About Ed Soehnel

I build FUTURE-PROOF COMPANIES designed to thrive in the decades ahead, leveraging my skills as a LEADING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIST, BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATOR and EXPONENTIAL GROWTH STRATEGIST in the DTC, B2C, B2B2C and consumer product industry. More about me here.

What are the top KPIs for CPG companies?

2018-12-08T14:02:14-07:00By |Categories: Downloads, Finance|Tags: , |

The KPIs for CPG  depend on the channels sold. If sold direct-to-consumer, the top metrics I track include: Marketing spend; Message engagement rates (email, social views, social shares, hashtags, etc); Click throughs; Conversions; Average Order Value; Cost per click; Cost per visitor; Cost per order; Cart abandon rate; Cancels/Declines/Returns rates; Return on advertising spend (ROAS) [...]

Comments Off on What are the top KPIs for CPG companies?

How do I get my products into retailers like Nordstroms, Barneys, and Independent Shops?

2016-04-08T20:28:30-06:00By |Categories: Resellers|Tags: , |

This is a Quora question and here is my answer. Here is a general list of requirements before approaching retail: Have a unique and differentiated product, enough to capture consumer attention. Have prior sales history, either online or in smaller retailers to prove your product(s) and brand will sell. Have marketing support to help build [...]

Comments Off on How do I get my products into retailers like Nordstroms, Barneys, and Independent Shops?

Why you should ditch customer surveys and what to do instead to get product feedback

2019-12-21T08:49:45-07:00By |Categories: Product Development|Tags: , |

I am not a big fan of surveys, for the following reasons: Customers don't want to say what they really feel because it may reveal their deep biases that they are reluctant to share with anyone; They don't want to be seen as wrong; They don't want to be seen as ill-informed; Customers don't want to hurt [...]

Comments Off on Why you should ditch customer surveys and what to do instead to get product feedback

How Facebook’s Reactions Is a Huge Step Forward in Marketing

2019-12-21T16:07:50-07:00By |Categories: Marketing|Tags: , , |

Here's why I think Facebook's Reactions is so impactful. Marketing is ultimately about the marketer having an emotional impact on the customer, or buyer.  We humans purchase and make decisions based on emotions much more than on logic. The ability for subscribers to now categorize a Facebook post by emotion let's Facebook know more about [...]

Comments Off on How Facebook’s Reactions Is a Huge Step Forward in Marketing

What are the barriers to entry for CPG companies?

2019-08-20T16:33:59-06:00By |Categories: Strategy|Tags: |

This is a Quora question: Brands and Branding: What are the barriers to entry for CPG companies (Food, HPC)? What prevents new on-trend brands ("better for you") from displacing established brands? My answer is as follows. There are two key reasons, from my perspective. Brands that come up with new products with small improvements over [...]

Comments Off on What are the barriers to entry for CPG companies?

What are good margins and markup for a food business?

2019-12-22T06:15:02-07:00By |Categories: Finance|Tags: , |

Markup depends on the retail channel in which you sell. Specialty/natural channels run 50-65%, drug is 45%, grocery is 35%, mass is 30%, and club is 14%. If you sell direct to consumers, then the anchor price on a single unit of your product would equal that specialty/natural channel price. In my experience and opinion, [...]

Comments Off on What are good margins and markup for a food business?

What are the profit margins on plastic storage containers?

2019-12-26T06:00:27-07:00By |Categories: Finance|

This is a Quora question.  This is my answer. The general goal in consumer products is 20% EBITDA (earnings before interest and taxes) profit margins. But these are commodity products and the category is probably competitive, so it's possible EBITDA is less, may 10%-15%. Cost of Good Sold (COGS) on a product like this is [...]

Comments Off on What are the profit margins on plastic storage containers?

What are a few up-and-coming CPG startups in the US? Is there a list or organization of any kind for CPG startups vs the well-established guys?

2019-12-21T06:07:20-07:00By |Categories: Strategy|Tags: |

This is a Quora question.  My answer is as follows. AngelList and http://F6s.com have fairly comprehensive lists of startups. Although more heavily weighted towards tech, you will still find CPG's. https://www.f6s.com/programs looks like it has a comprehensive list of accelerator programs that startups can apply to. Some funds are CPG focused and you can go [...]

Comments Off on What are a few up-and-coming CPG startups in the US? Is there a list or organization of any kind for CPG startups vs the well-established guys?

What is the typical margin that a lighting retailer in the US expects from a wholesaler?

2017-05-10T11:47:32-06:00By |Categories: Resellers|Tags: , |

This is a Quora question I was asked and here is my answer. I've never sold lighting products, so can't tell you for sure. But I have sold home improvement and margin in that channel to the mainline (Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, Menards, etc) averages 30-35%. If you are talking a lighting retailer, which I [...]

Comments Off on What is the typical margin that a lighting retailer in the US expects from a wholesaler?

Why am I not getting online sales?

2019-12-28T16:22:32-07:00By |Categories: Marketing|Tags: |

I get this question fairly consistently. And it could be any of a number of issues. But the biggest ones I see come down to the following areas: Product Have you created a "WOW" product that is easily differentiated from the competition that causes customers to make repeat purchases and tell their friends about?  Products [...]

Comments Off on Why am I not getting online sales?

Go to Top