FMCG – Where does the future lie?
Food and beverage (FMCG) has always been a challenging business sector and category.
But also one of the most rewarding as food is essential to life, and can give people so much pleasure and satisfaction.
But the future of FMCGs is also very complex, and becoming more so. Increased complexity demands more relevant data to monitor and manage your food or beverage business.
There’s a range of challenges and issues to understand and where the future of FMCGs lies
“Fast moving” is becoming “faster moving”
As social media accelerates the rate of change in consumer awareness and tastes, the future of FMCGs is changing and food and beverage businesses need:
- More accurate predictions and demand forecasting
- Social listening across channels and media
- Enhanced new product development processes
- Personalised service and customer experiences
To effectively manage these, you need to reduce reliance on spreadsheets and enhance sales forecasting through superior data collection management and analysis.
Changing consumer tastes
- Ethnic cuisines
- Meat free
- Veganism
Greater concern about health issues
- Allergies and food intolerances
- Diabetes
- Obesity
More attention to nutritional value of foods (sugar, fat, gluten).
Emergence of functional foods or food supplements.
No preservatives- as ”natural” as possible (yet still durable through the distribution channels).
More diverse distribution channels
From the trend back to traditional face to face farmers markets, to the rapidly growing e commerce channel for food.
The relentless demand for convenience – ready made meals (led in NZ by My Food Bag) and the “Uberisation” of food.
Sustainability
Food growers and makers must not only be seen to have a sustainable business, but also “walk the talk”. From the impact on the land, through waste minimisation in production and recyclable packaging.
Provenance
Now more than ever, consumers want to know where their food comes from, how it was raised, grown and made.
This is also pushing a growing preference for organic foods.
Traceability
A growing consumer cynicism about the processes is creating a need to monitor from end to end. More data to collect, analyse and monitor. New technology must be understood and harnessed – IoT, AI, and Blockchain.
Health and Safety
And of course, the sector is dealing with human wellbeing and potential harm to their health, so food health and safety is critical. Managing product recalls is critical and demands high quality data tools.
And now in the COVID era this has been exacerbated and is hyper critical.
There is a continual move to optimise the food regulatory landscape.
A strategy to manage these challenges in FMCG
For those managing a food business, you need a lot more data to keep your finger on the pulse of changes in the FMCG sector and your business.
And you need new tools to help manage the growing complexity.
Adopt a data-driven approach by using modern analytics tools.
These tools allow you to create a data warehouse full of customisable dashboards and key metrics. With these insights, you can make more informed decisions and be better prepared for changes in demand.
By the use of this technology, you can greatly reduce the complexity, risk, and uncertainty of food production and marketing.
The combination of these new age technologies will help build a digital ecosystem that can help you meet market demand in a profitable manner and build a more competitive company.
Smetric Insights can help you meet these challenges with our experience and expert knowledge and advice. Our customisable dashboards will change the way you manage your business, make it more efficient and more profitable.
If you’d like more information on how Smetric Insights can help your FMCG business utilise data analytics to stay informed and competitive, please get in touch with the Smetric team.