BOULDER, COLO. — The management team of the Hain Celestial Group will unveil its “Hain reimagined” go-to-market strategy at the company’s Sept. 13 investor day. But executives gave hints of what it will entail during an Aug. 24 earnings call to discuss fiscal 2023 results. The bottom line — expect stock-keeping unit (SKU) rationalization, and efforts to get the company’s products in more points of distribution.

“In terms of SKU rationalization, this should be a regular part of how we run the business, to be honest,” said Wendy P. Davidson, president and chief executive officer, during the call. “Every one of our brand managers, every one of our portfolio leads (and) every one of the market leads should be looking at the assortment of SKUs that they have and make sure that it is the hardest working assortment of SKUs …

“We don't want to launch innovation just for the sake of innovation. It has to be truly incremental to the brand and incremental to the category so we can go to a retailer, justify the space and use innovation to create greater brand awareness back to the core and it’s an incremental sale, not just swapping out sales for sales.”

During the fourth quarter, the company rationalized a European non-dairy brand and reduced the number of SKUs by nearly half.

“These efforts resulted in a highly productive core, which is now seeing double-digit growth and increased velocity, a win for both Hain and our retail partners,” Ms. Davidson said.

Enhancing and executing against away-from-home opportunities is another priority for the company.

“We believe there is a significant opportunity for our brands outside of traditional retail and on-the-go consumption occasions within c-stores (convenience stores), airports, offices and universities, amongst others,” Ms. Davidson said. “These immediate consumption channels drive brand reach and visibility and are both price and margin accretive, that shoppers are willing to pay more for convenience.”

Brands seen gaining additional distribution in the away-from-home channel include Celestial Seasonings teas, Greek Gods yogurt and such snack brands as Garden Veggie and Terra.

“Our portfolio is well positioned to take share in this channel, particularly our snacks and tea brands,” Ms. Davidson said. “Bagged tea is one of the fastest-growing beverages in foodservice, and we are seeing consumers adding to their morning and evening routines with snacking occasions away from home.

“We are enhancing our away-from-home capability and our go-to-market strategy as it requires a very unique sales process and a distinctive and focused sales model, different than that used for traditional retail channels.”

For the year ended June 30, the Hain Celestial Group recorded a loss of $116.5 million, an unfavorable result when compared with fiscal 2022 when the company earned $77.9 million, equal to 84¢ per share on the common stock.

Annual sales fell to $1.8 billion from $1.89 billion the year before.

A key item affecting profitability was a third quarter non-cash impairment charge of $175.5 million related to the company’s 2022 acquisition of the Parmcrisps and Thinster brands.

In North America, sales fell 2% to $1.14 billion when compared with fiscal 2022. Segment gross profit rose 1% to $262.5 million from $259.5 million the year prior. Items affecting profitability included pricing and productivity, according to the company.