The FMCG sector has always been a fiercely competitive one. One of the major reasons is the diverse, broad and unpredictable influencing factors that determine sales, marketing and supply-chain. This is what makes the FMCG industry highly dynamic. With the business environment being highly erratic in recent times, FMCG multinational companies in Dubai have to strategize for the present as well as the future. With such a huge consumer base that is distributed across various geographical locations, there is also considerable competition from local players that plays a role. Besides the advancement in digital media and delivery channels has enhanced the complexity of the system, making it difficult to tap the most spot-on-growth opportunities.
To put it in a nutshell, the success ofFMCG trading companies in Dubai depends on two crucial aspects- speed and accuracy. These hold good for running the right sales promotions, selecting the best marketing campaign, choosing the most cost-effective supply chain, and so on. Note that the data available with each executive is what ensures accuracy in the decisions. However, FMCG companies face the following challenges when it comes to accessing required information:
a. Dependence on a standalone BI tool/application: most FMCG firms, including food distributors in UAE, depend on analytics or a BI tool to gain insights. Though the data is useful, it does not spot the exact problem sources or reasons. It may lead to faulty decision-making, unless you go through numerous hierarchy reports/spreadsheets (product, sales, region, etc.).
b. Customizable reports: an FMCG executive always has to rely on reports as the visual formats for accessing data. However, in most FMCG firms, report generation is handled by MIS or developer teams. Executives have to constantly follow-up with them if they need new reports or updation of existing reports. This becomes a tedious and time-consuming process, hampering the productivity of both the parties.
c. Insights from limited data sources: FMCG companies usually use internal market research data, organizational historical data and/or syndicated data from vendors such as Nielson, IRI, SPINS, etc. While we are not denying the importance of this data, the sole dependence on syndicated data providers does not provide complete insight, specially since the industry has multifarious consumer touch points. Also, when this data is combined with external data sources, be it social feeds, weather reports, events-related data, etc., it gives a fuller insight to study cause-and-effect.
d. Dearth of forecasting and evaluation intelligence: FMCG executives have to continuously take into account various market scenarios and forecast future growth. An effective BI system should not only offer insights but also help users in evaluating the consequences of every decision. Unfortunately, these elements are not to be found in FMCG BI systems today and most executives still have to fall back on intuition-based strategies.
Rakesh Varma 