Where Are FMCG Consumers Going?

Have you stepped out of your home recently? Where have you been? Is it the supermarket or the super-near retail store? 

Chances are, it’s the latter. And that’s the same story for millions of other shoppers.

Consumers are no longer hoarding supermarkets and buying in bulk, but are instead sitting at home and tapping on their phones and ordering online from these same supermarkets.

Which kind of brings the existence of supermarkets in question – a humongous shop filled with a vast inventory of products and crazy offers, where every day, thousands of consumers are expected to gather and be instigated to buy more product units.

For instance, five years back, you would have walked into a supermarket and might have bought five boxes of chocolates at one go, to enjoy over the coming two-three months. 

But today, when you can order online and get each box of chocolate delivered to your doorstep every month or every day, would you still choose to buy in bulk and give up shelf space? Add to that, the constant worry of finishing it before expiry.

The answer is no. Consumers love convenience. And the pandemic has ushered in a whole new era of convenience which is definitely here to stay. 

Similar to what the electronics industry is facing, in the case of FMCG products too, many consumers in the future might continue to browse products in malls and supermarkets, yet order online to avoid carrying the baggage.

But what won’t change, is us crossing those small retail stores near our homes every day, and checking out the products that are there, even from a distance. Or, stopping on the way to buy a bottle of water, cold drinks, beverages or cigarettes.  

So in 2022, that’s where FMCGs’ efforts should be.

As we step into the third year of the pandemic, where the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly yet mildly, consumers aren’t the ones overstocking.

It’s the retailers. 

To ensure that any sudden economic disruption doesn’t hamper sales and or repress demand, retailers are making sure that their inventories stay more stocked than usual. 

And if you think about it, this creates a huge opportunity for FMCG brands to increase the visibility of their different product lines. 

With retailers keen on stocking more, brands can keep that spirit high with retail tools like the Retailer app or their very own WhatsApp Ordering bot. Using these solutions, retailers can explore more product varieties and promotional offers, right from their phones and can directly order from companies. It also helps ensure that the orders reach the company in time.

Even solutions like Smart Basket, which tells sales teams the exact products and quantities each retailer should order, can be of tremendous use to increase the exposure of products that need immediate visibility to sustain the current market. 

Hence, it’s the ripe time for FMCG brands to focus on local retailers, where most of the population would be making their regular, in-person purchases for the next few years. 

That’s where their products majorly need to be. Not in empty supermarkets, where the company’s products are nearly invisible amongst the twenty other similar products they have been stacked with, on 6ft tall shelves. 

So, what about you? Are your products getting the needed visibility and capitalizing on this opportunity? Explore the Retailer app, WhatsApp Ordering Bot, Smart Basket and other intelligent retail solutions of Bizom to discover your growth potential in your current markets. 

Connect with us at marketing@mobisy.com to schedule a free personalized demo for you and your team.