Building Bridges & Accelerating Transformation: CG Leaders Are Full Speed Ahead in 2022

What are some of the most exciting technology innovations that came out of this year, and what will their impact be going forward?

Definitely technologies that support agility and resilience: supply chain visibility; risk monitoring; and enhanced planning (based on data and machine learning)        

How have your views on talent, recruitment, or team leadership changed in the last 12 months? What are you doing differently now vs. last year?

Digital transformation will have an impact on almost every supply chain activity — eliminating some but in most cases augmenting those roles. There will be a huge focus on digital skills — particularly digital dexterity, the ambition and ability to apply technology for better business outcomes. Additionally, looking at new skills and competencies and inclusive leadership traits to promote a culture of innovation, creativity, adaptability and risk taking.

Additionally, hybrid work is quickly becoming the norm and we are seeing supply chains moving from “location-centric” to “human-centric” model where work will center around individuals rather than places.         

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond?

No two areas have been more challenged, disrupted and transformed through innovation like supply chain and marketing in 2021. So we have to adapt some of the KPIs as we move to 2022 and beyond.

In supply chain, for example, one metric the entire industry is focusing on more is resilience: how much are your products and raw materials sourced through multiple sources). Another one is around volatility: what is our sales and supply forecast accuracy? Automation is becoming key for our supply chains, so productivity becomes a more meaningful metric than ever before.

We are also living in a world of multiple channels and so how we measure channel-batch size-throughput will be key.  In marketing, we have seen a massive shift of spend to digital, at the same time we face many more distributed media channels. As we build culturally relevant brands, we have to drive an even higher performance marketing culture linked with brand purpose.

What are some of the most exciting technology innovations that came out of this year, and what will their impact be going forward?

Continued digital innovations within the industry from CPG companies, and continued use of AI to develop advanced consumer insights.                

How have your views on talent, recruitment, or team leadership changed in the last 12 months? What are you doing differently now vs. last year?

As more companies focus on upgrading technology there is a shortage of technical skills. We continue to leverage partners versus higher in-house for expert technical resources.           

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond?

For digital, it will be same day or better delivery for all products with free delivery. This is the standard that has been set by the largest digital players and you either match or lose. This will be the greatest challenge for mid-market players.         

I am more focused this year than before on taking every opportunity to use a few minutes at start of each meeting I attend – irrespective of topic — to talk about how our business is doing. Everyone can read about the supply chain problems which impact our business as much as our competition so I want to explain simply how we are addressing this and the sales results we are achieving as a result of having the right inventory available.

My aim here is to focus on retention. We all know losing a team member is costly in terms of recruitment time and cost, and worse; disruptive to project progress and/or day-to-day service levels. I believe in the “preventative maintenance” of retention versus the “break/fix” of recruitment.

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond?

Supply chain efficiency is a critical success factor given the ongoing levels of disruption due to the pandemic. Therefore KPIs for 2022 are: sales & operations planning (S&OP) forecast accuracy; inventory turns; on time and In full percentage of deliveries per major customer.

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond?  

Our technology team plays a critical role in making sure our internal stakeholders can leverage advanced data and analytics to advance decision making in our supply chain, as well as within marketing to ensure our MarTech platforms are integrated and absorbing consumer-first party data. This drives the right experience and placement of our products’ “digital” footprint within a changed and growing omnichannel marketplace.

Ensuring our digital shelf has the right information displayed and localized to aid in consumer decision making requires a significant amount of technology and business process work. We do this to maintain quality and trust with our consumers.

What are some of the most exciting technology innovations that came out of this year, and what will their impact be going forward?

A lot of exciting new solutions, capabilities and platforms are coming from the artificial intelligence and machine learning space. We have been hearing a lot about AI over the past few years, but it is not stopping any time soon because that tech is much bigger than just a trend, and rather a transformational force that will continue to impact every industry and every category, and more importantly it will continue to impact the way we all live.

Interesting predictions around the Metaverse paint a picture of AR and VR on steroids powered by AI and machine providing an immersive mixed reality experience where the audiences are the heroes of the story instead of the spectators. From a brand’s perspective, this would be a dream environment to establish strong emotional bonds with consumers.

What are some of the most exciting technology innovations that came out of this year, and what will their impact be going forward?

With supply chain at the forefront, companies made huge strides toward enhanced efficiency and new models of operational excellence through the development of contactless delivery technology. Reducing paperwork and being able to switch up delivery operations to focus on getting in and out of facilities quickly is a potential game-changer for the transportation marketplace writ large.

