2011 Top 100: The Consumer Goods Registry

Unemployment rates remained high, foreclosures continued and consumer spending stayed conservative in 2010. Overall, the economy still wasn’t looking pretty, but it wasn’t completely ugly either. The results of this year’s Consumer Goods Registry support this notion.

Most of the public consumer goods companies on the Top 100 list made modest sales gains as they plugged along the path toward creating sustainable growth. A few, like Stanley Black & Decker and PVH Corp., leapfrogged the competition with meaningful mergers and acquisitions. Yet, many others were still fighting an uphill battle to reclaim consumer loyalty and market share in a rapidly changing, increasingly global consumer goods market.

On the pages that follow, CGT reveals which companies dominated the consumer goods market across nine consumer goods verticals. We also revisit the top industry headlines of 2010/2011, which will undoubtedly change the competitive landscape of the market going forward.

Here is a breakdown of the rules and guidelines used to determine the players in each category:
 
Company Rank: 2010 annual revenue or the equivalent is used to determine each company’s placement on the Top 100 list and on each vertical-specific list. The financial information on the pages that follow was sourced from annual reports, company Web sites and press releases. Revenue for each company is reported in U.S. dollars. If a company reported revenue in a currency other than U.S. dollars, such as euros or yen, and did not provide the U.S. dollar value in its annual report, then the amount was subject to live exchange rates at press time. Annual sales growth gains and losses are also reported based on information available in the aforementioned sources. The top grower in each category is highlighted on each list.
 
Company Inclusion: Since revenue for most private companies is not reported, the list only includes publicly-traded companies. Thus, well-known companies, like Mars Inc. or SC Johnson, are absent from the ranking.
 
Slicing and Dicing: In the case of holding companies and companies that sell in more than one vertical (PepsiCo, Unilever, Jarden, etc.),  the company is placed in the vertical that accounts for the majority of its sales. For example, the LVMH Group operates in the beverage, health and beauty aid, and retail categories. However, since the majority of its sales come from its fashion and leather goods business, the company appears on the Apparel, Accessories and Footwear list. It is also worth noting that only sales from over-the-counter (OTC) and consumer divisions are considered when ranking companies on the Pharmaceutical list.
 
Mergers, Demergers and Acquisitions: Deals that took place in 2011 were not considered and are not reflected in the rankings. For example, even though Unilever acquired Alberto Culver in October 2011, each company appears on its respective category list because they reported 2010 revenues separately. Mergers and acquisitions that occurred in 2010 or earlier were considered in the ranking.
 
Read on to find out how your company and competitors performed by comparison. Overall, the mix of sales gains and losses will surely be a trend for years to come, hopefully to a lesser extent, as the economy teeter totters and consumer buying behaviors evolve. Here’s hoping that next year’s results look even prettier.