Shopper Marketing

Daily downstream data, social listening, sentiment analysis, crowdsourced local intelligence, website traffic, hyper-local digital advertising it's all coming together to paint a picture of the individual consumer. Thus, consumer goods executives have a new mantra: "Thou shalt collect, analyze and act on a confluence of data."

Categories are not established by consumers but by retailers as a result of how they lay out their stores. That begs the question: How can you reconcile the differences between consumer-centric and store-related categories?

Cognitive computing will enable CPG firms to venture out far and plunge into the analytic depths of Big Data at just the right moment in history.

To avoid common category management challenges, such as lost sales and bloated inventory, here are five ways brand owners can arm retailers with the next generation of space and assortment planning capabilities and insights.

Fan favorites M&M'S Brand Crispy Chocolate Candies and SNICKERS Xtreme Bar will join newcomers 3 MUSKETEERS Mint Bites, COMBOS Baked Snacks in two sweet and salty flavors, DOVE Whole Fruit Dipped In Dark Chocolate, TWIX Creamy Peanut Butter Cookie Bars and festive seasonal shapes.

The company is a provider of next-generation promotion optimization software for retailers and consumer goods companies such as Unilever and BIC.

John Rossi, general manager for Consumer Goods Consulting at Wipro and CGT Executive Council member, provides key considerations that a consumer goods manufacturer must figure out -- from specific selling models and distribution networks to technology infrastructure -- before calling an emerging market home.

By focusing marketing efforts on customers with the greatest social value, retailers and consumer goods manufacturers can generate more bang for their promotional buck.