September 11, 2020 
Historically, technology has had a huge role to play in the growth of the consumer goods (CPG) industry. Change is, truly, the only constant in this digitally disruptive age.
To keep up with the ever-changing demand trends, CPG companies must forgo the age-old practices and constantly modulate their strategies, taking technology driven decisions by effectively anticipating new opportunities.
It’s no surprise then that opportunities have presented themselves in myriad different ways over the past few years.
Digital Disruption in the CPG industry
One of the biggest trends that has shaped the consumer goods industry in the last decade is the emergence and the steady rise of the digital consumer.
This new demographic, with its unique purchasing patterns has driven sales via online mediums to reach a tipping point.
From the millennials to the baby boomers, buying goods through online channels has now become a lifestyle that transcends generations.
Needless to say it all began when the true power of the digital media was unleashed. The internet plays a key role when it comes to increasing a company’s reach in a more convenient and cost-effective manner.
Traditionally, the CPG industry had been somewhat of a late bloomer on the E-commerce bandwagon. The IoT (Internet of Things ) remains largely unexplored and opportunities to automate the entire CPG value chain definitely exist.
With the consumer becoming smarter, there arises a need for using interactive and smart technology to enhance consumer experience and improve marketing to succeed in the D2C (direct to consumer) industry.
Reports forecast the online FMCG market to double from 2017 to an estimated 45 billion USD in 2020. Online portals are.expected to play an essential role in this aspect.
One of the major mediums of D2C selling nowadays is the E-marketplace. Aggregators such as Swiggy, Zomato, and Amazon have enabled businesses to build a strong consumer base without having to invest in brick and mortar spaces.
Naturally, to gain a competitive edge over the increasing number of B2C sellers in such marketplaces, it becomes quite crucial for major B2B players in the industry to swiftly shift their focus toward B2C e-commerce by taking
advantage of such aggregator platforms.
Furthermore, as the COVID19 pandemic continues to disrupt business models all over the world, its repercussions have been somewhat optimistic for the e-commerce industry.
With consumers refusing to venture out to shops for fear of catching the virus, online sales have doubled during this period for a large number of CPG players.
Winning the online market
While selling on multiple online portals is a quick and easy way to reach consumers, managing orders across multiple dashboards for each of these platforms becomes quite cumbersome.
Optimizing operations so as to seamlessly manage sales across all online platforms is the key to winning the online game.
It also becomes essential for any business to have real-time control over all business aspects ranging from the menu on online channels to sales and operations data.
Further, understanding consumer behaviour and ordering trends by utilizing an effective analytics software has become a prerequisite for improving sales on online platforms.
Having a central system to consolidate customer information and sales data across all online platforms goes a long way in this case.
By analysing this data to understand operational challenges and by running effective marketing campaigns, businesses can increase sales, simplify reconciliation, and enhance customer retention & loyalty.
The UrbanPiper X Vinculum difference
As tricky as winning the online game may sound, especially for FMCG players who have traditionally resorted to more conservative methods of selling (through physical stores and B2B models for sales), there are multiple experts who make the transition from offline to online as easy as a, b, c.
Vinculum- a global player for the SaaS platforms for the e-commerce and retail industry has tied up with hyperlocal business expert- UrbanPiper, to make life easier for CPG/FMCG businesses to scale up and reach direct-to-consumers, hyperlocally. Here’s how.
Aggregator Integrations
Using Vinculum’s Vin eRetail OMS with UrbanPiper integrations removes the hassle of managing different dashboards for different aggregator platforms.
Businesses can track and manage their orders from 70+ web stores and marketplaces such as Zomato, Swiggy, Amazon, Flipkart, Shopclues etc, directly from the Vinculum’s Vin eRetail OMS, thus eliminating any chances of manual error in punching in orders.
This empowers businesses with the capability of omni-channel catalog management in real-time from a single dashboard – Eliminating fragmented data & eradicating dependency on aggregators.
Through omnichannel retailing, businesses can get visibility of inventory & amplify sales in real-time across multi-locations and warehouses.
Order Management System
There’s nothing like building brand value by having the brand’s own online ordering website in place. UrbanPiper provides a robust order management system (OMS) and branded mobile apps.
Using this, CPG brands can utilise to build their own loyal customer base by running loyalty programs, using branded wallets and implementing effective couponing solutions.
Analytics and Reconciliation Module
UrbanPiper’s intelligent analytics dashboard Atlas lets businesses track their sales performance and take operational decisions accordingly.
By analysing the customer data and ordering trends across online and offline channels, CPG brands can run extensive marketing campaigns at the press of a button. The powerful tool enables businesses to maximize their profit through smart menu engineering.
Inventory Control
For most FMCG brands, managing the high number of SKUs poses a challenge. It becomes crucial for brands to manage their inventory efficiently both offline and online.
The Vinculum’s Vin eRetail OMS system with UrbanPiper integration lets businesses sync and manage their inventory across their online and offline channels in realtime.
Warehousing & Fulfillment
Vinculum’s comprehensive Warehouse Management System lets businesses seamlessly integrate warehouse processes with sales channels, enabling CPG brands to efficiently handle their B2B and B2C fulfillment.
Wrapping Up
The CPG/FMCG industry that had previously thrived on its successful distribution model for its availability at every neighborhood mom&pop store, has now been tremendously disrupted.
By scaling online, with a little help from industry experts such as Vinculum and UrbanPiper, these businesses can now directly sell to customers and increase their revenue exponentially, that too, at speed.
