Capgemini

Consumers are taking stock of their financial health and how it will affect their decisions to make CPG purchases in the coming months.

According to the new first quarter 2016 IRI Consumer Connect survey, 67% of respondents feel their financial health will improve in the next six months. As a result, CPG spending will generally improve, but shoppers have some specific needs and wants to fulfill.

Although Amazon.com recently more than tripled the number of items available via its Amazon Dash buttons and cited some impressive growth statistics, actual use may be relatively low.

According to daily analysis of a panel of more than 4 million online shoppers from digital commerce research firm Slice Intelligence, fewer than 50% of people who had bought a Dash button before Amazon expanded the assortment on March 31 had ever actually made an order using one.

Staples is looking to connect with a key customer segment and improve the productivity of its selling space with a new pilot program involving shared workspace provider Workbar.

Although Amazon.com recently more than tripled the number of items available via its Amazon Dash buttons and cited some impressive growth statistics, actual use may be relatively low.

According to daily analysis of a panel of more than 4 million online shoppers from digital commerce research firm Slice Intelligence, fewer than 50% of people who had bought a Dash button before Amazon expanded the assortment on March 31 had ever actually made an order using one.

Starbucks knows a thing or two about developing business across channels, and on-demand, app-based grocery delivery service Shipt is bringing that expertise in-house.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Shipt has named Joe Manning, former Starbucks director of business and channel development, to lead business development. Shipt is looking to Manning to establish and grow partnerships with grocers and CPG companies as the company expands.

As the notion of channel conflict subsides, consumer packaged goods companies who don’t elevate their digital game are playing to lose and a new study from a two industry leaders shows just how much.

Online retail marketplace Jet.com is making a big move in the home goods market.

Jet.com is purchasing Omaha, Nebraska-based online home products retailer Hayneedle for an undisclosed sum. The sale was announced in tweets on the official Hayneedle Twitter account. In addition, Jet.com founder, chairman and CEO Marc Lore and Hayneedle president and CEO Jon Barker confirmed the acquisition in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald.

Today’s consumer is asking more and more about the food, beverage and consumer products they buy, use and consume. They want to know what is in the product, how to use it and what is in its packaging. They want to know who benefits from the manufacturing and how. And it doesn’t stop there.

The question is how CPG companies can meet this consumer demand when there is no way all of this information would fit on a package label.

Conservative spending behaviors that made 2015 a challenging year for consumer packaged goods companies will remain intact for 2016, according to IRI, but there will be pockets of growth available to those who capitalize on 10 trends.

Some major retailers sharply reduced their use of printed free standing inserts (FSIs) last year but the total dollar value of FSIs still grew to a record $515 billion.

The value of free standing insert (FSI) coupons increased 3.7% in 2015 to $515 billion, according to Kantar Media. However, the number of FSI pages distributed fell 8.1% as marketers cut back on pages that didn’t include a coupon. The number of coupons circulated increased nominally versus the prior year, and combined with higher face value led to growth in dollars circulated.