A Retail Gap Ripe for the Picking

Author: Chris Foltz

A man in a suit and sweater is smiling in a black and white photo.

Ingredient companies are grappling with long sales cycles with big brand CPG companies that often lag behind in innovation. This can mean missing fast-moving consumer trends.


Meanwhile, consumers are hungry for functional, efficacious, and affordable products. Yet the traditional path from ingredient to shelf isn’t moving fast enough to meet these demands. This gap presents a huge opportunity for science-backed ingredient companies to rethink their commercialization strategies. 


Now is the time for a new approach—one that emphasizes speed, innovation, and partnership to meet both retailer and consumer needs. The industry needs to move beyond outdated models and find ways to accelerate the journey from ingredient to market, staying ahead of consumer trends while driving growth.


One key trend that could significantly shorten the commercialization process is private label. Retailers are increasingly turning to private label products to bring innovation to shelf more profitably and efficiently, allowing them to meet consumer demand while boosting profitability.


To seize this opportunity, ingredient companies must rethink their role in the commercialization process and embrace private label strategies as a way to accelerate their sales cycles. By doing so, they can not only capitalize on market demand but also move products to consumers faster—meeting the growing hunger for innovation.

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