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How To Crack The Changing Face Of Retail – Use the Digitized Supply Chain Code

The FMCG IndustryIn-demand consumer products that often get produced in large quantities and are made available at low cost to meet the needs of high volume sale patterns.

FMCG-Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods

Companies involved in the FMCG industry include some of the biggest, most highly recognized brands around the world. 

Retail – the sale of different goods and services to customers to make a profit.

RADICAL CHANGES

The retail landscape continues to unfold and dramatically change at an exponential rate, with the FMCG industry notorious for needing to remain consistently fast-paced and innovative to keep up with the needs and expectations of today’s informed consumer.

THE BEST EXPERIENCES KEEP CUSTOMERS RETURNING

packaging-consumer-psychology

New packaging design concepts, digital marketing strategies, and unique communication are just some of the aspects that require continuous innovative improvements to ensure fast-paced consumer behaviors get fulfilled.

The ability to navigate this complex world will always be a challenge – quite possibly never more so than now, with unprecedented levels of disruption impacting businesses globally. 

CONTINUOUS EVOLUTION

Over the last decade, retail has evolved into a continuous chain-reaction of movements, events, experiences, and motives. These transitions are relative to context, person, and place, and are no longer about the ‘what and where,’ but moreover, the ‘how and when’. 

With almost every aspect of our daily lives now digitized – not least of all the way we buy and consume products and service choices, it’s regardless whether we shop online, or visit a physical store. Either way, we expect the same levels of service and availability.

digitization-and-shift-in-consumer-behavior

According to Deloitte’s ‘On the couch – Understanding consumer shopping behavior’ article, ‘The chasm between online retail and its brick-and-mortar counterpart is expanding, and people’s shopping preferences are evolving in turn. For storefronts, traffic and sales are declining, leaving retailers with little choice but to adapt to an interconnected world and to their customers’ shifting expectations of the shopping experience.’

WHAT DO THESE CHANGES MEAN?

WHAT? Planning and execution flow throughout the supply chain often remains fragmented and deeply buried in silos. 

WHY? Businesses need to fill the gaps within their fragmented landscapes. Those businesses that use innovative, data/insight-driven and digitally-enabled solutions are set to reap enormous rewards. 

HOW? Data is everywhere. However, being able to utilize the power of that data fully requires full visibility, traceability, and accountability throughout the complete supply chain, and this is where deploying the capabilities of a platform such as Gravity becomes a necessity. 

A LITTLE PIECE OF HISTORY

The act of sharing, bartering, selling, and consuming resources has taken place since the beginning of time. 

evolution-of-economy

Livestock — 9000 BC
Initially, the process of trading saw people exchanging livestock such as cows and sheep in exchange for valued goods and services.

Currency — 3000 BC
The first proper currency started getting used in Mesopotamia.

Markets — 800 BC
Markets developed, and merchants began selling their wares in the Agora, ancient Greece.

Fast forward — 20th century
Retail giants such as Walmart, Target, Selfridges leverage the power of bricks and mortar stores to showcase their wares.

The present — 2020’s
An era of radical change for global societies as a whole. Retail has evolved and completely revolutionized shopper’s habits. Bricks and mortar sales are declining, and E-commerce is reshaping the shopping experience. Sales are now occurring through a multitude of channels, both instore and online.

The future

retail-showroom

Bricks and mortar stores are likely to become showcase facilities. These units will carry stock but less quantity. Sample sizes and colors of trending ranges will be available for consumers to view and try before ordering their items and returning home without the traditional plethora of heavy bags of goods. The goods themselves will likely get delivered from remote storage facilities to the required destination with speed and efficiency using the power of technology.

Goods purchased online and delivered to your home no longer require you to complete copious forms and to stay home awaiting return collections. Buyers are already able in many retail groups to drop their unsuitable online purchases back to a physical store with equal speed and efficiency. The technology already exists for consumers to walk into a store and instant recognition of their size profile guides them to the exact fit. All this will become the norm.

THE ESSENTIALS

As modern technology has even enabled online shopping and simplified the overall buying experience, so has that technology advanced and continues to do so. If modern retailers want to remain relevant by selling the way today’s customers want to buy, they need to invest in the right enterprise software. 

retailer-challenges

Digitizing processes and leveraging the power of a platform such as Gravity, is the only way to ensure you can continue to offer outstanding personalized customer experiences and meet with the expected demand. 

Enabling a rich, fully orchestrated, and seamless supply chain is essential for retailers who need to provide what consumers expect. Quite simply, those businesses that refuse to invest in cutting-edge technology, and don’t digitize, will be unable to meet their customer’s needs, will succumb to the retail meltdown, and watch their customers walk out of the door, and straight into that of their competitors.

DON’T GET LEFT BEHIND! 

If you’d like to learn more about what you need to do to gain an advantage in this fast-moving landscape, contact us! One of our advisors will be available to talk about your needs. The team at Gravity will provide continued support as you embark on the journey to digitization and enjoy all the benefits and rewards that come with doing so.

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