Consumer Goods

In an increasingly volatile marketplace, consumer goods companies are facing increased pressure from competitors and trading partners as well as even more demanding consumers.

Key trends:

• Global Operating Model agility
  Business agility is the key characteristic required to rapidly adapt and respond to changing market conditions, diverse consumer needs, and increasing market volatility. A flexible supply chain and excellence in execution will differentiate the winners


• Consumer goods companies losing brand loyalty to private labels
  Increasingly ‘value-conscious’ consumers are defecting to cheaper, private label products as an abundance of promotions and undifferentiated products floods the market. Differentiating the brand and articulating the product value is key to maintaining market share


• Polarization into mature and emerging markets with diverse consumer needs
  As markets evolve from emerging to mature, CPG manufacturers need to cater for the needs of increasingly diverse groups of consumers, changing demographics, and growing new middle class at the bottom of the pyramid with implications for brand positioning and at the SKU and price levels


• Increasing cost of energy and raw materials squeezing already tight margins
  Volatile markets and the continuing rise in the cost of energy and raw materials is placing a lot of pressure on CPG manufacturers, not just to try and contain costs to protect margins, but also to secure supplies. Increasing consumer awareness about sustainability and expectations about brand values, products and packaging also put pressure on the supply chain


• Direct consumer engagement using digital and mobile
  Changing consumer relationships, with CPG going directly to consumers, not only to build brand loyalty and awareness, but also to engage them in dialog and provide feedback for the development of more personalized interactions and relevant products across all channels

In addition to our core services we have developed industry specific capabilities:

• Supply Chain Optimization
  Re-configuring the supply chain to support requirements such as CPFR, VMI/SMI, SCEM, SCPM, characteristics-dependent forecasting and planning, advanced SCP-promotion, production and transportation forecasting and scheduling, etc., plus SCM enablement and flexibility using the latest technology (RFID, APO, etc.)


• Customer and Consumer Transformation
  Creating a customer and consumer-centric organization which is sensitive to market needs and addresses marketing, sales and service effectiveness with regard to planning, campaign management, trade promotion management, category management and direct store delivery. Mobile and CRM solutions enablement


• Core Business Optimization
  Organizing core business and back office activities for optimum performance around the HR, Finance and IT functions and enabling the business through appropriate IT solutions that leverage economies of scale and facilitate MIS. SAP integration, upgrade, and consolidation support including quality assurance services


• Integrated Data and Business Intelligence
  Proactively identifying, measuring and responding to business events through well-structured BI solutions that provide integrated information, thereby enabling the business to adapt and gain market and consumer insights and hence to grow, innovate and maintain its competitive edge