9 Steps to Build an Adaptive, Post-Covid Enterprise

Fast-moving mega-disruptions in today’s marketplace have become a trial by fire for CG companies as they scramble to rewrite their playbooks. Traditionally, CG companies have been built on a foundation of stable business practices to drive growth and success, however the worldwide health crisis has demonstrated that even the strongest foundations can crumble rapidly.

Now that the traditional rule book has largely been tossed out, CGs are discovering new strategies to drive and sustain their businesses, according to an early look at the upcoming Pulse Check poll.

Key takeaways from an early look at the study shows the major steps CGs are taking to reset their playbooks and create more adaptive enterprises. These include: 

• In the last 18 months, 59% of CG companies have determined it is important to launch new brands and line extensions.
• The top two drivers today for CG companies pursuing direct-to-consumer (D2C) businesses are creating revenue growth (40%) and nurturing consumer insight and engagement (40%).
• For CG companies pursuing D2C business the top two challenges are fulfillment considerations (38%) and consumer acquisition and retention (27%).
• Reallocating trade promotion management (TPM) dollars has dramatically shifted gears from 2020, when 56% said they were significantly reducing TPM spend. Today only 9% are reducing TPM spend while 21% are moving dollars into D2C marketing channels.

• 96% of CG companies consider sustainable and transparent supply chains to be important to their business.

• Just 13% of CG companies have visibility into their external workforce resources to ensure compliance to company policies, a major problem looking for a solution.
• New product innovation and introductions are the top focus for 73% of CG companies followed by digital advertising and promotions (68%), consumer data (61%), and D2C business (59%).
• For CG companies focusing on new product innovations and introductions, the top strategy is introducing new products or categories (53%).
• A hybrid demand-planning strategy is emerging for CG companies, which includes strong interest in short-term planning (65%), long-term planning (53%), dynamic scenario planning (51%), and intelligent technologies (AI) or external analytics (45%).

The global health crisis showed that whatever business advantages CG companies have today they can crumble rapidly under extreme conditions. This means CGs need to continually explore new strategies for growth as a way to achieve persistent success.

Efficiency and a strong foundation of traditional business drivers will not guarantee long-term success. In the future, CG companies will compete on the rate of organizational change management and the ability to rapidly adapt business models to drive growth.

The Pulse Check study provides data-based insights into key marketplace and business trends that are critical for CG companies to use as they create game plans to respond, recover and reimagine their brands beyond the pandemic.

Please take a moment to fill out the short survey and have your voice counted in this vital research. And be on the lookout for the final report to post on Consumer Goods Technology later this year.