The growth in popularity of online shopping through retailers means fast moving consumer goods industry players must adapt their marketing and sales strategy to incorporate this technology. In the past, fast moving consumer goods industry players relied on securing shelf space at eye-level or perhaps placing products at the till. However, this is no longer the case with online retailers. For instance, consumers who would purchase goods as a habit in-store may not purchase online as they are not prompted in the same manner. Additionally, as there is a delay between purchase and delivery, the instant gratification factor is no longer present. Moreover, the growth of online retailers also results in increased buying power. 
This is expected to put additional pressure on suppliers to reduce the cost of fast moving consumer goods even further.
Business Issues
- The client: A leading fast moving consumer goods industry player
- Area of Engagement: Category Management
The client – is an American multinational personal care firm that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. The company is headquartered in Texas, U.S and possesses an annual income of over US$ 20 Billion. The client wanted to discover the actions and roles that suppliers can take as category captains and how these practices could be applied in retailers’ store environment.
Category Management in Procurement
Benefits: Applying category management in procuring benefits organizations by providing an approach to reduce the cost of buying products and services, increase overall value from the supply base, reduce risk in the supply chain, and gain access to more innovation from suppliers. Category Management is a strategic approach that focuses on a majority of organizational spends. If enforced successfully throughout an entire organization, results can be significantly superior than traditional transactional-based procuring negotiations.
Summary of our category management process
Client Journey
The category management process experts at SpendEdge customized a comprehensive research method, which delivered valuable insights on market requirements, technological advancements, geographical target regions, and future enhancement possibilities. Furthermore, the experts also compiled information across a wide array of exclusive sources to help the fast moving consumer goods industry player devise an efficient consumer response (ECR) framework, especially on its demand-side practices.
Solution Benefits and Business Impact
With the help of SpendEdge’s category management engagement, the fast moving consumer goods industry player summarized key findings into a revised research framework as well as theoretical and managerial implications that should apply both in the case in question as well as in other supplier-retailer work around category management best practices. This further helped the client assort, allocate space, and better make use of promotions.
Future of the Fast Moving Consumer Goods Industry
2018 is shaping up to be a year of inconsistencies in the fast moving consumer goods market. Healthy junk food is emerging as a snack food inclination. However, consumers are also re-discovering tolerance via a counter-trend called sweet revenge that celebrates all that is sweet.
A must-read case study for strategy experts and decision makers looking to develop a deeper understanding of the global fast moving consumer goods industry
