Shopper demand
What people actually bought at the shelf.
- Measure
- Sell-through (scanner data)
- Drivers
- Stores × velocity
Consumer goods case interview, from the shelf back to the factory
A consumer goods (CPG) case is about a brand maker that sells to retailers, not straight to shoppers, so its sales depend on how many stores carry the product, how fast it leaves each shelf and how much the maker gives back to retailers in promotions. Separate what shoppers bought from what retailers ordered, then follow the money from list price to net price after trade spend, before you guess at causes. Soreno, an AI voice interview practice app for consulting, investment banking and other finance candidates, has a free growth strategy case you can run with no sign-up, close to the brand growth questions CPG interviews ask, plus full mock cases with scored feedback.
Updated
- Who the client sells to
- Retailers, then shoppers
- Two customers, two sets of numbers
- Volume identity
- Stores × velocity
- Bags sold a week = stores carrying it × units per store per week
- P&G's largest customer
- About 16% of net sales
- Walmart and its affiliates, fiscal 2026, per P&G's 10‑K
- Worked case
- Profit down 88%
- An invented chip maker, every number shown
What changes when the client makes the product, not the store?
A packaged goods company (food, drinks, household and personal care) rarely meets its shoppers. It ships cases to retailers, pays them to promote and display the product, and only then does a shopper pick it off a shelf. So a CPG case has two demand curves in it: what retailers order and what shoppers buy. Most wrong answers mix them up. The four lenses below keep them apart.
Retailer orders
What the client shipped and billed.
- Measure
- Sell-in (shipments)
- Gap to watch
- Retailer stock levels
Net price
What the client keeps per unit after promotions.
- Path
- List price minus trade spend
- Also moves it
- Pack size and mix
Unit cost and brand spend
Ingredients and freight per unit, advertising per year.
- Variable
- Cost of goods per unit
- Fixed
- Advertising, overhead
Worked example: Copperleaf Foods (ours)7 steps
Copperleaf Foods, an invented U.S. maker of kettle chips, saw net sales fall 12.7% this year, from $57.6 million to $50.2 million, even though it won shelf space in a new grocery chain. Operating profit fell from $7.9 million to $0.9 million. The CEO wants to cut the $6 million advertising budget. What is going on, and what should Copperleaf do? Copperleaf, its stores and all of its numbers are made up by Soreno for practice.
Clarify
Which sales number fell?
Ask whether "sales" means shipments billed to retailers or bags shoppers bought, and get both. Copperleaf sells at a list price of $2.50 a bag to retailers. Last year 18,000 stores carried it. This year a new chain added 2,000 more. The goal is to restore last year's operating profit.
Size it
$57.6 million to $50.2 million in net sales
Net sales fell 12.7%. Gross profit fell from $23.9 million to $16.9 million, and with $6 million of advertising and $10 million of other overhead unchanged, operating profit fell from $7.9 million to $0.9 million.
Shoppers vs shipments
Shoppers down 3.7%, shipments down 5.8%
Scanner data show shoppers bought 28.08 million bags last year and 27.04 million this year. Shipments fell further, to 26.44 million, because retailers cut their stock from 4 to 3 weeks of sales: 0.6 million fewer bags sitting in their warehouses. That cut happens once. Next year shipments track shopper sales again unless retailers cut stock further.
Stores × velocity
11.1% more stores, each selling less
Average velocity fell from 30 to 26 bags per store per week. Split it: the new chain's stores sell 17 a week, which is what Copperleaf planned for a new listing, but the 18,000 old stores fell from 30 to 27, down 10%. That is 2.81 million bags a year that shoppers stopped buying where Copperleaf was already on the shelf. This is the real demand problem.
Gross to net
Trade spend from 18% to 24% of gross sales
To win the new chain and defend shelf space, Copperleaf deepened its promotions everywhere. Net price per bag fell from $2.05 to $1.90. Bridge the $7.3 million fall in net sales: shopper volume minus $2.1 million, the retailer stock cut minus $1.2 million, and the higher trade rate minus $4 million. Trade spend is the largest piece.
Test the spend
$4 million of extra trade against $1.1 million from the new chain
The extra trade spend, 6 points on this year's $66.1 million of gross sales, came to $4 million. The new chain sells 1.77 million bags a year, worth $3.4 million in net sales and $1.1 million in gross profit after cost of goods rose from $1.20 to $1.26 a bag. Even if all the extra spend went to winning that chain, it cost more than three times what the chain earns in a year, and it did not stop the old stores from slipping.
