New Products Trump Brand Extensions

More than 1,700 consumer packaged goods brands were launched last year, the largest single-year number in the past decade. Of equal importance, the list of best-selling first-year nonfood CPG products has more “new” brands than in recent years versus what were defined as “extensions,” per a study from Information Resources Inc., Chicago.

Though the 1,700 figure is a fraction of the more than 35,000 CPG shelf-keeping units on the market in 2005, it is the third consecutive year there has been an increase in brand introductions.