add context to nuanced issue.

Pricing strategies advance as companies model changes in consumer behavior.

Smucker’s Twinkie defense points to recent growth in indulgent snacking.

The Stockout content breadth expands to include both CPG and retail logistics coverage.

Packaged coffee is an exception to sticky prices where consumers are benefiting from lower commodity costs.

Big-box sellers report healthier-than-expected consumers and stress high in-stock rates.

General Mills, Conagra and other branded packaged food companies continue to experience substantial volume declines, but the explanations differ by company.

British Columbia port workers’ strike ongoing and UPS Teamsters threatening to strike at month’s end.

Most food emissions come from ingredients, but the impact of packaging redesign is more immediate.

Kraft Heinz will sell Lunchables in schools directly to kids. It’s an auspicious deal but not the best indicator for the nation’s health.

Walmart and Target look to save shoppers from the indignity of checkout counters

Commodity prices have come down, but manufacturers say their costs are still rising.

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a 60-day notice of its plans to conduct research on front-of-package nutrition labels.

CPGs’ worst nightmare For certain CPG categories, I would argue that the worst thing that could happen isn’t a recession but consumers getting religion on healthy eating and avoiding the center of the grocery store altogether. Healthy eating aside, earlier this week The Wall Street Journal highlighted a second concern that may be gaining traction […]

Sugar reduction startups The consumer-packaged-goods-related article that I found most interesting this week was in FoodBusinessNews and it described three startups focused on developing very innovative sugar reduction alternatives. Here is a quick synopsis of those companies: Growing concern about sugar and salt intake Of course, there are easy ways for consumers to cut sugar. […]

Growing evidence of ‘shopper rebellion’ Elasticities, or the negative change in sales volume in response to rising prices, has been one of the main topics in the CPG industry in the past year. Despite two consecutive years of steeply rising prices, including last year’s CPG price growth of upward of 15% or more in many […]

Deceleration in Constellation Brands’ shipment growth and disappointing margin outlook Constellation Brands, the owner of the Corona and Modelo beer brands and various wine and spirits brands, such as Svedka Vodka, was among the first CPG companies to report earnings in the new year and it proved to be a controversial quarter. Shares declined 10% […]

How well will consumer packaged goods (CPG) purchases ultimately hold up?  Not only is CPG demand forecasting arguably more difficult than ever, it is also more critical than normal since many CPGs have to decide whether to continue with high-cost contract manufacturing that served as a way to find capacity during the pandemic when demand […]

Has CPG ingredient inflation peaked?  I can only speculate whether the recent pullback in commodity prices will continue, but with crude oil off its high, crop prices well off their highs, many supply chain issues being worked through, retailers discounting prices to clear bloated inventories and the freight spot markets under pressure, inflation may not […]

PTV Route Optimizer is more than a planning system. It provides carriers and transportation companies with a way to maximize their efficiency — and that of the driver and customer — all in one tool.

Ranked 39th on the Transport Topics list of top brokerage firms, Axle Logistics takes a consultative and streamlined approach to your shipping needs. Email sales@axlelogistics.com to connect with the team today!  Bipartisan agreement that rail service is poor  As described by FreightWaves’ Joanna Marsh, a group of 19 senators from 13 states wrote a letter […]

On last week’s The Stockout show, I interviewed Fred Hart, partner and creative director of Interact, a branding agency in Boulder, Colorado. Fred works with a wide range of CPG companies on packaging and branding that stands out in crowded fields of products. The show can be seen here.  For those without the 26 minutes […]

The truck market is correcting. If you haven’t read the article that FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller wrote last week titled, “Just 3 years after 2019 trucking bloodbath, another is on the way,” I recommend starting there. For those who prefer a video format and/or want more detail, Fuller discusses his thesis on the most recent […]

In a letter to associates, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said, “As a food and beverage company, now more than ever we must stay true to the humanitarian aspect of our business. That means we have a responsibility to continue to offer our other products in Russia, including daily essentials such as milk and other dairy […]

The procurement module will help companies find more sustainable suppliers, said Ethan Soloviev, chief innovation officer at HowGood.

