Brand Profitability Strategy and Driving Demand in 2025

Generating Profit in 2025

Inflation and tariffs are challenges your brand can mitigate with a proper brand profitability strategy

Inflation and rising costs have reshaped the financial landscape for brand manufacturers. Tariffs from the Trump administration on goods manufactured in non-US countries could significantly increase production costs and impact overall brand profitability. These obstacles are compounded by rising labor expenses and a potential overhaul of visa terms, which could disrupt foreign labor availability.

"Tariffs have already caused significant cost impacts as warehouses, inventory, logistics, and sourcing are blowing costs out of the water. Retailers aren’t increasing prices, so they’ll have to move away from that approach. In Canada, the situation is even worse, with health concerns making it harder to justify certain changes. Companies are rescoping prices, finding new sources for goods, stopping production altogether, changing SKUs, sizes, or even putting out inferior products."

- C-Suite Leader at Fortune 1000 CPG Company

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Sucharita Kodali on Retail Resilience

“The truth is people still are shopping, and they're shopping at a higher rate than they've ever shopped before. They're shopping more or less at the rate of inflation. At this point, in some categories, it may be a little bit less like in food. So you do see sectors like grocery. Essentially, when you adjust for inflation, it's a little bit below where it was in the past.”

As inflation in recent history has proved, US consumers will find ways to spend less on what they need, so raising prices is not a viable option for brands. However, other ways exist to combat these increased costs and see continued brand profitability during uncertain times.

Ways to stay ahead of potential cost increases and drive brand profitability:

How to Reduce Costs Without Compromising Value:
- Streamline your product lineup: Focus on high-margin SKUs to simplify production and inventory management.
- Right-size your offerings: Introduce smaller or adjusted product sizes to maintain accessible price points.
- Optimize supply chain efficiency: Reevaluate suppliers, negotiate bulk discounts, or explore alternative fulfillment strategies.
- Leverage data-driven decisions: Use analytics to identify cost-saving opportunities in marketing, logistics, and inventory.

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Sucharita Kodali on Retail Resilience

“Since 2016, there has been a lot of diversification and movement to expand the supply chain anyway. Between that, the first Trump presidency, and the pandemic, we have had more of an understanding of supply chain shocks and how to insulate yourself from that through diversifying supply chains or suppliers.”

Driving Demand That Converts to Volume Sales

Data Privacy, Retail Media, and Full-Funnel Engagement:
A Balancing Act

The cookieless internet and evolving privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA have reshaped the digital advertising ecosystem. According to eMarketer, these changes have made retail media indispensable for brand manufacturers.

Retail Media vs National Media: How and When to Use Both

Retail media spending accounts for up to 65 percent of total media budgets, yet many brands struggle to see proportional volume growth. Retail Media converts an existing audience, already driven to the retailer. Meanwhile, national media helps generate net new customers. It is important for brands to implement both to engage shoppers at every step of the buyer journey.

Use a full-funnel marketing approach

Combine national digital campaigns with retail media to drive awareness and conversion simultaneously. Using a software solution like MikMak, brands can implement shoppable media content on all platforms, including retail media, national media, brand websites, and various other touchpoints where shoppers may be looking for or discovering your products.

Media	Retail Media

Brand Websites	Shoppable Recipes

Enable Where to Buy Commerce Across All Media and Websites with MikMak

Enable commerce everywhere your shoppers spend time. Premium consumer shopping experiences create a seamless path to checkout at any retailer, from anywhere across your entire media mix, including social media, retail media, programmatic, paid search, CTV, video, email, and brand.com. Utilize shoppable landing pages to enhance visibility and drive sales. Implement where to buy solutions and in-stock product locator tools to help customers quickly find where to purchase your products.

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First-party data can help audience targeting despite privacy changes

Partnering with an analytics platform like MikMak helps your brand access valuable first-party data. While navigating the cookieless web, this data can improve audience targeting, show how consumers engage with your content, and measure your brand’s overall campaign ROI.

MikMak Insights

Exclusive first-party consumer insights and multichannel analytics help brands develop and apply eCommerce strategies that work, with a complete understanding of consumers' online behavior and preferences.

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Stay close to your retailers

Strong first-party data can also help strengthen your retailer partnerships. Work closely with retailers to gain insights and optimize shopper engagement.

MikMak x TrackStreet

The integration of MikMak and TrackStreet provides unmatched visibility and scale by linking MikMak’s store locator connections with nearly 10,000 retailers to TrackStreet’s monitoring of 165,000 websites and marketplaces. Brands gain access to data insights that drill down to the category and UPC level, supporting data-driven decisions that strengthen retailer relationships, improve campaign performance, and enhance omnichannel strategy.

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Fostering consumer loyalty

Prioritize and communicate your product’s value to stand out in a bifurcated market

In the face of economic turbulence and a possible recession, consumers are increasingly discerning about value, gravitating toward either ultra-premium or budget-friendly products. Brands must tailor their profitability strategies to align with these preferences.

What can your brand do to stand out?

Position your products as the best solution to your consumers’ problems
- Highlight the quality and unique benefits of your products to engage shoppers when they’re most likely to buy.
- According to Profitero, nearly 70 percent of US consumers check online reviews before making in-store purchases. Encourage consumer engagement and reviews to show the value of your product.
Adopt a social-first approach
- Social media continues to drive product discovery, with 97 percent of Gen Z relying on it for inspiration. Get your product seen by building your online presence through influencers and digital campaigns to create initial traction. For more information on maximizing your influencer marketing ROI, check out our recent eBook.
Win online and see success in-store
- Demonstrate online success to earn shelf space in brick-and-mortar stores.

“Understanding where consumers prefer to shop, and leveraging that data, is invaluable in tailoring our approach.”

- Carolyn Nephew, Reckitt

MikMak’s Predictions for 2025

Successful brands will streamline their portfolios and reduce SKUs

Fewer SKUs will dominate portfolios as brands focus on their most profitable and demand-driven products. Leveraging data with a partner like MikMak to understand consumer preferences is critical to long-term brand profitability.

Brands with validated online success will be seen as the best option for retailers to carry in-store

Emerging brands will need to prove their online performance before gaining retailer support. Demonstrating demand generation through platforms like MikMak will be essential for success.

Brands with robust, full-funnel media strategies will last through economic uncertainty

Brands must efficiently combine retail media and national digital campaigns to create seamless shopper experiences. This includes leveraging first-party data to target qualified audiences.

Understanding the consumer is critical to brand success

Leveraging platforms like MikMak to understand consumer preferences and the impact of your campaigns enables your brand to remain agile and responsive.

Learn how to drive demand and boost brand profitability by enabling shoppable media and collecting first-party data. Schedule a demo with MikMak today.

The 2025 Brand Profitability Game Plan

Tackling Tariffs, Driving Demand, and Fostering Consumer Loyalty

Inflation and tariffs are challenges your brand can mitigate with a proper brand profitability strategy

Ways to stay ahead of potential cost increases and drive brand profitability:

Data Privacy, Retail Media, and Full-Funnel Engagement:
A Balancing Act