Recommend
Fix trade spend and old-store velocity, keep the ads for now
The fall is mostly a pricing and promotion decision plus a one-time stock cut, not an advertising problem. Cost per bag also rose 5%, about $1.6 million of the profit drop, so ask whether that increase will last. Pull trade spend back toward 18% outside the new chain, and keep only promotions that pay back in gross profit. Then find out why the old stores sell 10% less: a cheaper store brand, a lost display, a rival's launch or a price gap after promotions ended. Cutting the $6 million advertising budget would bring profit most of the way back on paper, to $6.9 million against last year's $7.9 million, but advertising is one of the few levers on shopper demand, so test it in a few regions before cutting it everywhere. Next step: velocity and price by retailer and region for the last 52 weeks.
Numbers a brand team runs on8 terms
The vocabulary a CPG interviewer expects you to use. The definitions are ours in plain words, except where a company's own filing is named.
Sell-through
Units shoppers bought
Read from retailers' checkout scanner data. It is the best view of real demand, and it can differ from what the client shipped in the same period.
Sell-in
Units shipped and billed to retailers
What shows up in the client's own sales. Sell-in minus sell-through is the change in retailer stock. A gap between the two is the first thing to check in a sales decline.
Distribution
How many stores carry the product
Counted as stores, or weighted by how much those stores sell, which the industry calls ACV (all-commodity volume) distribution. Gaining distribution adds volume, but new stores usually sell less per store than old ones at first.
Velocity
Units per store per week
Shopper demand where the product is on the shelf. Volume equals distribution times velocity times weeks, the CPG version of stores times sales per store.
Penetration and buy rate
Households × share who buy × purchases × spend
The shopper view of the same sales. A fall in penetration means fewer homes buy at all. A fall in buy rate means the same homes buy less often.
Trade spend
List price to net price
Money paid to retailers for discounts, displays and features. P&G's 10-K lists customer pricing allowances, in-store merchandising funds, advertising and promotional activities and consumer coupons, and records sales net of that spending.
Price, volume, mix
Why net sales moved
P&G's 10-K explains its fiscal 2026 sales change in these parts, plus foreign exchange: more units, higher prices, or a shift toward pricier items.
Organic sales
Growth without deals or currency
P&G defines organic sales growth as sales growth excluding acquisitions, divestitures and foreign exchange. Use the idea in a case when the client has bought a brand or sells abroad.
What P&G's 10-K and BLS addOfficial data
Numbers to hold a CPG case's assumptions against, from Procter & Gamble's 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditures release for 2025, published October 29, 2026. BLS publishes these figures once a year, so from October 2027 check whether it has released 2026 figures before you quote these.
Growth from price
P&G: net sales up 3% to $87.0 billion
P&G's 10-K says fiscal 2026 net sales rose 3%, driven by favorable foreign exchange of 2% and pricing of 1%, with unit volume and mix unchanged. Organic sales rose 1%. A large brand maker can grow on price and currency alone, so always ask for the volume line.
Retailer power
One customer, about 16% of sales
P&G reports that Walmart and its affiliates accounted for about 16% of its net sales in fiscal 2026, 2025 and 2024. When one retailer is that large, its shelf and stock decisions move the maker's results, which is why a CPG case often has a retailer's view inside it.
Shelf risk
Store brands and stock cuts
Among its risks, P&G's 10-K names a key customer cutting the inventory or shelf space it gives P&G's products, for reasons that include more private label offerings. Both show up in a case as lower sell-in or lower velocity.
Food at home
$6,491 per consumer unit a year
BLS puts average 2025 spending on food at home at $6,491 per consumer unit (BLS's survey unit, which we read as roughly a household), across 138 million consumer units. Multiplied together, that is about $895.7 billion a year, our arithmetic and a ceiling for any food-at-home market sizing. Housekeeping supplies were $844 per unit.
Six CPG prompts you are likely to get6 prompts
We wrote these first moves ourselves. Each one picks the split that matters most for that kind of prompt.
Sales decline
Sell-through before sell-in
Compare shopper sales with shipments. If shoppers are flat and shipments fell, look at retailer stock. If shoppers fell, split distribution from velocity, then old stores from new ones.
