Restoring Margin Without Breaking Volume

Challenge

After a period of sustained inflation, price increases across the category had become harder to land. While costs had structurally increased, pricing in the market was normalizing again, creating a gap between margin needs and what retailers were willing to accept.

For Lindemans, this translated into a clear issue: margins had eroded over recent years, and further price increases risked triggering volume decline, putting additional pressure on profitability.

We were brought in to define a margin recovery plan, balancing price, volume, and promotional intensity.

Solution

We anchored the work in Falcon’s Pricing Framework, starting from a clear view on required margin recovery, and translating this into concrete pricing guidance grounded on historic margin, cost evolution and market positioning. This avoided blanket increases and allowed for differentiated, defendable price moves across customers and products.

At the same time, we addressed the main trade off: price versus volume. Instead of relying on frequent promotions to sustain volume, we redesigned the promotional approach to focus on fewer, more impactful activations, improving return on investment while supporting distribution and visibility in key moments.

This allowed the team to protect price where it mattered, while still driving volume through targeted commercial pressure.

Finally, we translated the strategy into a clear trade story and negotiation framework, equipping the commercial team with concrete arguments and boundaries to confidently land increases in a more resistant market environment.

Results

Margins were structurally improved without triggering the expected volume decline, by restoring discipline in both pricing and promotions. Pricing decisions are now grounded in cost, value, and customer dynamics, while promotions have shifted from frequent support to fewer, high impact activations with clear return expectations. Commercial teams operate with clear guardrails and a consistent negotiation logic, enabling a more assertive and aligned approach across key accounts.

You can read more about our framework on our insights page: https://www.falcon-consulting.be/post/a-framework-for-smarter-price-increases