What the Numbers Say About CPG Startups (And Why So Many Still Struggle to Get Noticed)

The CPG industry is booming — but 85% of new brands don't make it past year two. Here's what the data tells us about why emerging brands succeed or fail, and what it takes to break through.

The CPG industry is one of the most exciting — and most unforgiving — places to launch a brand right now.

The global CPG market is currently valued at approximately $2.3 trillion, growing at a rate exceeding 4% annually, and is projected to reach somewhere between $2.8 and $3.4 trillion by 2030. Zappi That's an enormous opportunity. But here's the number that stops most founders in their tracks: roughly 30,000 new CPG brands enter the market every single year, and approximately 85% of them close within their first two years. Zappi

Read that again. 85%.

So what separates the brands that make it from the ones that don't? After years of working with emerging and ambitious brands, I'd argue it comes down to one thing more than any other: knowing where to show up — and having the strategy to back it up.

The Small Brand Advantage Is Real

Here's what's interesting: the data actually favors emerging brands right now, at least in theory. Research from IRI and Boston Consulting Group found that extra-small brands (those under $100 million in sales) gained approximately four sales dollars for every dollar that large legacy brands gained SKU during the same period. Small CPG brands aren't just surviving — in many categories, they're outpacing giants that have been in the game for decades.

Why? Because emerging brands in 2025 tend to have higher digital fluency, faster speed to market, and deeper consumer empathy than their larger competitors. Zappi They're closer to their customers. They can pivot. They're not beholden to a 12-month approval process every time they want to try something new.

That agility is a genuine competitive advantage — if you know how to use it.

What Consumers Actually Want From New Brands

The consumer expectations shaping the CPG landscape right now are worth paying close attention to. Nearly three in four consumers say they reconsider purchases based on ingredient lists, seeking recognizable ingredients and full transparency. Zappi And in a 2025 survey, 54% of shoppers chose products with sustainable packaging in the past six months, with 90% saying they were more likely to purchase from brands using eco-friendly packaging. StartUs Insights

Conscious consumers aren't a niche anymore. They're the mainstream. And emerging brands that build transparency and purpose into their DNA from the beginning have a significant advantage over legacy brands scrambling to retrofit those values onto decades-old products.

The Marketing Problem Nobody Talks About Enough

Here's where most emerging brands hit a wall. The product is great. The mission is clear. The founder is passionate. But the marketing strategy? It's usually an afterthought — or worse, it's borrowed from what a much larger, much better-funded brand did and scaled down.

Too many emerging brands spend precious resources on broad, ineffective awareness campaigns, or erode their margins with unsustainable promotions and incentives. Catalina Without a clear media strategy, even the best product in the world can get lost in a very crowded aisle.

The brands that break through aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones who understand where their specific audience spends their time, and they show up there with intention. They find the white space — the channels and moments their competitors haven't saturated yet — and they plant their flag.

The Opportunity for Emerging Brands Has Never Been Bigger

Despite the odds, the momentum behind emerging CPG brands is undeniable. The US CPG industry alone generates over $900 billion in annual sales, and e-commerce and direct-to-consumer models continue to grow faster than physical retail. Infosys The barriers to entry are lower than ever. The tools to reach a targeted, loyal audience have never been more accessible.

But access to tools isn't the same as knowing how to use them strategically. That's the gap — and it's where brands either invest in the right expertise or find themselves among that sobering 85%.

If you're an emerging CPG brand trying to figure out your next move, I'd love to be a sounding board. It's one of my favorite things to do.