Download Data Transformation: Winning and Retaining the Digital

Data
Transformation:
Winning
and Retaining
the Digital
Consumer
2
Winning and Retaining
the Digital Consumer
Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies are faced with opportunities and
challenges as tech-savvy, on-the-go consumers use a mix of digital channels to
move from browse to purchase. eCommerce, eCoupons, social networks and mobile
applications provide more opportunities than ever to learn about, engage with and
deliver the goods to consumers. Yet, the expanding number of touch points and
channels increases the difficulty of finding the right combination to serve them
efficiently and consistently, and multiplies the complexity of both managing digital
marketing tactics and allocating budgets to generate positive returns.
The stakes are high. Consumers are using
digital channels to make more informed
decisions and making purchases through
multiple channels. Their experiences with
Amazon, Google and iTunes have increased
their expectations that companies will
use the gigabytes of personal data
surrendered to curate and deliver targeted
offers. Frankly, today’s digital consumers
are baffled by, if not frustrated with,
fragmented cross-channel efforts and
irrelevant offers and campaigns.
Which brings us to the question at hand:
Given what we know about consumers
and how they use digital channels, how
should CPG companies prioritize their
investments to attract, engage, sell to and
retain digital consumers? CPG marketers
want to invest in digital capabilities that
influence consideration, enhance loyalty and
drive sales. Many know that an integrated,
multichannel consumer-centric organization
is critical. But they do not know how to
create this cost-efficiently at scale or where
to start. Companies have a lot of options
and could spend a lot of money with little to
show for their efforts.
This point of view identifies several
leading practices to adopt as well as
investments to consider in order to win
digital consumers’ loyalty and business.
We discuss channel-specific capabilities
and strategies that have worked for clients
and other companies. Underpinning all
these specific ideas, however, is a broader
point: Winning the digital consumer is an
enterprise-wide responsibility, requiring
contributions from functions and areas
across a company. Far from being the
“role” of sales, brand or marketing teams,
we have found that companies that have
succeeded, such as P&G, are those that
combine talent, assets and insights to
operate in a fundamentally different way,
using new organizational structures and
operating models geared toward making
the most of investments in serving digital
consumers. Consequently, the practices
and capabilities discussed here should be
viewed as pieces of the puzzle that could
make future investments pay off—both for
companies themselves and the consumers
they hope to convert to customers.
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Figure 1: Digital Path to Purchase Drives CPG Sales
Shopper in Store (19%)
Where
are brand
purchase
decisions
made?
AWARENESS CONSIDERATION
TRIAL
PURCHASE
LOYALTY
ADVOCACY
Consumer in Home (81%)
Foundation
Website
Digital Capabilities
Branded
Sites
Affiliate
Site
Promotional
Site
Analytics
and
Website
Optimization
Usability
&
Accessibility
4
Awareness & Consideration
Trial
On the Go
Purchase
Loyalty
Advocacy
CRM
Social
Search
iMedia
Partnerships
Coupons
Mobile
eCommerce
Natural
Search SEO
Standard
Display Ads
Content
Syndication
QR Codes
Mobile
Browser
Direct to
Consumer
Comparison
Shipping
(Emerging
Countries)
eCoupons
Mobile
Apps
Where
to Buy
Functionality
Paid Search
SEM
Rich Media
Ads
Search
Capability
on
Website
Broadband
Video
Sponsorships/
Co-branding
Online
Events
Sweepstakes
QR Codes
GPS
RFID
POS
Web TV
Philanthropic
Cause
Marketing
Social
Coupons
Text
Messaging
Landing
Page
Optimization
Branded
Storefront
Loyalty
Program
Behavioral
Targeting and
Acquisition
Cross-sell
Engine
Sell Direct
on Thirdparty Site
Retention
&
Win Back
Technical
Platform
Campaigns,
MRM, Email,
Reporting
Online
Video
Communities
Answer
Forum
Word-ofmouth,
Buzz,
Referrals
Wikis, Blogs,
Crowd
Sourcing,
Mash-ups
Product
Innovation
1. Think—and operate—with
multichannel in mind
Our research shows that consumers use a
variety of channels as they move along the
path toward purchase (see Figure 1), yet
many companies do not move to meet them
where they are swiftly or fluidly. In part, this
is a product of organizational structure, when
separate channels are managed by largely
separate teams. But companies need to tear
down those barriers if they are to serve the
multichannel consumer well and compete.
They also may need new capabilities to
understand how consumers are using each
channel so that they can react appropriately
and move them along the path to purchase.
