The following is a guest post from Hans Van Delden, a principal at PwC US.
在过去两年中，大流行对许多行业造成了严重破坏，但CPG部门的表现相对良好。由于越来越多的人在店内和在线购买必不可少的商品，而普华永道2021年12月的全球消费者见解脉冲调查发现，有76％的受访者计划在来年花费更多的钱。
这并不意味着2022年会变得轻而易举。通货膨胀率上升，供应链挑战和在线消费者支出增加可能会带来比该行业在一段时间内看到的更多挑战。
如果公司要提高绩效，他们需要向内看并检查其定价，折扣，数据分析等的方法。CPG操作可以采取以下四个步骤，以提高未来一年的表现。
1. Understand inflation’s impact
In December, inflation increased by 7.0% year-over-year, the largest 12-month increase in consumer goods prices since June 1982,根据劳工统计局。Given how tight margins are in this sector normally, there’s plenty of pressure for CPG operations to raise their rates. However, companies can’t simply push prices higher along with inflation. Instead, they must examine all of their products to see how increases will impact consumer demand.
“企业必须determine to what extent companies can pass on cost increases to their consumers,” says Penny Boswell, principal and consumer markets specialist at PwC US. “What impact should that have on how they’re thinking about pricing, but also absolute price points and price type architecture design?”
To do this, you need to wargame different scenarios, Boswell explains. You want to see how price changes might influence spending behaviors, but also how reducing the amount of product in a package – selling 10 cookies in a package instead of 12 without changing the price point, for instance – could impact purchasing behaviors.
了解消费者行为可能会发生变化，以及您的竞争对手如何应对通货膨胀问题，这将是至关重要的。
博斯韦尔说：“战争游戏在成本方面可能会发生什么，但在竞争方面和客户方面也会发生什么。”“谁会做什么？我们认为最有可能的情况是什么？我们如何发挥自己的手来确保取得最大的成功？”
2. Get more strategic with trade promotions
Now is a good time to reexamine promotions. Prices for in-demand food items from cookies to mustard to frozen waffles are expected to rise throughout 2022 with some retailers raising prices by 20%, according华尔街日报。随着对经济开放的其他物品的兴趣，请考虑一下推广产品还是在营销上进行更多投资是有意义的。
“随着事情变得越来越正常，消费者再次陷入了常规的购买模式，”博斯韦尔说。“对于确实可以恢复折扣的公司来说，有一个独特的机会，可以很好地了解他们的促销策略。他们应该问自己，促销在整体投资组合中扮演什么角色？他们应该在营销和品牌建设上投入额外的美元吗？他们会以额外的价格投资吗？”
This also relates to inflation – and ongoing supply chain issues. If a business discounts an item that’s rising in price, they could quickly find themselves in the red. Boswell advises companies to think twice about increasing demand for an item that can’t be quickly replenished on store shelves.
3. Examine pricing elasticity
在接下来的几个月中，了解定价弹性可能变得越来越重要。尽管价格弹性（价格变化如何影响需求）与公司如何处理通货膨胀有关，但Boswell解释说，确定商品成本以及消费者响应的因素更广泛。从该国特定地区的天气到供应链的备用到改变消费者的口味，再到从Covid-19的购买习惯都会对价格和数量产生影响。
“All of those variables are going to drive that change in volume,” Boswell says, adding that many companies struggle to understand how so many disparate influences impact pricing. “You need to have a model that’s going to be good enough to tell you that 5% of a 10% change in volume was driven by one thing and 2% was driven by another. You can then use these elasticities to competently predict what could happen in the future.”
4. Dig into data
As the CPG industry gets increasingly more competitive, companies need to get better at data analytics. With more businesses trying out direct-to-consumer options and e-commerce making it easier for buyers to purchase almost anything at any time, there’s a lot more work to do than simply managing your items in store.
Boswell说，CPG的运营开始进行更详细的数字处理，以确切地查看它们可以提高利润并提高收入的地方，但仍然是早期的。从理论上讲，它们可以查看定价，包装的细微变化或冬季风暴的微妙变化是否会影响顶线和底线。但是，许多企业仍然没有使用所需的工具来获得可见性。
博斯韦尔说：“数据是这些组织中的盲点。”许多公司已经建立了数据湖泊，在那里收集和存储了信息，但他们还不知道如何利用该信息来利用他们的优势。“他们需要弄清楚如何以有意义的方式利用数据，如何使用信息来做出决策并迅速采取行动，或者如何知道竞争对手的库存率低。”
毫无疑问，2022年将充满惊喜和起伏，但是随着经济的认真发展，现在是公司仔细研究其运营的时候了。如果您可以深入研究数据并了解影响您业务的主要经济和行业趋势，那么收入增长就不再落后。
