Rising costs, inflation and financial crisis. All of these are currently attacking the FMCG sector, and Office for National Statistics (1) found out just that – only 3% of food and beverage businesses reported they had not been affected by price rises, compared with 20% across all businesses.

On top of it, Food retail businesses shared, “Our suppliers have increased the cost of many of our materials. We have had to recover much of this by pushing the prices up for our customers.” (2).

Now, it goes without saying that in this fast-changing economy, you should find a new way to keep your business and, most importantly, continue providing great service to your customers.

However, we found out that Customer Service teams spend at least a few hours a day filling in complex order forms, leaving them with no time to communicate with customers to resolve their issues. It leads to low customer retention and a constant lookout for new leads. (3)

As we have mentioned above, in the current economy, this is a no-go strategy. Especially when improving customer retention by 5% can increase profits from 25-90%. (4)

So, how can you avoid losing customers’ orders in FMCG in 2023 and continue providing high Customer Service when you have a limited headcount in the department?

Consider some help from technology!

Gone the days when companies could choose any software they want, as in 2023 your FMCG business will require taking a more strategic approach to the world of tech. (5) One thing is certain, AI will continue to rise and bring more and more companies on board. However, you shouldn’t be afraid of it. (6)

What we see from our experience, whenever businesses hear words such as AI, RPA or BI, they assume their employees will be replaced by machines or robots to lead the company. It is simply not true.

In 2023 AI will showcase its full potential by bringing value to all departments in your business if you implement a software solution. (7)

For example, with the Declining Account feature built by Allsop, you will be able to track customers that are not purchasing as much this week as they have on average over the past 13 weeks.

This small AI tool will empower your Customer Service team to contact those clients and clarify the reasoning for the changed behaviour. Therefore, it will provide an opportunity for your business to keep the customer who is ready to leave.

With automated processes, you will also be able to free some time for your Customer Service team, so they have enough resources to conduct such research. (8)

Declining account not only shows when someone is ready to leave your company but also highlights what type of product your customer is purchasing less or what item they replaced.

By having a direct call with your customer, you can clarify these changes, and we can ensure you will find something new about your customer and the whole industry itself.

For example, it happens often that some products are no longer in high demand or simply not interesting to the public.

Therefore, showing interest in your customers will help you to improve your relationships with them and provide you the recent trends in the market you might have missed.

Conclusion.

Although the FMCG sector is affected by the current economic situation, business is still happening, people are buying products, and companies are increasing their NPDs.

However, in this ever-evolving world, you need to focus on those who are already on your side – your customers.

With new technologies, it became easier to understand their changing behaviour and grasp the attention of those who are ready to leave you.

Therefore, if you want to understand your customers better with the least time and resources spent, book a call with us to receive 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.