New product
Trial, repeat and the shelf
Size the households likely to try it, the share who buy again and how often, then ask which retailers will list it and what it replaces on the shelf, including the client's own products.
Price increase
Net price, volume lost, retailer reaction
Work out the gain per unit after trade spend, the volume that could leave for rivals or store brands, and whether retailers pass the increase to shoppers or ask for more promotion money.
Trade promotion
Incremental units, not total units
A promotion's payoff is the extra units it sells over the baseline, minus the discount paid on units that would have sold anyway and any sales pulled forward from the weeks after.
Store brand pressure
Price gap and what the brand stands for
Measure the price gap per unit and how it moved, then whether the brand still earns its premium with shoppers. Matching the store brand's price is rarely the first answer.
Buying a challenger brand
Growth you can't build, at a price you can pay
Ask why the client can't grow the same way itself, what its distribution and buying power would add to the target, and whether the target's shoppers stay once it is owned by a large maker.
Two ways to open the Copperleaf case (ours)2 openings
The same prompt, opened badly and opened well. Both are written by us.
Weak opening
The CEO's question, accepted
"Profit is down 88%, so we need to cut costs. Advertising is $6 million, so cutting it would bring profit most of the way back. I'd also look at overhead." It answers the CEO but never asks what shoppers did, so it may cut the one cost that drives demand.
Strong opening
Two customers, then net price
"Copperleaf added a chain and still lost sales, so I'd like to separate what shoppers bought from what retailers ordered. If shopper sales held up, the drop is in retailer stock or in net price after promotions. If shopper sales fell, I'll split distribution from velocity. I'd hold off on cutting advertising until we know which it is."
Consumer cases on firm and school pages3 sources
What we found on the pages we read on October 31, 2026. McKinsey's Beautify case and Kearney's promotion case sit on our retail page.
McKinsey
Electro-Light, a sports drink launch
One of the practice cases on McKinsey's interviewing page. The client, SuperSoda, is a top-three U.S. beverage producer weighing a lower-sugar electrolyte drink. One question asks what share of the electrolyte drink market it needs to break even, given a price to retailers, a cost per bottle and a fixed launch cost.
McKinsey: Electro-LightL.E.K.
Brewery Profits
On L.E.K.'s interview preparation page: two beer brewers with similar, steadily growing revenues, one with steady profits and one whose profits swing. Why, and what should the second one's CEO do?
L.E.K.: Interview PreparationWharton MBACM
Brand manager mini-cases
A November 2018 guide from Wharton's MBA Career Management office, written for its MBA students, says CPG company interviews typically include mini-cases or business scenarios. Its samples include a brand whose sales are down 20% year over year and the launch of a low-calorie candy bar.
Wharton MBACM: Case Interviews by Industry (2018)
From Procter & Gamble: Form 10-K, fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, BLS: Consumer Expenditures, 2025 (October 29, 2026), McKinsey: Interviewing (practice cases), McKinsey: Electro-Light practice case, L.E.K. Consulting: Interview Preparation and Wharton MBACM: Case Interviews, Guidance by Industry (2018).
What does a strong consumer goods answer show?
Wharton's MBA career office, in its 2018 guide, says CPG mini-cases test functional concepts, knowledge of industry trends, strategic thinking and problem solving. In a consulting case set at a brand maker, these are the signals we listen for.
Two customers kept apart
Naming the retailer and the shopper as separate customers, and asking for sell-through and sell-in before reading any trend.
Volume split the CPG way
Distribution times velocity, and old stores apart from new ones, so a listing win can't hide a demand loss.
Net price, not list price
Following the dollar from list price through trade spend to what the client keeps, and judging a promotion on incremental units.
The shelf around the product
Store brands, rival launches and the retailer's own goals for the category. A brand can lose sales with nothing wrong inside the company.
A fix you can test
One or two levers, the number that would prove them right, and a small trial before a national rollout.
9 consumer goods cases to practice
Every prompt is set at a brand maker or its market. Under each is the first move we would want to hear.
Brand sales and share
Something has moved in the numbers.
A leading shampoo brand has lost five points of market share in two years. What would you look at?
Checks whether share was lost on the shelf (distribution) or at it (velocity), then looks at store brands, rival launches and the price gap after promotions. Practice it, see a model answer
A snack maker's shipments fell 8% last quarter, but retailer scanner data show shopper sales up 1%. What happened?
