This CPG Brand Hit $3.3 Million A Month In 2021. In 2026 They Shrank By 94% And Lost It All To ██████!

This CPG brand hit $3.3 million a month in 2021.

By 2026 they were down to $200,000 a month.

A 94% drop in revenue.

They made millions and then lost it all to churn.
(Yes, clickbait over. ██████ = “churn”)

Someone I know purchased the brand for peanuts, aiming to turn things around.

I sat down with the new owner to run an appraisal of the brand. We pulled up the cohort data live on the call.

They were sitting on over one million ex-customers!

Gosh … A MASSIVE graveyard of lost potential.

So, why did they shrink by 94% in just a few years?

The answer is quite shocking – I’m not even clickbaiting you. Their downfall was because of …

Too efficient marketing?!

YES.

Their early growth was fueled by a novel SMS ordering system and influencer hype. It was a marketing innovation that brought them a million customers. Back when the actual CAC was much smaller than today.

But while everyone was drinking the marketing and acquisition kool-aid, they forgot to look at the heart of the business:

A broken offer, a mediocre product, and a non-existent retention system can turn ANY hyped brand into a graveyard of a million ex-customers.

⚑ The appraisal data showed a sharp retention drop after a strong start, with a ton of “accidental renewals.”

⚑ The offer relied on a ‘build your own box’ experience, which wasn’t suited for the brand.

⚑ No onboarding, habit creation, or communication after the first order.

⚑ While marketing was innovative, the product was “nothing special” (according to many reviews I found out.)

My takeaway? You can’t scale a brand without the fundamentals being in place:

"What are we doing now?" asked the new owner.

Here's the path I laid out:

▶︎ Shift entirely to a subscription-first model. It’s still a CPG brand, after all.

▶︎ Remove OTP & free trials. They attract low-intent buyers who never return.

▶︎ Drop the confusing build-your-own-box offer. Test various starter kit options and go with the one that drives the most Month 2 & 3 orders.

▶︎ Offer multi-month bundles on the PDP, in-checkout, and 'thank you' page. They make more sense for facilitating gradual, long-term engagement.

▶︎ Install a post-purchase onboarding & education system. NO to heavy discounts, YES to a fun, gamified experience that builds a habit before the second box arrives.

Now, what does this mean for you?

If the product, offer, and retention system do not build a habit, you just delay the inevitable.