Who is the best passer in the English Premier League?
Well, if a player passes the ball to a team mate successfully, it is called “pass completion”.
The player with the highest pass completion rate is Manchester City defender, Manuel Akanji. His pass completion rate is 95%.
Now let’s compare that to the outfield player with the lowest pass completion rate. That player is Liverpool full back, Trent Alexander-Arnold. His pass competition rate is 73%.
So, Manuel Akanji is the best passer whilst Trent Alexander-Arnold is the worst passer, right?
Wrong.
Manuel Akanji’s pass completion rate is so high because he is a central defender. He makes lots of short, sideways passes. They are safe. Easy to make and easy to complete.
In contrast, Trent Alexander-Arnold is an attacking full back. He tries lots of longer, forward passes. They are more risky. Harder to make and harder to complete.
But when he does make them they make a real difference. He has the most assists of any defender. He is the only player to rank in the top 25 for through balls, switches and crosses (for non-football fans, that is good!)
Manuel Akanji rarely gives the ball away. But he rarely creates goalscoring opportunities.
Trent Alexander-Arnold often gives the ball away. But he often creates goalscoring chances.
That (probably…) makes him the best passer in the Premier League.
Why are we talking about this? In the FMCG industry we have access to a lot of numbers. Sales. Market share. Shopper KPIs. However, in recent years FMCG brands have focused on one number above all others.
That number is penetration. We’ve all been told that is how brands grow. That bigger brands have higher penetration. So, if you want to grow your brand you need to grow your penetration.
Penetration is important. You will struggle to grow your brand if you don’t grow your shopper base. But if your main (often only…) focus is on penetration then you will do the things that are most likely to grow your penetration. For instance deep price discounts.
This might drive up your penetration figure but might drive down some of your other metrics.
So, what if penetration was the “pass completion” rate of the FMCG world? An important number. But one that doesn’t give you the full picture. What if there are other numbers that are really important to FMCG success?
We think there are. Here are a couple of examples…
How many shoppers buy you MORE THAN ONCE? Many brands focus on annual penetration. The % of shoppers that buy you at least once a year. But if you operate in a category that is bought often, it is pretty easy to get a shopper to buy you once. Run that deep price discount. Shoppers buy you on deal. These shoppers are in your penetration number. It looks good. On the surface.
The problem is that many shoppers stop there. They only buy you once a year. They are a buyer, but they are not real buyers. Your real buyers are shoppers who buy you at least more than once. Often several times a year. When you are not on promotion. Shoppers who appear in your penetration figure AND contribute to your purchase frequency figure.
An obsession with penetration leads to an obsession with getting new buyers. But you don’t just want buyers. You want real buyers.
How many of them do you have?
HOW MUCH OF THEIR SPEND do your shoppers spend with you? Most brands look at the %s of shoppers who are light, medium, heavy buyers. It will likely show you have more light buyers than medium buyers. More medium buyers than heavy buyers. Everyone looks at the slide. They all nod. Then onto the next slide.
But what if you looked at that data in a different way? Asked a different question. How much of their category spend do my buyers spend with my brand? You might pause a bit longer on this slide. The majority of your brand buyers will be spending the majority of their spend elsewhere. Sure, they buy you. But they buy your competition much more often.
An obsession with penetration means you often miss the huge opportunity in spend. You don’t just want buyers, you want loyal buyers. Shoppers who buy you more often than they buy everyone else.
How many of them do you have?
Penetration is a means not an end. You can make each buyer matter much more.
Like a Trent Alexander-Arnold pass.
Feel free to forward. Have a great weekend. Speak to you in a fortnight.