Reads it as a change in retailer stock and asks which retailers cut inventory and whether the cut is a one-time reset or a lasting change.
A frozen food brand spends a quarter of its gross sales on promotions. Is that too much?
Asks what each promotion adds in incremental units over the baseline, what it pays on units that would have sold anyway, and how rivals spend.
A household cleaning brand plans to raise its price 6%. How would you decide whether to go ahead?
Computes the gain per unit after trade spend, the volume it can afford to lose, and how retailers and the store brand would respond.
Launches and deals
A decision about what to make or buy.
A consumer goods company is deciding whether to launch a premium pet food line. How would you structure the decision?
Sizes the premium segment, then trial and repeat, then asks whether the line takes sales from the company's own pet food and what retailers will give it in shelf space. Practice it, see a model answer
A large food company wants to acquire a plant-based snack startup. Should it?
Asks what the startup's growth rests on, what the buyer's distribution would add, what it costs and whether the startup's shoppers stay once it is owned by a large maker. Practice it, see a model answer
A beverage company wants to sell its drinks directly to consumers online. Is it worth it?
Compares contribution per order after shipping and packing with the margin on the same drinks sold through stores, then the reaction of retailers who carry the brand.
Sizing
Estimates set in household goods.
How many diapers are used in the United States each year?
Builds from births per year, the age range in diapers and changes per day, then checks the result against spending per household. Practice it, see a model answer
Estimate the annual US market for dog food.
Starts from households with dogs, dogs per household and food per dog by size, then multiplies by price per pound, with a split for premium food. Practice it, see a model answer
Where consumer goods answers go wrong
Patterns we hear again and again in practice CPG cases.
Reading shipments as demand
A retailer that trims its stock cuts the client's sales for a quarter while shoppers buy the same amount. Check sell-through first.
Using the shelf price as the client's price
The client sells to the retailer, who adds its own margin. Revenue per unit is the price to the retailer, after trade spend.
Treating trade spend as marketing
Most trade spend is a price cut paid to retailers. It lowers net sales, so a case that ignores it overstates revenue and misreads margin.
Celebrating a distribution win
More stores at lower velocity can mean the brand is spreading thin. Split the gain from new stores from what happened in the old ones.
Cutting advertising to fix one year
It saves money at once and costs demand later. If the case asks you to cut, show what the cut would do to velocity first.
Forgetting the retailer wants something too
Retailers judge a product by what it earns for the category and the shelf space it takes. A plan they won't stock goes nowhere.
Follow the bag from factory to shelf out loud
Soreno's AI interviewer plays the client in a full case. Ask for shipments, scanner data or promotion spend and it shares them, then it questions the split you chose and scores how you did.
Questions people ask
What is a consumer goods case interview?
A case set at a company that makes packaged products such as food, drinks, cleaning or personal care items and sells them through retailers. Common prompts are a sales or share decline, a new product launch, a price increase, trade promotions, store brand pressure and buying a smaller brand.
What is the difference between sell-in and sell-through?
Sell-in is what the client ships and bills to retailers. Sell-through is what shoppers buy at the register. The difference is the change in retailer stock. In a sales decline, check both before you name a cause.
What is trade spend in a CPG case?
Money a maker spends on discounts, displays and features paid to retailers, plus coupons for shoppers. P&G's 10-K records its sales net of trade promotion spending. In a case it is the bridge from list price to net price, and often the biggest lever on margin.
How is a CPG case different from a retail case?
A retail case is set at the store: comparable sales, traffic and basket. A CPG case is set at the maker: distribution, velocity, trade spend and the retailer as a customer. Our retail case guide covers the store side.
What metrics should I know for a consumer goods case?
Sell-in and sell-through, distribution, velocity, household penetration and buy rate, market share, trade spend and net price, price, volume and mix, gross margin and organic sales growth.
Do consulting firms publish consumer goods practice cases?
Some do. On October 31, 2026, McKinsey's interviewing page listed Electro-Light, a sports drink launch for a beverage maker, and L.E.K.'s preparation page included Brewery Profits, about two beer companies with different profit patterns.
Are interviews at CPG companies themselves different?
Often. Wharton's MBA career office wrote in 2018 that CPG company interviews typically include mini-cases or business scenarios, and that brand management interviews add product and marketing questions, such as a brand that is marketed well or poorly.