MVP in FMCG: Pros and Cons

In IT startups, everyone already knows the term MVP, but in FMCG it sounds pretty unfamiliar. In software, MVP is when you launch an app with three buttons, watch user reactions, then polish the features. In FMCG such a trick won’t fly: nobody will buy a “raw product,” but still, the MVP paradigm does exist in FMCG.

But what does MVP in FMCG really mean. Well… you don’t launch “nationwide” right away, but just in one region, one channel, or even one “community” — then watch whether the product survives or dies. Indeed, it bears a striking resemblance to the concept of the test product that was initially introduced into the test market.

LaCroix and other beverages on 2025 Russia–United States Summit

As a case study: let’s say we decided to launch flavored sparkling water LaCroix style — no sugar, no calories. Trendy, but yeah, the market is overcrowded. What are we gonna do?

First, let’s define key metrics:

• Weighted Distribution — how many stores actually sell the product.
• Offtake or Sell-out — the amount of goods purchased during a given period.
• Repeat Rate — how many people came back and bought again. The most honest MVP metric.
• Share of Shelf — the percentage of shelf space allocated to a product within a specific category.
• And EBITDA. In FMCG it’s calculated simply:

Revenue = Price × Volume

Minus COGS (raw materials, production)

Minus trade marketing (listing, discounts, promotions)

Minus marketing costs

Minus OPEX

= EBITDA

Now two scenarios emerge: go into profit “right now” or “burn money for growth.”

1. don’t panic — it’s ORGANIC…

• Minimum marketing
• EBITDA in the black from day one (10–15%)
• But the brand stays in a niche

2. Aggressive

• Marketing up to 30–35% of revenue
• First 3–4 years in the red (-20% EBITDA and worse)
• But by year 5 the brand is visible, you can even push out the mastodons

Alright, what to do if there’s no budget? My answer:

1. Guerrilla Marketing 2.0 Memes, Reddit posts, TikTok challenges, collaborations with local communities and micro-bloggers (no money for big ones and honestly you don’t need them). Here you need wild and unbridled creativity, not from an agency.
2. Collabs Joint promotions with fitness clubs, barbershops, delivery services, even with other brands.
3. Community Local events: rooftop yoga, mini-concerts, mini-festivals. Targeted. People are ready to take “free product,” just don’t go “oh you have less than 10,000 visitors, so you’re not interesting to us.” You need events for 100–200 people, where you can show up yourself and talk about the product.
4. Brand Face A brand with a face is better than “I don’t know who’s responsible for this.” As I wrote in the previous point, a bold brand owner (brand manager) will come to yoga themselves and tell about their product.

Small clarification and question: is your ocean blue… or red?

For reference, Red Bull “blew up” the market because it entered a “blue ocean”, same LaCroix — flavored water without sugar and calories in trendy Instagram-worthy packaging, when all around were just colas and sprites.

Today repeating such a trick is harder: the ocean has long “turned red.” But the principles are the same:

• Either you invent a new subcategory (like “soda with nootropics”),
• Or you find a new audience (like “soda for gamers”),
• Or you offer a new channel or different way to buy (“subscription,” HoReCa + fitness only, etc).

One more thing: MVP doesn’t equate to “quiet launch”

It’s important to understand the difference. The “Slow burn” strategy can turn into “ashes” if the product sits on the shelf and nobody notices it. The second chance will cost 10 times more.

The right MVP in FMCG is small coverage and a bright flash. Only this way and in this combination. Maybe just 100 stores, but in them:

• Dense shelf placement,
• Local promos,
• “Wow” effect from packaging,
• And real data on repeat purchases

Time to wrap up

MVP in FMCG exists and the main task is to prove product viability.

But you have to understand that in software MVP costs a couple weeks of coding, and with AI nowadays — just a couple days. In beverages MVP is 3–4 months of painstaking work, a ton of nerves, and if it suddenly doesn’t work out, then sometimes almost as much money and resources to collect expired goods from shelves.

However, if the brand survived the entry phase — then you can scale. But that’s for next time.