Nielsen report: E-commerce driving sales

“The formula for growth is simple. There’s really only three levers you can pull — find new buyers, get your buyers to spend more and/or raise prices,” said Chris Morley, president of fast-moving consumer goods, or FMCG, and retail at Nielsen. “But talk to most retailers and FMCG companies today, and they’ll tell you that growth is increasingly hard to find.”

But there’s good news coming from e-commerce, according to the recent Nielsen report, “Total Consumer Report.” New consumers are entering the market who are willing to pay a premium to get what they want — when they want it. That’s one reason e-commerce has been enjoying a strong uptick in sales.

“While e-commerce represents, at best, roughly a third of category sales, it’s growing so rapidly across FMCG that it’s contributing significantly to growth,” Morley said. “For edible categories, more than half of all growth is coming from e-commerce. For personal care, e-commerce is driving [more than] 80% of growth. The story for pet care is even more dramatic, where 90% of total growth is coming from e-commerce.”

One white space opportunity addressed by Morley is subscription services. “Meal kits are clearly leading in their ability to drive value from subscription services, with 84% of online meal kit buyers purchasing via subscription,” he said. “As we’ve seen with eyeglasses and mattresses, consumers are open to new choices that deliver better-quality, more convenient products for less,” he noted. “To consumers, all of this choice used to be overwhelming. But now, with the phones in our hands, the next best brand or retailer is always a swipe away.”