Building brand loyalty for consumer goods is incredibly difficult in today’s saturated market. In order to maintain, and improve their consumer base, CPG manufacturers are constantly improving their products. To do this at the most effective level, manufacturers have turned to Big Data, specifically social sentiment. By analyzing social media, companies can identify which products and features are the best received, and which are in the most need of improvement. With a better understanding of consumer wants and needs, CPG manufacturers can bring new products to maker faster, monitor the feedback, and continue to improve. Big Data is giving CPG companies a competitive advantage in a hyper-competitive market.
Price-point optimization is crucial in the CPG space. If a product is priced too high, a consumer is likely to simply switch brands, and might even find they like the brand more and never come back. With Big Data analytics CPG companies can monitor different variables, such as competitor prices, product cost, and consumer price points. This data can be integrated with sales forecasting from distributors and retailers as well as point of sale data. All of this data, when analyzed with proper Big Data software, can provide invaluable insight. Competitive pricing has shown to improve customer retention and increase revenue.
The Consumer Product Goods Industry is using Big Data in marketing efforts in the same ways most industries are using Big Data for marketing. It is most often used to identify consumer segments, and link them with purchase history data, to improve marketing spend. Just as in every other industry, CPG marketers have found traditional advertising channels and methods to be less effective than they once were. Instead, new channels, namely social media, have shown to have the highest return on investment. In order to penetrate the new space, CPG marketing teams have begun to increase their online presence by implementing micro-targeting campaigns and tracking and responding to promotions in real-time. A personalized experience is vital for building and improving customer loyalty as consumers no longer just purchase a product, they expect to interact with a brand at their convenience.