When managed independently, single
channels—even if executed superbly—have
limited impact and provide just a slice of
insight into consumer behavior, and it is
a potentially misleading one given that
consumers use a variety of channels. A true
multichannel strategy integrates, leverages,
measures and optimizes the unique properties
and advantages of each channel. Consumer
behaviors displayed on websites, social
networks, mobile apps, emails and in stores
should all be considered in prioritizing
multichannel investments.
CPG companies are finding that the best
multichannel marketing is one that promotes
an ongoing, synchronized dialogue with
consumers. But, like all dialogues, it requires
companies to pay constant attention to the
flow of information received, and be agile
enough to adapt to changes so they can
deliver relevant, customized messages at the
right time.
Putting in place the organizational units,
processes and tools to effectively integrate
multiple channels is one of the key challenges
CPG companies face. Yet, it is a necessary
one to overcome to develop a holistic view
of consumers, prevent missteps and seize
opportunities to connect with them.
2. Employ data analytics
to move through the
marketing and sales cycle
with consumers
CPG companies frequently have more data
than they know what to do with, yet it is
rarely shared to understand and deepen
relationships with consumers. Our research
with CPG companies found that companies
actually use data more to assess financial
performance, evaluate supply chain interaction
or improve collaboration with channel
partners. Accordingly, redeploying analytic
firepower to value-generating purposes
is a critical step. As we discussed in our
report on commercial analytics in consumer
goods Moving from Insights to Action,1 CPG
companies could potentially save money on
the costs of data acquisition and increase
revenue if analytics were focused on marketing
and sales commercial processes such as
deriving shopper insights; brand marketing
analytics; or price, promotion and assortment
analytics. In a recent survey of CPG executives2
we also found that only 12 percent would rate
their company’s ability to execute analytics
as “exceptional.” While there are most likely
several causes of this deficit, we believe that
fragmentation of analytics efforts across the
organization is a primary driver.
“Engaging consumers through
full integration of traditional
and digital channels is crucial
for efficient international
marketing campaigns and…
increasingly globalized and
digitalized consumer markets
have revolutionized advertising
strategy, with implications
for the marketing planning
process.”3
—Keith Weed,
CMO at Unilever
Consequently, we propose that companies
develop a cross-functional, integrated
analytics vision, as well as invest in the
technology, processes and topflight analytic
talent needed to identify target consumer
segments and tailor marketing and sales
strategies and offers. Delivering personalized,
performance-based messages has never been
easier given the access that digital channels
provide. The companies that use analytics
systematically to understand consumers
better and act on that understanding will
reap the rewards of big data.
1. Moving from Insights to Action can be found on
Accenture.com at http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/
insight-moving-from-insights-to-action-cpg.aspx.
2. Research Report: Commercial Analytics in Consumer Goods,
September 2012, http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/
insight-commercial-analytics-consumer-goods.aspx.
3. From http://www.takuglobal.net/2011/02/13/unilevercmo/ Retrieved Feb 28, 2013.
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One study4 found that 44 percent
of adults use social channels
in part to air grievances about
companies or products.
3. Put the “social” back in
social platforms
Remember how “F-commerce”—Facebook
commerce—was going to be the next big
thing? It’s not happening, at least not right
now. In fact, many companies’ social media
efforts are not designed to actually increase
sales, or even to facilitate socializing. Fan
pages and brand communities often look
more like broadcast vehicles than interactive
social vehicles. The bottom line is that many
companies may need to revisit how they
use social platforms, refocusing investments
to both generate engagement and increase
their social listening capability to extract
actionable insights.
Engagement takes many forms. Co-creation
contests and games on social media engage
consumers and give them a vehicle to voice
their opinions. From voting on new product
flavors to participating in video competitions
in support of the brand, to offline scavenger
hunts launched online, social media has a
distinctive ability to generate engagement.
4. Future of Customer Service: The Rise of the Social
Customer, February 2012. A report from The Social Media
Leadership Forum (www.socialmedialeadershipforum.org).
Retrieved April 1, 2013.
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Ideally companies could create one-to-one
relationships with consumers or one-tomany interactions among consumers over
a shared pursuit. Either way, social media
can increase the flow of conversation and
consumers’ engagement with the brand
and with each other, making it a uniquely
cost-effective way to generate input
and influence new products, offers and
marketing approaches.
Apart from facilitating interaction, the
amount of social data flowing around the
digital cosmos demands that companies
develop the ability to listen to it, analyze
it and identify consumers’ expectations,
preferences and opinions—and shifts in all
three. One study found that 44 percent of
adults use social channels in part to air
grievances about companies or products.5
Consumers who go online to talk about or
recommend a product or brand can have
enormous influence. Intensive, methodical
social listening can identify positive and
negative trends or conversation threads
about companies, brands and products that
CPG firms need to respond to or engage
in. While many CPG companies know of
key influencers on social networks and
blogs, few have a real engagement strategy
to leverage or mitigate the content that
consumers post. Yet, motivated, garrulous
consumers can be your best friends or worst
enemies, making active social listening and
responding critical.
