CPG companies must select the method that best reflects their business operations and properly disclose this in their financial statements. Gain the financial visibility and discipline you need to maintain a profitable, high-growth company. Understanding the lingo of CPG businesses can help you better understand the consumer and grow stronger relationships with retailers. You don’t want your CPG pitch deck using the terms incorrectly and hurt your chances of getting more distribution. Fortunately, with Byzzer’s reporting solutions, you can have all the data you need at your fingertips.

• In fact, more than one-quarter of the companies in our database were accretive growers that achieved organic growth and margin expansion at the same time (Exhibit 2).
• Consumer-goods companies that develop an execution edge will continue to drive value creation and financial performance in the years to come.
• Our research looks at the success factors of CPG companies in the prepandemic landscape and confirms that profitable growth is directly linked to value creation (see sidebar, “About the research”).
• Let’s say that same manufacturer sells a million dollars worth of cat litter.
• Launching with over 40 different, unique foundation shades was a revolutionary concept for women of color who were not used to seeing their skin tone represented in a major marketing campaign.
• You have to handle product creation, inventory purchases, retail negotiations, and much more.

Because 12 disruptive trends have diluted the old success model for growing mass brands. Now the COVID-19 crisis is amplifying many of these trends, triggering an industry imperative to change. Over the past several months, as many US consumers have spent more time at home—either because of mandated lockdowns or by choice—they’ve been buying more products online instead of in cpg accounting stores. That’s true in most consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) categories, from diapers and shampoo to snacks and beverages. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated the migration to e-commerce—the expected five-year trajectory happened in a matter of months. Mass retailers’ online sales in 2020 were 93 percent higher than they were in 2019.2Affinity credit-card data.

Volatile commodity costs

CPG companies need to confront these challenges by rethinking their “where to play” growth strategies across categories and brands to get more exposure to growing markets channels and brands. And they need to shift much faster to a new “how to win” model that embraces digital marketing, sales, and operations, creating a new virtuous cycle that works for today’s consumers and trade. Grocery volumes surged 20 percent with pantry loading and then settled at 5–10 percent, while restaurants remained closed or tightly restricted. Through this period, large CPG companies mobilized their supply chains and concentrated on top lines, while small players struggled to pivot.

• CPG manufacturers must become experts on retailers’ big data in order to keep their seat at the table.
• Participating in developing markets of course requires deep local consumer understanding.
• Some may claim that CPG is totally the same as FMCG, but we’re here to clarify that there is at least one feature that sets them apart.
• CPGs that prosper in the 2020s will make “where to play” choices that strengthen their portfolios and get their categories and brands on the right side of the disruptive trends.
• This may help you better understand the nuances of navigating the retail industry.
• A customer orders more product than usual to take advantage of a trade deal.

CPG manufacturers should closely follow the evolution of these technologies and foster a test-and-learn mind-set within their organization, building an experimentation “engine” that can quickly scale up successful pilots. Based on those deals, you will see deductions occur from accounts receivable payments, sometimes without authorization. Expect your sales reps to acknowledge, review and understand any deductions that come through. If your revenue gets cut in half overnight, so do your product sold and shipping costs, and you can pull down your marketing expense with relative ease – all proportionally.

Where Are Consumer Packaged Goods Sold?

That means COGS has already eaten 40% of your revenue; at 2.5x MER, that’s another 40% of your P&L. Companies with low degrees of operating leverage have more agility and can shrink expenses if revenue goes down. So, USPS tends to hike rates yearly, but that doesn’t mean your cost to produce that lotion increased by 3%. Isolate the variables to determine what is impacting the earnings of the business.

Unsurprisingly, these companies sustained their TRS outperformance during the crisis year. In 2020, accretive growers in our sample generated an average TRS of 22 percent, compared with 11 percent for all other companies. Every year since 2014, McKinsey has conducted in-depth research on the financial performance of consumer-goods companies around the world. Our sample comprises more than 350 CPG companies spanning 20 consumer-goods categories, amounting to $2 trillion in revenues and $300 billion in profits. The COVID-19 pandemic drastically upended the consumer and retail landscape, forcing consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) companies into a largely reactive mode. In response to unprecedented shifts in consumer behavior and market dynamics, many CPG companies focused on short-term survival over sustainable growth.

Newegg Marketplace Integration

Consumer packaged goods, or CPGs, are goods used daily by average consumers. They are different from durable goods, such as computers or washing machines, which are more expensive and last many years. Our fractional model offers a dynamic workforce solution that provides a cost-effective alternative to hiring full-time talent too early.

It can even help to work through a full year of forecasting cash this way. Managing business accounting for CPG brands means investing in tools that give you the data—and insights—you need to make intelligent business decisions. But sub-par corporate accounting practices won’t only make handling your finances harder to run your company today—it will also impact your ability to grow and thrive in the future. You have to handle product creation, inventory purchases, retail negotiations, and much more.

Key Accounting Considerations for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Companies

This information is important for tracking patterns of returns and identifying potential issues with products or the sales process. When establishing an inventory reserve for the first time, you will debit the inventory reserve related account within the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) section of the P&L and credit your inventory reserve account on the Balance Sheet. This reserve is an estimate and should be recorded based on historical trends, industry trends, or other substantiated data.