Consumer Packaged Goods Industry

Rapidly-Changing Consumer Buying Habits

Can consumer packaged goods (CPG) supply chains adapt as fast as consumers change their buying preferences? As a result of recent disruptions, the day-to-day activities—and buying habits—of virtually everyone in the world changed quickly and dramatically, immediately putting a spotlight on the need for supply chain resiliency. Resiliency means many things, such as supply assurance, the ability to predict demand, visibility into logistics all the way to last-mile delivery, and an effective strategy for navigating complex global trade policies and regulations.

Consumers are increasingly focused on health, quality and social responsibility. Often their buying is influenced by product sourcing and tracing transparency, product personalization and sustainable practices. The pandemic-induced shift to an “at-home” lifestyle and the work-from-home trend bring good business opportunities, each with its own unique challenges. Companies can create new products and channels such as direct-to-consumer, adapt to the explosion of online shopping and take extra measures to ensure the availability of high-demand items.

Challenges that Accompany the Benefits of Outsourcing

To compete, CPG companies are reassessing their core competencies and identifying partners—such as contract manufacturers—for outsourcing at an increasing rate. With all the benefits of outsourcing comes the loss of visibility and control. When you add in major disruptions, it becomes clear that a connected supply chain ecosystem is essential. e2open helps address these concerns with technologies and applications supported by a connected business network, enabling you to efficiently access and analyze data and collaborate across your extended supply chain to handle issues together with your partners.

Visibility across Your Multi-Tier Supply Chain

Often products flow through different levels of distribution to the consumer. Using data from your channels to understand who is buying and why they choose one product over another can help you get closer to customers. By capturing signals that indicate changes in buying behavior and reacting quickly, you gain much-needed agility.

The ability to deliver the right products on time and through channels where consumers buy is further challenged by a lack of visibility into the supply of raw materials or components. Ocean vessels tied up at ports create logistics delays, requiring sophisticated AI-driven technology to predict estimated times of arrival. With e2open, you gain much-needed visibility and predictability by leveraging real-time data from all partners.

Accelerating the Move to Digital Technologies

Forward-thinking CPG companies are hitting the accelerator on their digital plans. Many leverage real-time data and AI technology across all their planning and execution applications with the help of e2open. Prepare for future disruptions and meet changing consumer expectations by optimizing your supply chain—end-to-end.