𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Centric Software is a Business Reporter client

Today, food, cosmetics and grocery companies are under pressure to respond faster to local demands, trends, inflation, sustainability, regulation and channel fragmentation. The old argument between localisation and globalisation has been settled – both need to happen.

Yet every local adaptation introduces another layer of product complexity – from formulations, specifications and ingredient lists to supplier alternatives, packaging variants, artwork changes, compliance reviews, quality checks, cost and margin impacts and launch timelines. What starts as a simple local adjustment can quickly cascade into complexity.

Ouarda Hamadi, Vice President, Global Head, Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail (CPGR) Business Unit at Centric Software, is well-acquainted with the need for businesses to know what ideas deserve to become products. “The competitive edge is not the ability to create more product variants,” she says. “It is the ability to know which variants deserve to exist.”

This is not news: the statistics often cited are that 75 to 95 per cent of new product introductions fail, depending on the source. The now-famous 95 per cent rate is credited to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, who also coined the term “disruptive innovation” in the mid-to-late 1990s. More recently, a 2025 BCG article puts the new product failure rate at 76 per cent. McKinsey has it pegged at 75 per cent. Even if the true number is closer to 40 to 50 per cent, that still is too much time, effort and money to pour into something that ultimately doesn’t succeed.

CPG companies are not short on product ideas. In fact, they are overwhelmed by them: high-protein; clean labels; locally sourced; new cosmetic shades; skin-specific claims; sustainable packaging; private label ranges; and more. The issue is deciding which of these ideas are feasible with respect to compliance, profitability and scalability, and whether they are worthy of the operational complexity that comes with variety in assortments for local markets.

Gone are the days when limitless product choice for consumers meant luxury. Modern shoppers want curated relevance: the right product, at the right price, in the right channels, with messaging that speaks directly to them – oh, and preferably sourced locally!

What is relevant to consumers? It might be geography, such as a food range built for a specific climate, a cultural or seasonal calendar, or a local price point. It might be audience-led, such as the surge in K-beauty shaped by Gen Z buying behaviour, or the ubiquitous protein-gram buzz that dominates supermarket aisles.

Localisation is governed product variation, not endless assortment expansion

Localisation is now table stakes. “The right questions to be asking are: which elements [of a product] should remain global, which ones can be adapted, which must be local?”, says Hamadi. “Ultimately, which variations create more complexity than value?”

She makes an important point that cannot be emphasised enough – localisation brings complexity. It sets off a series of decisions and actions that need to take place to adapt a product to a new market. Basically, a geographic product decision is really a new product launch that requires the same steps, but with the added caveat of remaining true to the original while adapting to regional flavours, colours, cultures, laws and more.

Some considerations for local variants:

Companies need to change their standard approach from “managing local chaos” to “managing structured variation”.

Connecting product reality with market reality

You might think adding a localised product should be faster than launching a new product. But that isn’t always the case, due to the complexity of meeting local country requirements and having the product wend its way through existing company processes.

That is why having all product information in a single, accessible, digital repository within an AI-powered product lifecycle management platform such as Centric PLMTM, facilitates and brings clarity to potential local variations.

Centric PLM organises the process so that the parts of the original product that need to be retained are retained, but prompts users to check the steps that need attention to adapt to local requirements. Beyond that, a smart PLM platform gives product developers the right data to achieve local variations.

“Sales and shopper data tell what consumers want and where demand is moving,” says Hamadi. “But it is product intelligence that reveals whether companies can respond profitably, in compliance and at speed.” To meet these geographic consumer demands, product variations must be well-researched and take a targeted approach.

For example, a high-protein product may look like a strong market opportunity, but a company still needs to confirm the formula, protein source, nutrition values, allergens, ingredient availability, cost, margin, claims, packaging, country’s regulatory rules, manufacturing sites, shipping and logistics.

In cosmetics, a new shade range or ingredient-led trend may look attractive, but teams must validate formula compliance, INCI, restricted substances, claims substantiation, packaging, testing, local regulations and artwork.

Similarly, for grocery or private label, a local range or pack adaptation depends on supplier capability, specifications, price, margin, quality standards, country of origin, sustainability data, documentation and speed of tendering.

All of the particular considerations factor into the decisions to add new product variants.

Claims governance is central to food, cosmetics and retail sectors

In the food and cosmetics industries, claims are legal and country-specific. “A claim is not simply marketing language or an ad campaign. It is a regulated product decision that must be connected to product data such as formulation, supplier documentation, packaging, and country laws. This means that product data cannot sit in stand-alone or disconnected systems,” Hamadi cautions.

Having this information in spreadsheets or separate systems is inefficient at best, and bears the potential for error, leading to non-compliance with local or national regulations. This puts products at risk for recall and – worse – indeterminable brand-reputation damage.

An end-to-end product lifecycle management solution that integrates seamlessly with other functional solutions to manage formulations, specifications, labelling, nutritional facts, supplier data and certifications, gives companies the security of knowing that critical product information is in a central, reliable and accessible workspace.

“Most localisation failures do not happen at the strategy stage,” Hamadi says. “They happen in the handoff between product data, claims, ingredient labels, packaging and artwork.” This is especially relevant for food, grocery and cosmetics.

By housing all product development steps, from concept through to commercialisation in an AI-powered integrated end-to-end platform such as Centric PLM, teams have the data to inform product development and the tools to decide which products to create, adapt, rationalise, reformulate and launch.

Organising for sustainability

Sustainability is a universally desired product characteristic. “Today, sustainability is a baseline expectation,” Hamadi says. “Consumers, regulators and retail partners are asking tougher questions about ingredients, sourcing and environmental product claims.”

In response, food companies are looking to meet consumer expectations in environmental friendliness. One approach is to offer more plant-based meat-and-dairy alternatives, which requires new formulations, certifications and supplier vetting. In addition, legislation regarding sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is already here.

All of these considerations require adapting to local laws. In the EU, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) has been enacted. Its edicts cover percentages of minimum recycled content, composition (chemical restrictions), packaging weight and volume, compostability and reusability.

Hamadi explains why data is so important in this context. “A company needs accurate product data from concept to shelf, digital content and regulatory review. This is necessary to prove authenticity with respect to sustainability, to consumers and, of course, to follow applicable laws.” A modern PLM platform will organise data and make it accessible for tracking, regulatory and compliance needs.

The choice is not between scale and local relevance. The answer is to build a model where data, product control and local market execution work together.

Right products, right place, right time

Companies must examine their product variations and choose what to bring to market based on real data. Gone are the days of the more, the merrier. The real winners in food, cosmetics and retail will be those that have cleanest logic for managing product variation. And that can be done most effectively with an end-to-end product lifecycle platform such as Centric Software’s PLM and integrated properties.