Beyond the billion people on Facebook,
there are myriad social platforms,
particularly in emerging markets, that
consumers use to research and post
opinions about products, and thus they
require attention from CPG companies.
5. Future of Digital Marketing survey, quoted by
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/10168-this-week-stop-six-infographics. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
Consider that:
• YouTube users upload 72 hours of new
video every minute.6
• A recent survey showed the power of
social media when it found that people
trust peer recommendations seven times
more than advertisements.7
• Nielsen now tracks over 180 blogs (up
from 36 million in 2006), and social/visual
blogs such as Tumblr have doubled unique
users in under a year.8
• Twitter executives say that over 400
million tweets are posted each day.9
The bottom line is that companies need
an end-to-end, closed-loop process to
continuously monitor social media to glean
and report insights, as well as policies to
respond to social content with targeted
communication as needed. Right now,
sectors like Financial Services are ahead
of CPG companies in this regard. These
processes and policies will allow companies
to stay in a continuous dialogue with
consumers who are interested in their
products and motivated enough to discuss
them (for better or for worse). The insights
gleaned can help target marketing messages
and rewards, develop new products, or
identify cross-brand bundling opportunities.
Our friends at Facebook have taken it on
the chin recently, but that doesn’t mean
their platform isn’t a good one—and a
multipurpose one at that. Our work with
CPG companies to improve their eCRM
and dialogue marketing capabilities shows
that the investment can convert fans and
followers to actual buyers. Whether focused
on social networks or other channels, an
effective social strategy will generate real
insight for and connection between a brand
and consumers that can benefit each party.
6. http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html.
Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
7. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2009/globaladvertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtualstrangers-the-most.html. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
8. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/buzzin-the-blogosphere-millions-more-bloggers-and-blogreaders/. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
9. http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-400million-tweets_b23744. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
Amazon: The granddaddy of directto-consumer Web-based commerce
expands its presence
Consumers’ love affair with websites
continues, as Amazon’s remarkable growth
shows. Once the go-to site for books and
CDs, the categories Amazon offers now seem
to multiply annually. The numbers tell a
remarkable e-commerce success story:
• Some analysts project that Amazon
will rack up more than $160 billion in
annual sales by 2016, representing a 23
percent compound annual growth rate, a
momentum almost unmatched by any other
retailer.10
• Amazon has diversified quickly from its
core book business, as its 2010 acquisition
of Diapers.com shows.
• The company boasts a 23 percent sales
conversion rate for visitors, compared
to the 3 percent industry average.11 For
those keeping track, the industry average
continues to decline while Amazon’s
conversion rate continues to grow.
10. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-07/amazon-surges-to-record-high-onglobal-e-commerce-growth.html. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
11. http://www.warriorforum.com/main-internet-marketing-discussion-forum/686323-2301-conversion-rate-amazon-good.html. Retrieved Feb. 26, 2013.
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A coupon trade association
calculated in 2012 that digital
coupons have a redemption rate
of over 20 percent12—nearly
100 percent higher than that of
freestanding inserts for which
redemption is generally pegged to
be just .2 percent.
Planet of the Apps
You could argue that the debut
of the iPhone® in 2007 spawned
the real mobile revolution and
provided a rare bright spot for
CPG firms and retailers as the
global economy slowed to a
crawl. Consider that:
• 15B apps were downloaded in
the first six months after the
iPhone launched.13
• eBay® generated more than
$400M in sales from its iPhone
application in the first full year
of use.14
• The “Your Reebok” application
on the iPhone generated more
direct sales for Reebok than its
website in 2009, the year of its
launch.15
12. http://techzulu.com/the-future-of-couponing-howsocial-local-mobile-has-changed-the-game/. Retrieved Feb.
26, 2013.
13. http://www.asymco.com/2011/07/13/itunes-app-totaldownloads-finally-overtook-song-downloads/. Retrieved Feb.
26, 2013.
14. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b1d0e626-bff3-11deaed2-00144feab49a.html#axzz2MENarYMo. Retrieved Feb.
26, 2013.
15. http://digital-stats.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.
html. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.
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to buy now” capability. CPG companies
differ tremendously in the e-commerce
capabilities in this regard, with fashion
and beauty far ahead of grocery and other
sectors in providing full-fledged e-store
capabilities.
