Unlocking Potential in the CPG Industry: Exploring Growth Opportunities

From 2017 to 2023, the containerboard industry has witnessed an impressive compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.71%. Following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on boosting the e-commerce sector, there has also been a noticeable shift towards promoting sustainability through paper packaging post-pandemic. This transition has also significantly contributed to the continued growth of the containerboard sector.

As a result, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have also experienced a surge in demand, increasing their need for paper packaging. However, despite the consistent consumer demand for CPGs, the sector remains highly competitive. This is primarily due to the saturation of the market and the low cost for consumers to switch their brand loyalties effortlessly.

Opportunities and Improvement for Growth

With the economic landscape facing inflationary pressures over the past 18 months, CPG companies have to carefully consider the decision to pass on any price hikes to their customers. This is because, in an uncertain economy, consumers are unwilling to pay more and will opt for more affordable options. Therefore, CPG companies must explore various avenues to create opportunities and ensure future growth to maintain their competitiveness.

Consumer packaged goods companies can begin their optimization and strategic efforts by focusing on their packaging procurement. This area presents various opportunities for improvement and growth. Opportunities related to packaging include:

• Potential for cost reduction - Understand producers' cost to manufacture to engage in purchasing negotiations and find the most cost-effective producers. 
• Forecast and plan - Predict changes to demand and pricing for key raw materials, in addition to analyzing supply and demand balance by region.
• Work towards sustainability goals - Compare the carbon emissions of different packaging producers to ensure you're partnering with companies who will help you contribute to a low-carbon operation, cradle-to-gate.
• Understand producer viability - Assess the viability risk of different packaging producers to ensure you can form long-term partnerships with healthy, low-risk companies. 

Unlocking Growth Potential with ResourceWise

ResourceWise's business intelligence platform FisherSolve offers an extensive database with comprehensive information on every pulp and paper mill across the globe. This valuable resource provides access to detailed data on packaging producers that can be segmented by region, capacity, and more. With FisherSolve, you can unlock a wealth of high-level insights to support your strategic decision-making in the packaging you purchase.

For instance, utilizing our Cost Benchmarking Module, as illustrated in the visual below, you can analyze manufacturing costs, assess the benefits of integrated supply chains, and track fluctuations in raw material prices. Each bar in the visualization represents a mill, varying in width based on its capacity. This insightful data gives you the leverage needed to enhance your negotiation power.

ResourceWise not only empowers you with negotiation power for long-term agreements, but we can also help CPG companies understand true cost pressures with our RecycledFiber 360 tool. 

Our transaction-based benchmark for recycled fiber prices provides valuable insights into current and past trends in OCC pricing, detailed breakdowns by region and product, as well as comparative analysis. This information is essential for making well-informed, strategic, operational, and tactical decisions.

With ResourceWise's market intelligence tools, you gain an advantage in the market by having access to unique insights and technical capabilities that other companies in the consumer packaged goods space may not possess. For example, you can analyze the gap between modeled basis weight and calculated burst strength, enabling you to identify high-performing machines and anticipate the future demand for lower-weight corrugated boxes.

By harnessing such specific and crucial data, along with our exceptional consulting services, participants throughout the CPG value chain can position themselves for success in this dynamic industry. To learn more about how FisherSolve can benefit your company, explore our solutions page.

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