Big Data in Consumer Goods - Thematic Intelligence

Big Data in Consumer Goods - Thematic Intelligence

Summary

Too much data is scattered across too many formats. This data is only valuable to businesses and consumers if it can be analyzed accurately and efficiently. Big data combines traditional data management technologies with new forms of data processing that are better suited to modern formats. The result of this is increasingly usable, more easily understood outputs from mass collection and retention that offer growing opportunities for informing decision-making and improving processes and efficiencies at multiple levels from basic daily business operation through to product design, consumer targeting, and long-term planning.

The modern data economy is data-intensive; vast informational resources exist that grow by the second, housed in huge data centers that continue to grow in size and number to keep up. Big data as a concept expresses this growth but also how it has become an increasingly critical commercial tool, providing a rich analytical playing field that technology is now able to exploit for the benefit of business users seeking to understand their marketplaces on a previously unachievable scale.

Scope

• Big data has become a major topic within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) context as the industry seeks to leverage growth opportunities, particularly in mature markets where growth is challenging but data is prolific, as well as emerging markets where digitalization is rapid and understanding an evolving consumer base is key to market access.
• Big data offers operational efficiencies, particularly in supply chains and manufacturing, quality assurance, and product tracking. It also allows for the tracking of the evolution of consumer trends across geographies and demographics in real-time, as opposed to traditional means of periodic survey research.
• Micro-targeting is a consequential benefit of the analysis of big data. Beyond the operational benefits of big data analysis, the vast resources built up through consumer interactions and their detailed digital footprints create a growing capacity to learn specific nuances and individual preferences and patterns of behavior. This enables brands to meet the demand for true personalized products and services more effectively than would have been possible even a few years ago.

• Understand the Big Data theme in the FMCG marketplace.
• Highlight key trends within the theme's present and future evolution, from building supply chain transparency, to understanding individual consumers' motivations and preferences.
• Identify key players/competitors actively engaging with the theme, and track their performance against it.
• Learn valuable lessons on advantages and pitfalls of harnessing big data technologies to enhance the FMCG offering.