The big brands are introducing more products but they aren’t producing many big successes. The Nielsen company analysed 8,650 fast moving goods product launches from six European countries—the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey—for its 2015 Breakthrough Innovation Report. It found that just 18 products, 0.2%, had met its criteria of achieving first year sales of a least 10m euros and maintain at least 90% of first year sales in year two, in at least one of the six markets.
Despite this low hit rate, the rate of new product development appears to be increasing. The report looks at 17 categories in the UK, France, Italy and Spain and identified 18,958 new SKUs in 2014, up from 17,080 in 2011. Half of Nielsen’s Breakthrough Innovation Winners are household or health and personal care products. Of the nine food and drink products, six are soft drinks, alcohol or coffee, leaving just three food products.
