Best SFA and DMS Offer for FMCG

The FMCG industry remains a mainstay of the Indian economy and is one of the most complex sales and distribution network in the world with some unbelieve numbers – consumer spending upwards of USD 3 trillion, around 50% of which comes from rural India, with products getting manufactured at different tiers by more than a lakh identifiable production facilities (ignoring the contract manufacturing), served by more than 1.2 crore retailers, 10 lakh distribution or channel partners including stockists, distributors, and wholesalers spread across 2000 plus cities of which around 500 have a population of a lakh or more. Now combine this with one of world’s largest field force of 10 lakh frontliners and managers working to manage and extract the maximum out of this complex web. Don’t forget to add to this the angle of changing consumer habits, economic movements, and major events like COVID 19.

Can you imagine optimally managing or creating efficiencies amidst such a mammoth scale of operations without a degree of automation? You are right, its next to impossible which is why Indian FMCG pandits have been pushing for technology adoption since the beginning of last decade, more so after 2015 which is the time around which internet & smartphone adoption was going through the roof.

Peri’s founding team has been at the helm of this digital transformation and after years of hard work of hard work, have finally launched an affordable, do-it-yourself, free to try for 3 months Sales force automation (SFA) and distribution management system (DMS) for FMCG companies and their distribution partners of all sizes (start-up or an established brand), all selling models (General or Modern trade or Van sales) and all stages of digital preparedness (first timers to deep tech know-how).

A Sales force automation (SFA) platform is an ideal solution for FMCG companies who have sales and distribution operations in multiple cities, managed by a dedicated team of field representatives, frontliners, and sales managers and more so for those organisations who have transformed from an indirect to a direct selling model i.e. those who have transformed from primary sales to secondary sales and those who want to really “know their retailers”.  Such companies are conscious about the fact that sustained growth and brand pull in today’s commoditized FMCG market will come by actively reaching out, and building long lasting relationships with the retailers centred around quality, continuity and trust. In addition to General Trade which we just talked about, a SFA platform is also beneficial in Modern trade setting where a team of merchandisers and promoters manage the shelf or windows allocated by the store to the FMCG brand. Another possible use of SFA is for Institutional and HORECA division to manage leads and pipeline, offer self-service portal to customers, plan distribution and keep a track on returns.

A Distributor management system (DMS) is an ideal solution for FMCG supply chain or distribution partners like super stockists, distributors, sub distributors and large-scale wholesalers who work with one or more FMCG brands and utilise their working capital, warehouse space, local know-how, relationships, and manpower to promote and distribute company’s products to a limited retail universe depending upon how many beats the company wishes to cover. The important of DMS accentuates when the scale of operations spans across multiple cities, the range of SKU’s is large, and there are multiple distribution vehicles or vans covering the territory for distribution.

It is a fair assumption that being a part of the industry, FMCG companies and their distribution partners definitely know the benefits that a SFA and DMS solution can bring to the table. However, they have been reluctant to give it a try. Ever wondered what could be the reasons behind this deliberate ignorance? Based on our interactions with multiple stakeholders spread across the country, we have gathered the following root-causes that prevent these intelligent and mature business owners from adopting a SFA and DMS:

1. I don’t know the vendor
2. Its not easy to implement
3. Its expensive

When Covid hit the country in March 2020 and FMCG supply chains were disrupted, Peri’s team took a resolve that we will reach out to every FMCG company in India along with their distribution partners and educate them on the importance of having some form of automation in place to overcome situations like Covid, but more than that, to create an organisation around FMCG best practices, and derive efficiencies to achieve tangible business benefits. And today, June 2022, as we launch India’s First Do-It-Yourself SFA and DMS we can confidently say that it’s the best & perhaps the only way of empowering Indian FMCG companies with best-in-class, easy-to-adopt and affordable SFA and DMS. Lets look at how:

1. Offer Do-it-yourself: Peri has shifted the traditional SFA and DMS implementation model run by vendors to DIY which can be implemented by business owners themselves sitting in the comfort of their offices and without going through the few weeks to months of pain in terms of techno-commercial assessment, scope of work, negotiations, project management, trainings and at the end waiting for meaningful data to come out of the platform for decision making. Our proprietary multi-step wizard is so easy and helpful that a small FMCG company (revenue of less than 1 crore a month) based out of say Raipur, Chhattisgarh can get started with 3 salesman, 1 delivery guy, and the owner himself in a span of 30 minutes.
2. Offer genuine Trial: If you do a simple Google search for “FMCG SFA trial”, you will be astonished to see that there are only a handful of Indian companies that mention on their website that they offer a SFA on trial and once you visit the website you will be disappointed to see that the trial either doesn’t exist (it was a trick to get you on the website) or the trial is only for upto 14 days. Peri CRM is perhaps India’s only SFA and DMS which is available to our FMCG partners as a genuine trial for 3 months or 90 days with upto 100 users so that even a large regional player based out of say Bikaner, Rajasthan can put its entire team on Peri and push adoption and culture change still being on a trial.
3. Charge only after Adoption: Peri was born on the field, in the congested lanes of India, observing and working alongside FMCG companies and their distribution partners. We understand the pain a company goes through to implement a technology solution for the sales and distribution functions, in terms of giving training, doing follow-ups, rolling out incentives for adoption and more. And we have also seen top Indian SFA and DMS platforms fail because of lack of end-user adoption. Which is why Peri gives companies ample time (90 days with full user strength) and opportunity to rollout SFA and DMS, observe how their sales representatives and managers are utilising the platform, and take an informed decision whether to go ahead for a long term commitment or take a backseat or evaluate another product more fit for their business requirements. No pressure and no questions asked!

As of June 2022, Peri CRM is offering a full featured, best-in-class Sales force automation (SFA) and Distribution management platform (DMS) to FMCG manufacturers, stockists and distributors spread across India of all sizes (start-up, growing or mature) and business models (General trade, modern trade or van sales). We invite the business owners and decision makers of these entities to come and experience Peri CRM without any hitch or fear and make the most of your 90 days of trial in terms of getting to adopt the best practices of FMCG like TC, PC and Joint working, get amazed by the visualisation and analysis of your data using Peri Analytics and see tangible business benefits in the form of employee productivity, revenue increase and cost savings