Monday, March 5, 2012

Competitive Landscape of the Food / Beverage Industry


Benjamin S. Marks

   Stating it bluntly, The F&B industry is competitive, but before talking about how, below is a general landscape of the F&B market:

-           The US alcoholic drinks market generated total revenues of $153.9 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US baby food market generated total revenues of $1.3 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US beer market generated total revenues of $77.6 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.4% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US bottled water market generated total revenues of $17.1 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US confectionery market generated total revenues of $33.8 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.9% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US dairy market generated total revenues of $47.3 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.7% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US frozen food market generated total revenues of $30.6 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US functional drinks market generated total revenues of $17 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.6% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US juices market generated total revenues of $21.4 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.6% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US meat, fish & poultry market generated total revenues of $40.5 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US milk market generated total revenues of $16.8 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.9% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US potato chips market generated total revenues of $4.4 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US savory snacks market generated total revenues of $18.3 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US soft drinks market generated total revenues of $128 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The US spirits market generated total revenues of $45.7 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4% for the period spanning 2005-2009.
-           The United States wine market generated total revenues of $27.5 billion in 2009, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.7% for the period spanning 2005-2009.

   With this information the Food and Beverage market can be seen as one of the larger markets. Additionally this information provides a key statistic, the CAGR (Compound annual Growth Rate). This statistic shows, the growth of that specific portion of the F&B industry, which can help provide investors and other outsiders where the market may grow.


   With growth in a specific part of this market place, there will be an attraction of companies and investors who believe they can make money. This is where the competitive landscape comes into play. The Food and Beverage area is primarily made up of smaller companies. This makes the market very elastic as many companies are going to be targeting similar or the same groups of people.

   As stated before, this market is a very competitive one. Even if you are a bigger player in the market like Kraft or Coke-Cola, you do not run the market. “Nestle, Kraft Foods, Unilever, and Cargill account for less than 5 percent of the overall value of the Industry.” That gives an overwhelming majority to the smaller sized companies. This fact should provide sufficient evidence proving how many players there are in this market and how competitive it is because these are 4 of the top 20 companies (# 1, 3, 18, 20 in 2010 when the above statistic was done).

   Looking into the competitive landscape, there are numerous smaller companies. However, What seems to be the major difference between the larger companies and smaller companies to me is market extension. A bigger the company can sell its goods in more geographical areas, which allows it to appeal to more consumers vs. a small company that is stuck competing for fewer consumers because they cannot fund expansions. This still provides for a competitive market because in every region there is competition for the consumers, but the larger companies can compete in more areas. For instance, a coffee shop can compete with Starbucks just as Starbucks did when it started out, but Starbucks expands globally allowing it to grab more costumers. Ultimately, there is competitiveness everywhere, but the larger companies compete with many smaller companies in different regions of the world.


 Works Cited:



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