Sales are falling. Market share is declining. Consumers are switching to Own Brands. The data tells the story clearly—and you see the trend week after week.
So, you dig deeper. You pore over the numbers, analyse verbatims from consumer surveys, scroll through social media comments. There’s so much data available—surely the answer must be in there somewhere?
But while all this data gives you a clear, detailed picture of what is happening, it doesn’t tell you why. Consumer comments may offer hints, but they’re often vague or superficial—“price difference,” “quality gap is closing”…
With your experience and market knowledge, you may feel confident enough to act—maybe test a few changes, or roll out improvements quickly to get ahead of competitors. But here’s the catch: your competitors have access to the same quantitative data and likely the same consumer comments. If they’re reacting to this data too, chances are they’ll make the same decisions and do much the same things.
And maybe that feels like the safest path. The logical thing to do. No surprises, no blame. If the situation doesn’t improve, you can point to the economy, to the aggressiveness of the private label Brands. You did what everyone else did—your actions were reasonable.
But playing it safe won’t help you win.
The alternative is to go deeper. To uncover the real reasons behind declining sales. Yes, the economy plays a role. Yes, Own Brands are becoming more aggressive. But what can you do to make consumers think twice before switching?
Why are they switching in your category but not in another? What would make your product worth the extra spend—for your consumers?
The big data shows what’s happening. But to act effectively—and to outmanoeuvre your competition—you need to understand the why. And not just how to improve your offering, but how to improve it in the eyes of the consumer. How to make your brand not just better, but more desirable than the Private Label Brand—and your branded competitors.
That desirability—that perceived value—is emotional.
Consumers don’t perform in-depth analyses when shopping. They don’t weigh up product specs and cost-benefit ratios. They make intuitive, fast decisions. They simply pick something up and put it in their basket. As Daniel Kahneman described, these are System 1 decisions—automatic, emotional, and instinctive—not the deliberate, effortful System 2 kind.
To compete effectively, you need to win on this intuitive, emotional level. And to do that, you must understand the consumer’s emotional journey with your product. It’s not just about how the product makes them feel at the end – most fizzy drinks are refreshing. What differentiates your brand is the way it delivers that emotion—the journey it takes consumers on from first contact to post-consumption.
When you map that emotional journey—and understand how each product feature, and the sequence of features, contributes to it—you unlock the key to real differentiation.
You can then make precise tweaks to your product to optimise the emotional experience. You can refine your communications to highlight those product features that drive the emotional response you want—and help your brand stand out.
When you understand how your product makes consumers feel, you begin to see how to increase its perceived value. You’ll understand why they might choose your brand over a cheaper Own Label option.
And once you unlock that emotional advantage, you can reverse the trend. You can grow market share—even in today’s challenging environment.
