Recent years have been extremely intensive development of technology. The industrial revolution that is taking place before our eyes is outpacing the forecasts of consultants from strategic agencies such as Gartner and McKinsey. The development of technology shapes our habits and indirectly or directly affects each industry, without missing out on the most common ones, such as FMCG. However, from the point of view of a global corporation, as well as a small organization, there is no doubt that if a company wants to actively compete in a focused market, it must be innovative and understand technology, and the best, in turn, allocate part of their budgets to investments that ensure a soft landing during market distractions.
In developing an organization, it's not just about delivering new products to consumers, but also about harnessing the current potential of the portfolio – in both cases, technology can help significantly. In this series of articles, I will try to use a few examples to show how the FMCG industry is changing under the influence of technology - both from the point of view of the retailer, consumer, and manufacturer.
Figure 1The proportion of new product adoption over many years. [Mintel]
POV: manufacturer
To begin with, I will talk about what is happening technologically on the side of the consumer goods manufacturer. Keep in mind that this is only part of what you can actually find in modern organizations. In addition, it is worth emphasizing the fact that each technology used has a specific strategic goal for companies-whether it is economic, environmental or just a test.
New product development-Marketing research
An extremely interesting innovation that is being used on an increasing scale in marketing research, sensory research, or identifying market trends is the so-called technology. synthetic consumer. Based on a model prepared by scientists Stanford University, supported by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) we were able to match a virtual consumer that behaves very similar to respondents in focus surveys or blind tests. It was with his help that Nestle brought the Nestle Probiotic Supplements line of products to the giant Chinese market. The use of AI allowed us to carefully study which tastes and weights will meet the needs of consumers. Moreover, the preparation of the product implementation strategy and communication channels was also carefully studied and proposed by the AI. Of course, the synthetic consumer also has shadows: they differ from humans in that they have no emotions, and they are often more rational, which, as we know, has a significant impact on any purchase decision. However, the potential of this young solution is still very high.
Before we conclude that AI will take our jobs away, let's take a step back on the technological timeline. 😊 Augmented Reality (AR), or virtual reality (VR) these are still very young technologies that are readily used in research, attracting consumers to a brand, or coordinating advertising mechanisms. Once the VR glasses are put on, the test subject can receive a mission to purchase a specific product in a virtual store. As a result, the marketer will get information about eye movement and a heat map with hot spots of the studied material and find out what the subject pays attention to when choosing a particular product, what advertising mechanism is attractive to them, and what the planogram should look like.
Rysunek 2 Przykład wirtualnego sklepu oraz badania grafiki opakowania [https://readysetvr.com/]
Products and their packaging:
According to the research agency Mintel, in recent years, the FMCG market has been dominated by trends such as personalization, health and environmental care. Undoubtedly, technological innovations that make products more adapted to the needs of consumers, less expensive both from the point of view of the economic account of the manufacturer and from the point of view of environmental costs, can be a great support in response to them.
The fresh food industry, such as meat or fish, is implementing solutions smart packaging. One of their functions may be to help consumers understand when the product they are buying is usable. It helps to place a special chip on the packaging packed in a protective atmosphere (so-called MAP), which easily shows the freshness of the product.. This is a good solution for the consumer ,but also for the entire supply chain.
Figure 3 package of fresh salmon servings with a freshness meter
Continuing the topics related to logistics in general, it is worth mentioning the concept of traceability. Due to the fact that the consumer is increasingly paying attention to a clean product label, it is the manufacturer who cares about transparency at every stage of its creation. For example, after scanning a QR code on salmon products, the consumer will find out what their journey was from caviar to the store shelf, how they were fed, what their size was, and when exactly the slaughter took place. Similar solutions can be found on vegetables. This, in my opinion, is something innovative, created through the use of advanced Internet of thing systemswith (IoT), machine learning (ML) records very reliable data in a small QR code.
Figure 4 barcode to ensure complete traceability of the product.
Manufacturers ' processing of large amounts of data allows them to effectively respond to the needs of consumers at the expense of even more personalized services products and promotions. Remember the Coca-Cola pioneers who introduced name cans? It was undoubtedly a brilliant marketing ploy. We are currently seeing much more short production runs reacting to tik-tok-a trend related to product flavor or a limited-edition release related to observing a specific consumer's purchase history.
Another interesting and increasingly scalable trend is 3D printing of food products. It has great potential related to m.in: with the possibility of obtaining unique product forms, possibly reducing the problem of food waste, or finding alternatives for the selected target audience (for example, meat for vegans). Barilla, a global leader in the pasta market, devotes its R & D budgets to the development of this technology and encourages consumers to contribute to new forms of products. This results in really fancy shapes.. The food printing industry will certainly continue to evolve, and the technology itself will become cheaper and more widely used. Continuous progress is evidenced by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) technology 4D printing it was there that researchers developed pasta that is completely flat in the finished package, and when thrown into water adapts to the shape set by the printer. It is not difficult to imagine the positive impact of this solution on the environment, it can help eliminate the problem of unnecessary air in the product packaging.
Figure 5 competition for a new form of Barilla pasta
Data usage: AI engines, digital twin
Companies often face the problem of not fully utilizing the data they have in their internal assets. You know what it's like to get new sales data, product presentations, customer behavior, various sources of information, and attract new employees or IT staff on a daily basis. How to combine all this? More and more organizations are building internal ones AI engineswho use corporate data, answer complex corporate questions, whether they are our own AI assistant we prepare a presentation in accordance with the style of our work. Data quality and security are important here. This solution is developed, for example, in the company L’Oréal.
How can I anticipate changes and test them in a more secure virtual environment? The answer can be so-called. digital twin. In a simplified way, we are talking about displaying the factory in a test environment, which allows you to detect errors in advance before they occur, or test new solutions without downtime of the production line. It also provides great marketing opportunities for prototyping or improving product quality. These technologies are used by global tycoons such as Coca-Cola or Heinz.
To sum up
The technology is changing the FMCG industry, which only at first glance seems conservative. When consumers refer to a product of their favorite brand, they are often unaware of the changes that occur at every stage of the product's life cycle, supply chain, or marketing mix. And the fact that their dynamics are great and they are inevitable, the leaders of the largest companies in the industry were convinced at the Consumer Goods Conference in Chicago in June of this year.: ‘We have to embrace digitalisation completely. This is not only for a better future, but also for survival.’ So, the technological future is already here, and industry workers face a serious challenge: be open to change and give themselves room for trial and error.
Junior specialist in Marketing Communications and PR.
He is a graduate of the University of Warsaw and the Main School of Agriculture. We have been in the HoReCa industry for more than 10 years. For many years, he has been associated with the Trip group, Sobienie Royal Golf and Country Club, and the Florentin Restaurant in Warsaw.
She graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw Technical University with a degree in Architecture for the Knowledge Society and Visual Communications at the Polytechnic University of Milan. A specialist in creating a mood. She has gained experience at home and abroad at numerous international seminars (Seville, Lisbon, Florence), fellowships at La Sapienza (Rome), etc. m.in. in Carmi e Ubertis and ADM Milano.
A manager with many years of experience in the cosmetics, food, and children's industries. During his career, he was associated with such companies as: L'Oreal, Samsung, Danone-Nutricia, Unilever. During his professional life, he was responsible, among other things, for the development of e-commerce sales and content in Poland and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. 
