In this episode of In With the New, Avril Tomlin-Hood welcomes Jessica Malach, VP of Marketing and Insights at Social Nature, to discuss how plant-based CPG brands can drive in-store discovery and acquire new shoppers.
33 minutes | May 10, 2023
Jessica Malach is the VP of Marketing and Insights at Social Nature, a product discovery and trial platform powered by almost 1 million shoppers. She leads their United States and Canadian consumer insights and brand partner programs.
Jessica began her career in the natural health industry in 2004, leading company growth strategies with senior roles at Alive Publishing Group, Vega marketing team prior to a $550 million USD exit, Bullfrog Power renewable energy company, and Pinto product data and personalization tech provider recently acquired by SPINS. She is passionate about sharing knowledge with the industry and has been a contributing speaker on marketing and consumer health trends to Strategy Magazine, Natural Foods Merchandiser, Whole Foods Magazine, Nosh, Plant Based Foods Association, Canadian Health Food Association, and the Canadian Securities Exchange.
Natural and plant-based alternatives continue to gain market share due to shifting consumer behaviors, improvements in product variety and flavour, and increased investment driving innovation and competition. More than 52% of U.S. consumers purchase plant-based foods, often for their health benefits. Despite these trends, more than 70% of new plant-based CPG product launches fail as brands struggle to gain discovery on the shelves, especially in retailers such as Sprouts and Whole Foods. Without sufficient customer demand and consistent sales, products will be delisted to make room for the many new products competing for shelf space. So how can you amplify product and brand awareness to drive sales?
According to Jessica Malach, monopolizing retail shelf space requires brands to recognize key sales factors and consumer demands. Social Nature connects emerging plant-based brands with an audience of over one million health & wellness shoppers, driving product discovery by allowing customers to sample the product off the shelf at their local grocer. Their online platform then collects feedback from these customers – a vast improvement over traditional in-store product demonstrations which can provide limited or inaccurate data. By merging online and offline engagement methods, Social Nature can acquire feedback at scale, providing comprehensive consumer data for brands.