Taking Stock

According to Peter Drucker, “Developing talent is business’s most important task – the sine qua non of competitive advantage in a knowledge economy.”  As organization consider this task, it is important to understand how so many of the traditional norms and expectations relating to talent acquisition, collaboration and inclusiveness have been altered in recent years, even before the pandemic.

• In acquiring talent, companies need to ensure that they are taking into account future employees who are seeking purpose-driven companies whose values are aligned with their own.
• To drive collaboration, the right  tools, technologies, and resources need to be made available to employees and partners to foster virtual collaboration in an increasingly virtual environment.
• To ensure inclusivity, organizations need to allow for diverse thought and perspectives into their decision making processes - not just because it is the right thing to do…but because it will also drive business value

2020 was a year of immense change and disruption, with the pandemic impacting the business transformation plans of consumer-products firms in terms of priorities and modernization schedules. This has brought conversation around supply and demand planning to the forefront.

The spikes in consumer demand brought about by the pandemic have forced many of you streamline your production and manufacturing efforts – with a shift in focus to SKUs and product lines that were easiest to manufacture and simply get out the door quickly. 2020 was also a year where, in many ways, forecasts were thrown out the window and companies being forced to react in real time to fast-changing consumer demand, meet retail customer needs, and ensure products are being properly allocated.  Looking ahead, organizations are rethinking their strategies that will allow them to more effectively manage supply chain risk, accurately forecast supply and demand planning, and become more agile in the future.

Optimizing promotions to more effectively partner with customers and drive category growth is a priority for CPG organizations right now.  With companies having invested heavily to ensure the right tools and data are in place, they need to be more strategic in considering the following:

• With the continued to growth in eCommerce and Direct to Consumer, how to ensure promotions are being allocated across channels
• With market volatility only increasing in the future, how to shift from away from an historical based promotional strategy that simply emphasizes year-over-year planning and top-line growth
• With consumers spending less time in stores and more online, how to stand out in an increasingly crowded digital shelf

I have had the pleasure of working within the consumer products industry for over 25 years and one of the things I learned early on in my career is that executives don’t implement massive ERP systems, such as SAP, simply because they want to. These projects require massive investments in time, resources and dollars and, if not properly planned and executed, could have a negative impact on the business. There are many planning steps required ahead of time to recognized the SAP benefits eventually after implementation. Executives decide to embark upon these transformational initiatives because, at the core, there is business benefit they are trying to unlock.

At the highest levels, organizations are looking to drive a standard way of working throughout the business through the harmonization around a single system, or achieve a greater level of transparency through streamlined financial analysis and reporting. However, if you look specifically at the consumer products, retail, or life sciences industries, there is more tangible business value that companies are looking to unlock. And these goals are even more paramount in light of the challenges this past year and the acceleration of many of the trends we had been anticipating.

All of this said, I am excited to welcome Sham Karim and Anand Nataraj to Taking Stock. Sham and Anand lead our SAP practice at Clarkston and will share their perspectives as to how companies are looking at SAP to improve their ability to serve their customer more effectively with SAP benefits, speed up their go-to-market capabilities and provide a more seamless experience for their end users.

https://clarkstonconsulting.com/insights/sap-benefits-taking-stock/

Personalization isn’t exactly new. Brands have been exploring various degrees of personalized marketing and customization across every facet of a consumer’s experience for some time.  What has changed, however, is the depth and breadth to which today’s consumer expects personalization. Now, brands are expected to deliver an entirely personalized experience tailored to the individual, from targeted product recommendations to dynamic content to real-time, personalized communications.

The hyper-personalization and personalized marketing that is expected of modern CPG organizations is ultimately achieved through robust data and analytics capabilities supported by an obsessive, empathic understanding of the target consumer. Companies need to be thinking about how they can more effectively understand the consumer and leverage these new capabilities to provide an integrated customer experience.  In doing so, authenticity, transparency and relevancy need to stay top of mind to ensure that messaging speaks directly to the consumer’s needs.

All of this said, I am excited to welcome Idoia Hidalgo and Musa Jose to this week’s edition of Taking Stock around personalized marketing. Both are leads in Clarkston’s Sales and Marketing practice and, together, we will discuss the topics outlined above, with a focus on why it is so important for companies to not only understand their consumers, but tap into what they truly value.

Looking back on 2020, the consumer products industry saw a huge uptick in online purchases.  While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly was a huge accelerator in this shift, as an industry we have been heading in this direction for some time now.  As we consider this growth, it is fair to wonder;  Have created a new normal in the industry? Are we going to see these levels and consumer behaviors maintain? Or are we will see a complete shift back towards brick-and-mortar purchases once the world starts opening up again?

At Clarkston we are constantly talking with our clients about building up their direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategies and ensuring they have the right plans in place to move the needle. You can’t think about DTC without thinking about how that fits within your company’s overall integrated sales strategy, thinking about its impact on brick-and-mortar, eCommerce, and more. Thinking about these channels of distribution holistically and ensuring you have a seamless strategy, not thinking about them competitively but instead how they complement one another, is a challenge that CPG companies need to embrace.

I am excited to welcome Evan Shirley and Ken Accardi on this week’s edition of Taking Stock. Evan and Ken lead our Sales and Marketing practice at Clarkston and will share their perspectives as to how companies should be formulating and evaluating their strategies around diversifying sales, especially with the rising consumer trends thanks to the pandemic.  Through our discussion, we will hit upon why leaders need to be thinking about their sales strategy in an integrated way, be taking into account the impacts across company pricing and promotional strategy, and how learnings can be leveraged from one channel to apply towards another area to enable better partnership with their more traditional retail customers.

From senior executives to first year entrants in the job market, there is an intense focus on your 'personal brand' and what it says about you. This week I welcome Michelle Tartalio to the podcast to discuss the importance of building your brand, where to focus, how to identify what's unique about your brand, and key steps to building that message in a digital world. 

https://clarkstonconsulting.com/insights/personal-brand-building/

What does the future potentially look like for the retail industry post-pandemic? - This week, I am excited to welcome Sean Burke to Taking Stock. Sean is an Associate Partner at Clarkston and one of the leaders of our retail practice. Having worked with retail brands over the past 10 years, Sean has helped his clients navigate these changes and prepare for whatever the future might hold. In our discussion, you will hear us hit upon the growth of e-commerce and how Covid-19 has accelerated many of the trends we have been talking about for years. 

While it's critical for companies to report on sustainability, it is even more important for companies to embed sustainability efforts throughout the organization. I welcome back Sam Ruiz to Taking Stock and she discusses why now is the right time for companies to update their CSR reports due to the fact that consumers' purchasing decisions are being driven towards brands that they find to be environmentally and socially responsible. 

In this episode, I sit down with Irene Birbeck, a Partner at Clarkston Consulting. Irene shares her perspectives on a wide range of topics related to gender inequity and the barriers that unfortunately still remain in the work place.