If you ever do a search/have done a search on Google for sales intelligence for FMCG companies, you’ll find several academic articles on how AI can benefit sales teams in FMCG companies, along with links to several companies that provide AI driven sales intelligence to any other sector than FMCG.
And if you search for demand planning solutions there are an abundance of them, those that use AI and include seasonality, holidays etc to provide forecasts. Ironically demand planning is not used by sales teams. In fact, one of its input factors is a sales forecast from the sales team!
So who uses Demand planning software?
The supply or production planning teams typically use demand planning software to ensure there is enough stock of the final product produced, so that they can fulfil orders and meet demand. Typically, the annual sales plan drawn up by the sales team is one of the inputs into the demand planning software/application. According to an article by Gartner (Aug 2019), demand planning is typically used by the Sales & Operations Planning team (S & OP team) and focuses on a tactical horizon from 3-24 months.
The primary goal of demand planning is to ensure availability of stock on the supply side. The process results in a plan that feeds into the Sales & Operations Planning meeting that agrees on the stock that needs to be maintained at a company warehouse level to be able to meet demand for the period being planned.
Now here is why demand planning is not the same as sales intelligence. Have you ever planned your grocery list 3 months in advance? Also, have you ever known a supply team to influence a buyer’s decisions?
Sales intelligence in FMCG
Even a few years ago, sales intelligence in FMCG would have been complex and time taking. Insights teams would look at similar information as marketers do when considering innovations or ad campaigns. However, due to the sheer volume of information, and the time it takes to process the information and gain insights, this happens only for new product development or for market entry initiatives.
Due to recent advances in AI, it is now possible to build applications that process the same quantum of information on a daily basis to provide valuable insights to sales teams, helping them take advantage of opportunities that were never identified by the strategy team or by the demand planning application.
Sales intelligence apps are used by sales teams who actively sell into customers.
By empowering sales teams with information on what consumers want and are likely to buy in the next 4-6 weeks or even days, sales teams can ensure 100% in-store availability of the brands they sell. Providing timely sales intelligence helps sales teams take advantage of opportunistic upsides that are in line with long term strategy, leading to increased revenues of up to 40%.
To learn more about FMCG sales intelligence software/platforms, email me on veena@salesbeat.co