India is expected to grow at a CAGR of nearly 21% with much of this growth being driven by rural consumption. Comparing the past two decades, you can see each shelf at the retail stores being flooded with large number of multicolored products vying for your attention. With technology spearheading the growth of manufacturing, the entry doors now welcome new entrants that spur the status quo, with both hands.
The Consumer Packaged Goods industry is expected to witness huge growth in the forthcoming decade. According to the management consulting firm Mckinsey, “…over the next decade the world will gain an additional 81 Procter & Gambles or 458 equivalents of Kelloggs.”
This growing market has skewed demands with huge number of SKUs being pushed into the market. Its large demographic area requires a high level of service to prevent stock outages. Providing this last mile distribution, coupled with the right technology can provide the right design of responsive supply-chain that can win your company the brand and loyalty. In the long term, it can help you sustain through the waves of dynamic market conditions. This is where a CRM application (customer relationship management) comes in. Taking manual guesswork out of the equation, it helps bolster secondary distribution. Using a vertical based CRM’s like PERI CRM can provide the right support needed for an extensive growth strategy and push your product on top of the noise.
To instill competitive advantage into the DNA of the organization, it is important to deploy a holistic strategy. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind while mapping it down.
1. Streamline processes
For the Indian style of business processing, it becomes imperative to have all the data related to the processes streamlined and integrated. With this in mind, Peri was designed to integrate with leading ERPs likes Microsoft NAV and SAP, etc. This allows various processes between the two systems to coherently aggregate and deliver a unified data system rather than working in silos.
Taking streamlining a notch further, Peri also offers inventory management features. Replacing the earlier versions of distributor management system which did the same thing—calculated inventory in any location in the supply chain, Peri can be used to maintain stocks periodically without moving to another software. This is extremely important in today’s day and age of high logistics movement of the supply chain.
2. Differentiating services
For gaining competitive advantage, any organization would have to establish itself in the mind of its consumers. Emotional connect goes a long way in building loyalty. To earn this level of loyalty, an organization needs to differentiate itself from the noise through its services.
At an outlet level, key differentiating services that Peri can support on would be:
2.1) Availability
Availability is the key requirement to beat the competition. Peri’s beat clustering feature has an intelligent algorithm that designs sales routes to reach stores in all crevices. Designing the route to provide frequent visits would help convert outlets by making your brand more available.
2.2) Delivery of Orders
In the time of high competition, delivering quality services is more important than converting sales. Peri helps place orders instantly from the outlet which is received immediately by the distributor. Quicker form of communication ensures that the delivery is made in a timely manner.
2.3) Outlet stocks
By nature certain goods such as bread, milk, yoghurt are more perishable than others. Servicing return requests of unsold SKUs of such items, along with keeping up with the seasonal demands and preventing stocks from running out, among others, is part and parcel of FMCG industry. Peri helps process such returns just as easily as placing them.
3. Visibility and Offers
Visibility at all nearest outlets results in incremental sales. Being visible helps top-of-the-mind recall. This tactic had allowed economy brands such as Nirma to beat established and undisputed leader at the time Surf Excel in the ’80s.
Shelf Management is key to designing the strategy for maximum visibility. It is important for companies to optimize shelf space in a way that maximizes ROI. For example, shelf space near POS provides maximum visibility. Peri’s patent algorithm aids companies in reaping maximum value from each rupee spent.
4. Provide right services to right outlets
In the large labyrinth of distribution chain, there are always some key regions that drive in more revenue than others. A few key outlets are able to serve more consumers than others. These outlets have high movement and are hotspots for sales activities. Identifying such regions and outlets helps concentrate sales and marketing forces to these areas to further penetrate the market. Analytics are useful tools to map such areas of high activity. Marking such areas will help provide direction to sales and marketing efforts.
5. Analytics and Reporting
One of the reasons companies find themselves pushed to the back-foot is the lack of KPI. A company should know “what” it should know, what is making the difference?, how the performance is running?, where can optimization take place?, which are the key drivers of sales?
While managing an armada of the sales force, knowing where the talent lies also saves the company’s expenses. It is key to have such analytics integrated into designing strategy. Effective target segmentation is also possible when interaction and market behavior analysis is studied. It is paramount that the top echelons of decision making have this relevant information at their fingertips.
Peri provides a top-notch analytics platform to aid this decision making through data collected by its system at various touchpoints. These can be translated to study impact and relations, market behaviors and company-consumer interactions.
6. A connected and motivated workforce
The expansion of fleet size can be very expensive to a company. A better approach would be to have a self-regulated, effective workforce.
Peri’s sales force automation is designed to help enable the sales force to be continuously aware of their target and have the right direction and route to meet their quotas. Efficiency is key when it comes to the sales fleet. There is a direct link between revenue and workforce performance. Sales managers can monitor in real time, the performance of any sales personnel. This helps deliver results and rectify weaker areas.
[Read more: How peri helps create a connected workforce]Conclusion
The above points are by no means an exhaustive list of how Peri can give you that extra edge to beat the competition. India’s market is dynamic and Peri is designed to evolve with it whether it comes to scalability, adoption of solution, analytics or reporting, Peri’s features service all such needs. As the supply chain gets more complex with the increase in size, it is best to enable the workforce with the right technology to increase efficiency than to incur the cost of expansion. Peri’s team has built the CRM system to cater specifically to the uniqueness of the FMCG industry and to support its expansion.
To read more on how a crm can add value to your company, please read How crm helps save money
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