In consumer research conducted during the summer of 2022, 63% experienced shortages of some food and groceries in-store or online.
With the Food and Drink industry under constant threat from global situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, how can supply chains keep up, and what new developments do operators need to be aware of?
To provide answers to these questions, we conducted research and found out these 3 main areas FMCG companies are struggling with at the moment and how to solve them:
❌ No stock visibility.
❌ Limited Teams Communication.
❌ Expensive Mistakes.
No data visibility.
Issue:
One of the main FMCG challenges in 2023 is going to be ensuring the right amount of stock is ordered, sent at the right time and doesn’t go to waste sounds like a standard practice. Currently, Customer Service teams are unaware of stock levels, meaning they approve orders even if some items are unavailable.
It leads to customers receiving perishable stock due to an order input error, which costs the business its reputation as these products go to waste.
How to resolve it:
Data is an essential asset among supply chain managers in 2023. They use it to map and monitor the movement of goods to provide the optimal running of processes in FMCG businesses.
So, to keep up with the FMCG industry trends in 2023, consider implementing modern analytics tools to increase visibility across your supply chain. With these insights, you will be able to see the bigger picture and be better prepared for changes in demand.
“The ultimate goal of the digital supply chain is, of course, to provide insights that lead to better efficiencies, reduced waste and increased revenues. So, who wouldn’t want to make savings in every area of their business while also achieving a smaller environmental footprint.“
Limited Teams Communication.
Issue:
Lack of communication between teams affects orders and delays shipment causing issues for the whole business. Additionally, with manual order keying, the Customer Service team might miss a customer email or incorrectly fill in the order information. Therefore, poor communication causes errors, inefficiency, and excessive waste. This problem gets much worse when you are operating globally.
How to resolve it:
In 2023 one of the trends in FMCG is going to be providing one dashboard of information for customer-oriented departments in your company. It will allow them to have all order data in one place and have fewer miscommunications between teams.
One of our clients – R&R Engineering – had a similar situation when they approached and challenged us to find a way of collecting all information created by different departments throughout production.
Prior to our platform, R&R relied on a manual records system to keep track of the production line. This time-consuming process threatened the high customer service levels with information that was not always up to date.
After a few months of Allsop Team’s magic, R&R can now record all customer job information in a single job card and share it with all the departments to ensure an efficient process through delivery. Additionally, our platform:
– Removed spreadsheets and paper to create improved accuracy.
– Increased teamwork and collaboration.
– Provided insights to manage production capacity.
“The job management platform works well. We have found the reporting particularly helpful and are now able to drill down quickly and more accurately to the various project stages. This makes it much easier to manage all our jobs as they progress through the project stages.”
Expensive Mistakes.
Issue:
‘We have experienced significant price increases across the supply chain. These have been anything up to 100% increases.’ – Food manufacturing business, March 2022.
Rising supply chain costs, increased energy and fuel fees, and lack of manpower. All of these FMCG threads are staying with us in 2023 and highlight that in the current situation, a supply chain cannot afford to make mistakes with customers’ orders.
How to resolve it:
Invest in new technology – this can be expensive initially, but the long-term returns are dramatic. For example, automatic order processing, 99% information accuracy and improved task speed. Especially when manufacturers are also understanding the importance of new technologies to improve tracking and other shipping processes. Meaning not modernising can be much more expensive in the long run.
Conclusion.
The greatest trend in FMCG in 2023 going to be automation. With the unstable culture of supply chains and overall economic situation, you will require to find new less time-consuming ways to collect, process and track orders. Knowing how daunting it might be to implement new technology, we provide a free-of-charge processes audit. From this exercise, you will receive:
✓ Full overview of your processes
✓ Identified areas of improvement
✓ Possible ROI after automating tedious tasks
Sounds good? Book today ? FREE of cost call.