Consumer Brands helped consumer goods companies and major retailers pioneer the technology through its Contactless Delivery Task Force, and we expect big things for it over the coming decade as adoption picks up and is married to other technological advances like those for shipment visibility, truck autonomy, situational awareness and more.               

How have your views on talent, recruitment, or team leadership changed in the last 12 months? What are you doing differently now vs. last year?

In terms of talent and recruitment, one of the things we are seeing in the data area is that there is not enough of a talent pool to support the growing needs of marketers to analyze data. When it comes to data analytics, it is a possibility that there is not a large enough population of young people who want to enter that field because they don't find it exciting or cutting edge. Additionally, the university systems is not moving enough graduates into this area so that talent pool isn’t growing from the bottom up. That is the struggle.         

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond? 

Right now, across most consumer durable goods the supply chain is still unstable and influx, and we are staying nimble and flexible as we have over the last almost two years. It is an ongoing corporate effort to work closely with sales, forecasting as far in advance as possible to meet the demands of the marketplace. 

We believe as things continue to evolve and food inflation grows, families will need to restructure meal preparation, relying more on short cuts, meal planning and alternative methods. This is where batch cooking and advance meal prep will go a long way in reducing stress and anxiety. Food processors and sheet pan/roasting pan and big pot cooking will work best for consumers. And the freezer will be your friend. 

Major KPIs within the DTC and retail sales space will continue to move towards conversion and return on ad spend. On the marketing side, acquiring new and keeping customers loyal will be key in continuing to grow the business.

To support them, we need to provide the most cost-effective distribution model. We will navigate the path to co-ops and independent stores chains with more regional distributors who value community and support women-owned businesses.

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond?

The supply chain cracked last year, and the model of just-in-time ordering caused massive delays and consumer angst. Thankfully, at 8 Track Foods, we source all our packaging materials and ingredients from the United States. This model keeps our food miles low and supports local farmers. As other companies struggle to find solutions, we built a solution pre-COVID.

Our strong relationships allow us to navigate the supply chain post-pandemic with our domestically sourced ingredients. We believe managing and securing inventory will be table stakes in 2022 and the years to come.

Prior to the pandemic, we’ve taken action to avoid these issues in the future through our integration of more than 20 supply chains into only one. As a company with multiple business units and a variety of different brands, we’ve found doing this of high priority to ensure the best possible service to our customers and consumers. 

What are the supply chain and/or marketing KPIs that will become table stakes in 2022 and beyond?

Customer experience (CX) — the holistic view of all interaction a consumer/trade customer has with your organization.                             

Intentional and distinct emphasis to cultivate a stronger sense of community across our team members. 

How have your views on talent, recruitment, or team leadership changed in the last 12 months? What are you doing differently now vs. last year?

Most of 2020-2021 our team worked virtually. I'm quite fortunate to have team members who are responsible and work exceptionally well on their own. While this didn't disrupt the flow of business, it fostered a lack of cohesiveness and synergy, often resulting in the right hand not being clear on what the left hand was doing.

In Q2- 2021, we returned in-office, but on a rotating schedule. Everyone had become used to working on their own and only rarely would be in each other's presence all together. In this last quarter of 2021, I've become very intentional to bring back regular in-person department meetings, increase group communication, and have in-person casual team gatherings so that we can reclaim the comradery we had pre-pandemic, while indoctrinating new hires into our department's bond and culture.                         

How have your views on talent, recruitment, or team leadership changed in the last 12 months? What are you doing differently now vs. last year?

The biggest change that we have experienced revolves around corporate culture and how we as a business create and improve company culture while operating as a remote company. In the past, we were willing to experiment with allowing non-production employees the opportunity to work from home two days per week. Today it is five and we will probably continue this through 2022.

It requires a change in leadership style, a change in setting KPIs and expectations, and a change in how we help our team members grow in their own career. Individuals who might have been great leaders in 2019 might not have the necessary skills to be great leaders in 2022.  

What are some of the most exciting technology innovations that came out of this year, and what will their impact be going forward?

There is an abundance of exciting technology innovations that we have seen touch the fashion industry in the last year. For me, the most exciting tech to emerge is 3D body scanning technology, such as our partners’ at 3DLOOK. I am passionate about changing the narrative that has existed for so long in the fashion industry around sizing.

For years the fashion industry has been telling us what to wear, what size we should be, and what the standards of beauty should be. With 3D body scanning technology we can change the conversation, make better products, improve our designs based on our customers' body shape and size, right-size our inventory levels based on demand, and significantly reduce return rates and our carbon footprint.