“There’s a lot more focus on tracking the product itself” when it comes to consumer packaged goods, said Bart De Muynck, vice president of supply chain research at Gartner.

FIVE DAYS. WORLDWIDE IMPACT.

Mondelez sees logistics costs rising worldwide, but not at the same pace as in the U.S. The Chicago-based snack maker cited a severe imbalance between supply and demand for truck capacity and container availability in the U.S. and U.K. Meanwhile, the company’s costs outside of logistics, such as ingredient and packaging costs, are showing more […]

What will Unilever look like in the coming years? Unilever stood out Monday because the shares rose 8.6% on news of activist involvement and were up throughout the day while the broader market sold off sharply before recovering by the end of the day. The activist, Trian Fund Management, has been involved with numerous CPG […]

Instead of discussing the current CPG news and freight data per my usual, for today’s newsletter I highlight the CPG industry trends I expect to see in 2022.  Trend No. 1: Consumer behavior will change in response to rising prices, at least among lower-income consumers. The topic of the hour is inflation, which hit a […]

Before getting into what’s happening in CPG supply chains, here’s something for your calendar: I host the next quarterly The Stockout webinar on Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. ET. Here’s the link to register. Last quarter, there was a great turnout, and the discussion was enhanced by the many participants who asked thoughtful and pertinent […]

Supply chain disruptions in 2021 have wreaked havoc on businesses, but smart CPG companies are leveraging data science to get ahead of the issues.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel reveals the sticky situation of inflation and how it is being reflected on grocery store shelves.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel dissects the changes in consumer behavior and what they indicate about the return to normal life post-pandemic.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explores how one alternative milk company is aiming high on the stock market.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explores rising prices and the threat of inflation as stocks plummet.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explains how the declining U.S. birth rate is affecting the consumer market.

In past editions of The Stockout, I’ve discussed cost inflation trends, which I believe is the industry’s largest issue currently aside from pandemic-related structural changes in demand. In recent days, many of the large CPG companies provided additional detail on pending price increases to pass those costs on to consumers. While that’s not a surprise, […]

On this episode of The Stockout Mike Baudentistel explores the possibility of companies hitting the market soon.

Most public CPG companies are in their quiet periods ahead of earnings. But there were still significant developments with the CPG companies that are not (yet) public. There is a report that Impossible Foods plans to go public either through an IPO or SPAC sometime later this year and The Honest Co., which was founded […]

FreightWaves’ Mike Baudendistel hosts a new podcast, The Stockout, and breaks down the consumer packaged goods market from manufacture to consumption.

In today’s edition of The Stockout CPG-focused newsletter, I discuss a company that has been dealing with exactly that — stockouts. McCormick & Co., the world’s largest spice company, reported earnings last week (for its first quarter ending Feb. 28) and provided an outlook that was favorable, boosted by continued elevated levels of at-home consumption. […]

Last week Starbucks expanded upon its previously stated goal to be a “resource-positive company,” with specific goals related to sourcing coffee beans, land use and production. What’s striking is how targeted the company’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction efforts are at the point of origin and the company’s willingness to share environmental best practices throughout the […]

Most CPG companies will report earnings next month, but with an off-cycle fiscal year ending May 31, General Mills reported its fiscal third quarter Wednesday morning for the December-February quarter. General Mills’ size and its off-cycle reporting make it a bellwether for next month’s earnings reports. As I’ve discussed in other editions of The Stockout, […]

Earlier this week in The Stockout CPG-focused newsletter, I discussed the impact that China’s efforts to replenish its hog population was having on corn and soybean exports as well as the related transportation challenges. Today, I dig into another pork-related issue, California’s Proposition 12, which could have a major impact on pork supply chains and […]

