Consumer Goods
The FMCG sector of consumer goods manufacturers and food producers in Europe is extremely diverse and comprises thousands of companies of different sizes and orientations. The players include large international corporations as well as regional or local producers. These include, for example, manufacturers of food, beverages, confectionaries and dairy products, as well as meat processing companies and many more.
In 2022, the consumer goods and food manufacturing industry in Europe generated a turnover of 1.1 trillion euros. This underlines the economic importance of this sector.
A number of new market trends can currently be observed in the consumer goods and food production industry. One important trend is the growing demand for healthy, natural and sustainable products. Consumers are increasingly focussing on the quality, health benefits and environmental compatibility of food. Companies are responding to this by adapting their product ranges accordingly, offering natural or organic products and communicating transparent production and delivery processes via certificates.
Another trend is the increasing digitalisation in food production and distribution. Companies are increasingly relying on digital technologies to optimise production processes, improve supply chains and offer customers modern shopping experiences through retail media. In this context, e-commerce is playing an increasingly important competitive role, as consumers can also order food online and have it delivered.
The food retail and FMCG sectors will continue to face a number of challenges in 2024.
Changes in Consumer Behaviour
Consumers are likely to continue to change their shopping habits and shift more towards online channels. Grocery retailers will need to respond by optimising digital sales channels, offering a seamless omnichannel experience and increasing customer value through personalised offers and services.
SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL COMPATIBILITY
Awareness of sustainability and environmental compatibility will likely continue to grow. The food retail sector must increasingly address issues such as plastic-free packaging (EU regulation), environmentally friendly logistics and sustainable procurement. Companies need to make their supply chains more transparent and climate-friendly in order to meet consumer expectations.
RESILIENCE IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Food retail supply chains face major challenges in the face of multi-crisis situations, particularly in terms of safety, speed and flexibility. The industry must be able to respond to unforeseen events such as natural disasters or pandemics and other crisis situations in supplier countries. Companies should develop alternative procurement sources and supply routes to improve the resilience of their supply chains.
SKILLS SHORTAGE AND LABOUR COSTS
The industry faces the challenge of attracting and retaining qualified labour. Particularly in times of skills shortages, labour costs for sales representatives and travelling salespeople are rising. Companies can develop strategies to attract and retain talent, for example through attractive working conditions, training opportunities and flexible working models, or outsource entire areas of work to external service providers such as crowdworking platforms.
Every challenge is an opportunity to adapt, innovate and proactively find new solutions for distribution optimisation, product availability and sales in order to remain successful.
Ahead of Your Competition
appJobber Evaluates the Implementation of Your Strategies
appJobber offers services that help the FMCG industry to respond dynamically to the increasing demands of consumers:
AVAILABILITY OF GOODS
Comprehensive listing and actual distribution in the retail sector is a major challenge for consumer goods manufacturers. The efficient and timely delivery of goods to all shops requires well-organised logistics and close cooperation with retailers and transport companies. Out-of-stocks are often not noticed in time and lead to permanent lacks on the shelf (cold discontinuation), which affects the availability of goods for customers. Knowledge of out-of-stock situations for timely reordering is essential here and can be conveniently measured via appJobber.
PRODUCT RANGE ANALYSIS
Knowledge of the actual situation in stores is the key to strategic decisions regarding shelf presentation and the future product portfolio. Trends in the market and changes in the competition must be taken into account. This requires a careful analysis of the market environment, knowledge of the positioning of the competition in the environment of your own products and the respective share of shelf of the respective brands.
The challenge is to offer a balanced range that both meets customer needs and optimises your own profitability with top sellers. Sales promotion activities such as couponing programmes directly at the shelf can be helpful here, e.g. to increase visibility using wobblers.
Secondary Placements
In addition to effective shelf presentation, increasing sales also requires targeted sales promotion, such as special offers, advertising campaigns or cross-selling strategies. Secondary placements are used for this purpose. As the implementation of secondary placements often leaves a lot to be desired in practice, it is advisable to have our jobbers check the actual implementation. In addition to the realisation itself, the location and quality of the presentation, the placement and the visibility are also factors that can be checked.
Overall, the comprehensive distribution of goods, nursing of product categories, optimisation of shelf presentation and increasing sales are demanding challenges for producers, as their influence here is limited.
A strategic approach with real-time data analysis and direct alerts to the field force in the event of breaches of shelf compliance rules can be decisive in successfully setting oneself apart from the competition. Advanced technologies such as image recognition and digital assistants can help overcome these challenges, improve retail performance and generate a measurable uplift.
Your Heroes at the Shelf!
Every project has its own requirements and special characteristics. We are happy to discuss your requirements with you and draw up an offer that exactly matches your needs. We look forward to getting to know you and your company!