In the age of participation trophies, effort is usually enough to make kids feel like winners. Unfortunately, young beverage brands aren’t afforded this luxury. For consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, if they’re not growing, they’re not “winning.” According to a new e-report by Affinnova, a product’s success or failure in the market has a lot to do with its package design.

The global marketing technology company called out studies by MeadWestvaco Corp., which stated that 64 percent of shoppers try a new product because the packaging catches their eye; 41 percent of shoppers make repeat purchases because of a product’s packaging; and 36 percent of purchase decisions are driven by packaging, which is more than TV advertising, digital advertising or peer recommendations. It also reported that advertising now drives only 8 percent of in-store grocery purchases, according to a CPGmatters e-zine article.

In the May 2014 issue of Beverage Industry, 4sight Inc. President Stuart Leslie also emphasized the importance of packaging design, especially in the beverage industry, which has experienced an increasing proliferation of SKUs across most categories. Pamela Long, partner and director of client services for Little Big Brands, even shared in the article that the beverage industry boasts some of the most crowded aisles in which the firm works.

 Despite these challenges, a number of new products show each year that they have what it takes to compete on the shelf. In this issue’s New Product Development supplement, Lemonic ready-to-pour liqueur demonstrates how it was able to make its way into retail stores and resonate with shoppers. Learn how the company worked to develop the name and package design for its product from scratch and how that has paid off for the brand on page 6 of the supplement.