Cargill’s announcement last week that it is making a nearly half-billion dollar investment in soybeans caught my attention because it suggests that one of the world’s largest food producers believes that soybeans are poised for sustainable growth and the recent price appreciation and surge in production are not just the result of transient trends. It’s […]

Earlier this week, in the last edition of The Stockout CPG-focused newsletter, I focused on reefer since the many CPG companies that require temperature controls are facing an even tighter freight market than those that do not. Today, I am shifting gears to discuss shipping dry goods and, specifically, intermodal insights from the latest datasets […]

Just as Pat Riley trademarked the term “three-peat,” I’m considering trademarking “coin flip compliance.” That’s the state of the reefer market today with reefer carriers rejecting 50.3% of tendered loads, up from 40% in early February and up from 10% at this time last year. So, as concerning as tight transportation markets are for shippers […]

This article was originally published in The Stockout newsletter on February 3, 2021. To sign up for The Stockout newsletter, click here. We recommend that CPG companies, and others that ship refrigerated goods, pay close attention to Marten Transportation’s results each quarter. Marten, which reported its fourth quarter last week, is listed seventh on the […]

One financial metric in the CPG world that stands out to me is AB InBev’s net debt-to-EBITDA ratio: 4.8x. The company has been highly leveraged since its acquisition of SABMiller in 2016 when its debt topped $100 billion (net debt was $82.7 billion at the end of 2020) and the pandemic hurt the company’s profitability […]

Day Three of Global Supply Chain Week will cover topics related to food and CPG supply chains. Tyson Foods Chief Sustainability Officer John Tyson is set to start the day off with global sustainability in mind.

Bid season is here, which means contract rates are catching up to spot rates and in turn loosening capacity.

Sustainability efforts are becoming a major focus for CPG companies as consumers demand investments in a cleaner future.

Capital Logistics COO Michael Feig says it’s too early to tell if the summer will bring tight capacity to the reefer market.

Reefer truckload capacity begins to tighten further in the Midwest and Southeast

Reefer trailer orders were over 100% above replacement levels in November which shows capacity is trying to return to the reefer markets.

Reefer spot volume volatility has exploded across the nation over the past week.

Lumber Prices are soaring which is threatening CPG companies with higher supply chain costs.

Reefer tenders have strengthened significantly out of the nation’s largest markets.

New Class 8 truck orders are increasing and this trend is likely to continue through 2021.

Coca-Cola slashes jobs in an effort to restructure.

Frito-Lay is responding to customers’ demands and have introduced an option for consumers to customize their variety packs.

As states prepare to administer COVID-19 vaccines, it is still unclear who will be deemed “essential”.

Reefer capacity is extremely tight across the country and especially out of port markets.

A coronavirus outbreak in Frito-Lay’s Vancouver manufacturing and distribution facility causes a temporary shutdown of the facility.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is set to disrupt many CPG supply chains.

DIY (Do It Yourself) projects are draining the supply of mason jars.

A shortage of smaller turkeys grips the nation as families gather in smaller groups for Thanksgiving celebrations due to the pandemic.

Consumer Brands Association’s latest survey shows fear among consumers regarding future stockouts.

Walmart’s On-Time and In-Full (OTIF) metrics are at the most strict levels in the company’s history just as the COVID exemption expires.

Direct-to-consumer is viewed as a strong growth driver in the future for CPG companies.

Transplace collaborates with shippers and carriers to optimize financial and service performance with advanced logistics management technology and services.

FreightWaves conducted a survey of consumer packaged goods (CPG) shippers in April to gauge sentiment, transportation trends and current dynamics in the CPG supply chain. Sponsored by Echo Global Logistics

USPS’ pension problems could cost it more than money. CO2 as a KPI for freight? CPG edible firms need to start going online

In partnership with Slync… AWR products enable supplier and retailer networks that react as one.