AI-powered revenue growth management for CPGs

Major advances in AI-powered analytics make RGM goals attainable

Revenue growth management isn’t a new concept for consumer goods companies, but major advances in CPG analytics let companies achieve RGM greatness in ways that weren’t previously possible. The driving force behind this positive development is AI-powered technology that unifies disparate data sources so CPGs can focus on the most impactful uses cases with greater speed and decision-making accuracy. Let’s explore what that means in practical terms and appreciate why the timing for the breakthrough approach with CPG analytics is ideal given current and projected market conditions. 

CPGs today face unprecedented growth pressures and operational challenges due to a wide range of factors. There are mounting expense pressures related to labor and input cost inflation. CPGs with national or regional brands face increased competition from retailers’ own brands and headwinds from direct-to-consumer brands. Meanwhile, retailers are more demanding than ever when it comes to shelf space productivity, marketing effectiveness and how their trading partners use data to achieve efficiency goals and drive growth. And then there is the consumer whose behavior shifts more quickly than ever, creating the potential for on-shelf availability or over stock issues. 

Against this backdrop, CPGs must take advantage of every opportunity to increase productivity and decision-making accuracy to achieve sales and profitability goals, even in market segments or categories with unfavorable demand characteristics. The solution, as is also the case for retailers, is a connected approach where the unification of data from historically siloed functions provides a holistic view of the business to optimize decision-making. 

Theory becomes reality 

CPGs who have been successful with RGM over the years were always those most adept at using data to inform decisions. However, even the best of breed faced issues related to data accessibility and unification which hindered the speed at which insights were discovered and the accuracy of decisions based on those insights. SymphonyAI identified this unmet need and is focused on developing a CINDE CPG Enterprise Suite platform that provides the missing link that has held CPGs back from achieving true RGM success. 

CINDE for CPGs will apply the same logic as the well-known CINDE Connected Retail Platform that unifies retailers’ historically siloed information so they can increase the speed and accuracy of decisions in areas such as supply chain, merchandising and store operations. The big difference for CPGs is the silos of information and the use cases are different but the logic behind the benefits of data unification are the same. 

When CPGs are able to unify their data on a common platform real-time insights become reality and missed opportunities are a thing of the past. One of the best examples of this involves trade promotion. CPGs spend an estimated 11% to 15% of their annual revenues on trade promotion, according to the Promotion Optimization Institute’s 2024 annual report. Given the size of these budgets even small improvements in effectiveness can have a meaningful impact on sales and margin. 

The reason why is because CINDE automates and accelerates data analysis, so trade promotion plans are created, executed and optimized faster than ever across a CPG’s portfolio of retail accounts and categories. Beyond this function, a great source of value lies in CINDE’s ability to stand watch over dynamic consumer demand and market conditions and provide alerts when a promotional plan is underperforming. That way a CPG can make in flight adjustments to increase promotional effectiveness, reduce waste and bolster profitability. 

Without a unified view of data and the power of AI this type of analysis is impractical due the labor investment required to produce less accurate insights than CINDE can generate in seconds with a few key strokes. Compared to historical processes used by CPGs, CINDE’s capabilities can seem magical because it can run hundreds of predictive scenarios and performance outcomes to recommend the optimal plan that incorporates promotional frequency, promoted weeks and pricing. 

Imagining new RGM possibilities 

The value proposition of a unified data platform is clear for trade promotion, but that’s just the beginning of new possibilities that can fuel sales and profit growth for CPGs. The same ability to accelerate reporting and analysis and the recommendation of actions can be applied to other areas of a CPG’s business. CINDE lets CPGs perform segmentations on their brands’ growth potential to strategically allocate trade funding based on different attributes of retail accounts. 

In addition, CINDE allows for highly accurate and extremely fast performance management and performance analytics in areas such as competitive activities and diagnostics, promotional analysis and marketing mix modeling. These capabilities were largely unrealized aspirations for CPGs, but that situation has changed thanks to CINDE and the advances in AI it incorporates. 

Beyond the limited use cases mentioned here, the CINDE CPG Enterprise Suite vision is to  unlock opportunities that are unique to individual companies based on their specific circumstances. While every CPG is different, all benefit from a unified view of their business powered by a common data platform that leverages AI to deliver actionable insights faster than ever.