The credit crunch has replaced 9/11 as the excuse for everything. So how are we to view the delisting of Müller's One a Day? (p4, p56)
It was a nice product: on trend, ticking lots of boxes, such as health and convenience. And in less than a year, sales exceeded £12m. By most standards for new launches, that would be considered a triumph.
Yet it was hampered by two plagues of modern grocery. The first was promotional indigestion. Every time it went on promotion, value sales went up. When it went off promotion the first time, it managed to cling on to some of the sales gain. The second time it was not so lucky. So what happened?
Its failure looks indelibly linked to its price, with a four-pack of yoghurts rising 15% from £1.99 to £2.29 as a result of the increase in commodity prices, notably dairy, almost as soon as it was launched. So credit to Müller for securing a price increase, but ultimately it looks like a pyrrhic victory.
With the credit crunch has come consumer caution, and taking One a Day past the psychological £2 barrier inevitably dented its appeal.
But the other plague it succumbed to is short-termism. Many of the biggest launches of the past decade wouldn't be around if they had been pulled after such a short period.
Consider Tropicana. Back in 1996, when it was owned by Seagram, they considered pulling it. To have done so then would have been a bit like not signing the Beatles, or turning down JK Rowling's little wizard. I'm not saying One a Day would have been that big, but if products have only six months to prove themselves, innovation will be reduced to new flavours, pack designs and limited editions. And how enterprising is that?
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