After the pandemic, sales numbers in the FMCG sector are usually a cause of concern for most companies. It is a time when people are not sure if they need to continue buying the product, and hence sales drop.

According to Insight Market, April sales in the FMCG segment fell 34%. After experiencing single-digit growth in the first quarter, companies have found ways to combat this dip in FMCG sales software by introducing discounts on their products or even a buy one get one free offer.

So this blog comes with several ideas to improve FMCG sales.

Let’s get started!

FMCG During The COVID World

In the years before the pandemic, the consumer goods industry was booming and undergoing significant changes. Since mid-2018, the industry has slowed, with a steady decline in growth by January/February 2020, with teen growth rates nearly halving.

FMCG players have attempted to compete by cutting prices and increasing consumer offerings in this scenario. The FMCG sector in India has recently increased faster than its urban counterparts, FMCG products are about half of the total rural spending.

With about 12% of the world’s population, which live in villages in India, the Indian national FMCG market is the driving force for the entire industry. FMCG companies plan to develop their national affiliates by introducing small packages for goods that are likely to fit people’s incomes in India’s countryside.

This is an excellent example of how companies constantly develop new growth strategies to increase FMCG sales.

Ideas To Improve FMCG Sales During COVID

1. Create A New Sales Strategy

The world of FMCG sales is constantly changing, and it takes a keen eye to stay relevant. By using the proper marketing techniques, you can get customers to notice your brand more often, which leads to higher sales.

Salespeople must be able to analyze the needs of their clients and try to anticipate their future needs. They must also know how to create long-term strategies to meet those needs.

This may involve working with different departments in the company and with external partners to serve customers better. Then, the sales department collaborates closely with marketing, operations, public relations to achieve their sales goals with sales force automation FMCG.

Another example is that using social media is one of the best ways to update your sales plan. Social media is an excellent tool for FMCG brands because it helps marketers connect with their target audience in an authentic way that’s not too pushy or sales-focused.

2. Improve Communication With Retailers

Communication is the key to any successful business, especially in the FMCG sector during covid. Since communication between two parties is an interactive process, it is crucial that each party involved in a transaction can correctly convey their requirements and expectations.

Communication between FMCG brands and retailers is an essential part of increasing sales. Retailers are responsible for stocking and selling products and providing in-store services to customers.

The relationship is concurrently beneficial for both parties: FMCG brands provide retailers with products, which they can sell at a profit. In return, retailers offer brands the exposure from being present in their stores.

With the FMCG sales app, brands can build positive relationships with their retailers because communication between the two parties can affect sales, distribution, and overall brand marketing. Bad communication can result in negative consequences.

Nowadays, using digital media to stay in touch with retailers has become the “new normal.” Not only is it easy and convenient to communicate, but it also helps build business loyalty and send great offers to existing customers.

3. Efficient Inventory Management

The inventory management of an FMCG Product is a highly complex process. Many factors affect the sales and the demand for the products.

Therefore, it has to be appropriately managed with specific steps to be followed with FMCG sales force automation software, which will help allocate the resources and manage the inventory efficiently.

• The first step is to examine and assess the effect of various factors on sales like advertising, weather conditions, seasons, competitive activities, and many more.
• The second step is to plan and implement while keeping in mind the sales forecasted and desired levels of stocks.
• The third step is to make sure you’re always stocking up on the best-selling products. Be aware of how your sales are doing. The moment you notice a dip in sales, restock your shelves with more of those items.

4. Advanced Visual Merchandising Audits

In the past three years, visual merchandising has become one of the most powerful tools to increase sales of FMCG products.

Visual merchandising audits are essential for retailers and brand owners to understand how customers perceive their products, which is crucial in optimizing their products’ positioning, display, and overall marketing mix.

Retailers can use visual merchandising audits to improve the effectiveness of their entire marketing mix. For example, to enable successful visual merchandising audits, careful planning is required to ensure that all the information needed is collected.

So, the visual merchandising audit summarises the shop layout and merchandising strategy to identify any opportunity to improve sales.

5. Make the Field Force Process More Automated

COVID-related restrictions make it difficult for companies to ensure that front-line workers meet compliance and performance standards.

At the same time, manually collecting and analyzing this data and applying different policies to improve standards can be a daunting process for businesses.

So, simply automating the process of collecting sales or service information onsite in real-time using communication technology (usually a handheld computer, wireless device, or mobile phone) with an FMCG field sales app can improve productivity.

To Wrap Up Things

Some marketers are still not focusing on the digital aspect of the FMCG markets. This is a huge mistake, as digital provides much more information about what customers want, and it helps to increase sales.

This article will provide you with five steps to improve your FMCG sales during Covid. As a business owner, you can rest assured of the challenges in improving your business due to this deadly pandemic with these simple steps.