In this Issue


The snack is back! Judging from the amount of growth within the 
nutritional bar category in the past year, snacking is definitely en vogue. 
Incremental annual sales totaled $117.5 million across food, drug and mass retailers, with the exception of Walmart, according to SymphonyIRI Group. Out of all over-the-counter growth categories for the 52 weeks ended April 17, nutritional bars as a category took in more dollars on top of what they had generated the year before than any other category, bar none. 



Good things come in three — like the three antacids that for the 52 weeks ended April 17 collectively generated more than $118 million in sales on top of the sales base they had established in the year-ago period.


Who’s clipping coupons? Ironically, coupon redemptions in the wake of the Great Recession are heaviest among higher-income, better-
educated Americans, researchers reported.


“With the value offered by coupons, one might think that the lowest income households would be among the heaviest users,” noted The Nielsen Co. “In fact, more affluent households dominate coupon usage.”


I'm with cocoa
Crio Brü offers a new take on hot chocolate, made with real cocoa beans, with all the health properties thereof, and brewed just like coffee.
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CrioBru.com

When it comes to hair care, consumers clearly continue to seek value as the sales of shampoo and conditioner combo packs remain on the rise, soaring triple digits during the 12 weeks ended April 17, according to data from SymphonyIRI Group.


The continued growth in this segment comes as no surprise, as industry observers have suggested that the shift in consumer shopping behavior would impact the hair care segment in 2011.


Judging by many makeup looks on the runways of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2011 in New York, it was evident that lipstick was going to be in the shopping basket of many beauty mavens. That has proven to be the case.


According to SymphonyIRI Group, lipstick sales have experienced strong double-digit growth in the 12 weeks ended April 17. Topping the list, according to SymphonyIRI, were lip products that offer such innovation as long-wearing color like CoverGirl Outlast, Maybelline SuperStay and L’Oréal Paris 
Infallible Le Rouge.


Energy shots have delivered a jolt to pharmacy sales to the tune of an incremental $50 million in the past year. That business was borne out of targeting the typical all-nighters: college kids cramming for exams, truck drivers and third-shift workers. But seniors?


Happy days are here again! Consumer confidence rebounded 1.6 points in April from a dip in March, according to the Consumer Confidence Index, despite the fact that high-gas-price stories are dominating the airwaves. That suggests consumers may be willing to try new things again — in other words, to buy something new — and that is excellent news for niche manufacturers.