In Austria, grocery manufacturers launch 400 new grocery items (including re-branding) and 10,000 beverages each year. Each of the manufacturers invests a great deal of passion, innovative spirit, commitment, know-how and money into the respective product in order to subsequently list it in retail stores.
Over 90% of the newly listed FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) disappear from the market within six months. This is not because of the product itself but because of the lack consumer awareness at the point of sale (POS). In other words, most products lack the correct advertising for the exact target audience.
Retailers like Merkur and Interspar have almost 40,000 items in their product range. Among these, for instance are 76 different types of cereals.
Consumers are often overwhelmed with the choices, and they end up buying the same items as usual 83% of the time.
For Europe, this is estimated to be 30,000 new products a year of which 90% fail and consumers end up with only 3,000 new products that stay on the shelves.
In terms of losses for manufacturers, using the confectionary manufacturer Manner as an example, this means €250,000 investment per product launch multiplied by 27,000 failures is €6.7 billion yearly. This is not much for giant manufacturers but prohibitive for smaller specialty producers such as domestic diary producers (Berglandmilch) or pastry shops (Salzburg Patisserie).
It is true that our core business at Weekend Magazin Wien GmbH is a printed lifestyle magazine. We understand that eventually, the consumers make the decisions, and we want to help brands understand it. Therefore, we constantly look for ways to identify and answer our customers’ needs. This is how the Weekend Shop concept was born. Our media business allowed us to fund the creation of the first Weekend Shop and to make it a success. However, once the business becomes self-sustainable, we intend to spin off the Weekend Shop as a different company. Just as Weekend Magazin Wien GmbH, it will be owned by our family members but operate independently from the other businesses.
