Trade Promotion

WASHINGTON -- According to a study released at the recent Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) Merchandising, Sales and Marketing Conference, outsourcing of sales and marketing functions among CPG manufacturers is estimated to grow 15 percent per year between 2005 and 2008. This growth will be driven by expected shifts from CPG direct sales to agencies, and growth of representation in new product categories, such as naturals and organics, and retail channels. The study further assigns a quantitative value to the current level of outsourcing at $4.2 billion in annual cost savings.

NAPLES, N.Y. -- Dark chocolate currently makes up 33.4 percent of total chocolate candy introductions in the United States - roughly twice the 15.5 percent share that dark chocolate rollouts held for the chocolate candy category just four years ago, according to Datamonitor's Productscan Online database of new products.

NAPLES, N.Y. -- Dark chocolate currently makes up 33.4 percent of total chocolate candy introductions in the United States - roughly twice the 15.5 percent share that dark chocolate rollouts held for the chocolate candy category just four years ago, according to Datamonitor's Productscan Online database of new products.

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. - Retail buyers need to be better prepared for meetings with vendors, according to a new study by consultancy MOHR Access here. Buyers not only often enter into negotiations without clarifying their objectives, the study found, but also become distracted by secondary issues.

WASHINGTON -- The Grocery Manufacturers Association here said yesterday that it has selected New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Consumer & Retail Practice Group to conduct the trade group's tenth annual "Financial Performance Report" of the CPG industry.

NEW YORK -- During the first six months of 2006, Free Standing Insert (FSI) average face value rose 8.6 percent to $1.18 vs. the same period last year, the largest average face value for a half-year period on record, according to "The Marx FSI Trend Report," issued yesterday by Marx Promotion Intelligence, a division of TNS Media Intelligence here.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The National Pork Board (NPB) here said new research shows that pork tenderloin is as lean as skinless chicken breast. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that trimmed, cooked pork tenderloin contains 2.98 grams of fat per three-ounce serving, compared with 3.03 grams of fat in a three-ounce serving of cooked skinless chicken breast, said the NPB.

NEW YORK -- Given their current momentum natural/organic foods ought to grow 63 percent to surpass the $46 billion mark by 2010, according to "Natural and Organic Food and Beverage Industry Trends: Current and Future Patterns in Production, Marketing, Retailing, and Consumer Usage," a new report from market research publisher Packaged Facts here.