4. Use e-commerce websites
as a field-tested path
to higher sales
Websites are no longer perceived as the
“hot” digital channel they once were;
mobile and social platforms have taken
priority. This makes some sense as it is hard
to stand out when there are nearly 300
million websites. Yet, our research confirms
the importance of compelling websites in
driving sales is significant for two reasons.
First, we collaborated with comScore
and dunnhumby USA16 to evaluate the
link between online behavior and offline
buying. What we found is that delivering
a compelling website experience is a clear
path to increasing sales and engaging and
winning the digital consumer. Specifically,
we found that:
• Over 30 percent of offline sales are
influenced by online content;
• On average, website visitors spend 37
percent more than non-visitors; and
In short, CPG companies are not getting
their fair share of e-commerce sales. In
2011, over $12 billion of CPG products
were sold online, and our research with
comScore and dunnhumby USA shows that
multichannel consumers are 30 percent to
200 percent more profitable for companies.
While partnering with eRetailers like
Amazon and leaders like Wal-Mart can
generate sales, they are also more costly
and complex than selling direct.
The bottom line is that CPG companies
can drive sales by enhancing websites,
including optimizing content to make it
easier for consumers to find products and
streamlining navigation and click-to-buy
processes. Leading CPG companies invest in
e-commerce capabilities that facilitate quick
and easy transactions as well as strengthen
their presence on other retailers’ sites. In
our work we have seen companies that take
the time to optimize search engine results
improve conversion by 1 percent to 35
percent. The Web is not as flashy as some
other digital properties…but it works.
• Engaged website visitors are also more
involved in the brand’s category, spending
53 percent more than non-visitors and
buying almost 60 percent more units.
Second, in addition to their ability to
drive sales offline, websites continue to
be the most direct sales channel to many
consumers and one that is underutilized.
It’s easy to forget that when the Web
first exploded and Amazon launched,
websites were about e-commerce. Now
the commerce functionality is obscured by
other functionalities and content is spread
across many sites. Yet, many consumers
like to sit down at their computer and buy
direct (see Amazon sidebar). Consumers
expect brand sites to facilitate where
to buy or, even better, provide a “click
16. Read the full report on the research at http://
www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-cpg-brandsmaximizing-return-digital-investment.aspx.
5. Don’t underestimate the
value of digital coupons
There is a healthy debate over whether any
coupons—in hard-copy circulars, delivered
to mobile devices, or downloadable from
brand websites or social network pages—
translate into sales lift or reward a buyer
with a discount on a product he or she
would have bought anyway. Some research
suggests that 49 percent of shoppers don’t
see coupons as an incentive to buy an item
they don’t normally buy.17
17. MarketTools Inc. February 2012 survey.
Taking a glass-half-full perspective, that
means the other 50 percent could be
motivated to try something new as a result
of the right offer/coupon arriving at the
right time through the right channel—all of
which digital coupons can do far better than
offers in traditional media. Our own research
shows the benefits of that precise targeting.
Digital coupons have a redemption rate of
over 20 percent—nearly 100 percent higher
than that of freestanding inserts which are
generally pegged at .2 percent.
The fact that the debate exists at all
underscores that companies are still figuring
out all of the dimensions of digital coupons,
yet they are clearly placing more bets. More
and more companies are moving marketing
dollars to digital and away from trade. Digital
coupons have a few clear benefits: besides
precision targeting, they can be cheaper to
produce than inserts or direct mail, and a
promotion can be discontinued quickly if it
flops or if it is too successful, diminishing fullprice sales. It is far easier to remove a digital
coupon from a website than it is to try to stop
or recall offers already in the mailbox. For
consumers, digital coupons are also becoming
easier to use. Apple’s iPhone 5 actually
includes a new “Passbook” functionality—
an application that stores digital coupons,
boarding passes and loyalty cards.
Digital coupons provide CPG companies
with greater control over brands and allow
targeting of coupons at consumers based
upon where they are in the path-to-purchase
funnel. Yet, far from exploiting these
advantages, the low cost and evanescence
of digital coupons have led some companies
to be less strategic than they could be with
digital coupon strategies. While it makes
intuitive sense that a solid digital coupon
strategy could complement a traditional
couponing initiative, the devil is in the
details—what should be offered, when, to
whom and on which platform? Should the
coupon be tied to the website? How do you
track whether a person who downloaded a
coupon or printed an email coupon has been
converted or is just taking advantage of a
one-off deal? The most telling metric is how
much incremental business a coupon drives
in store, but this data needs to be compared
to accurate non-promotional data sets in
order for companies to learn from it and
fine-tune their strategies.
Digital coupons add another piece to
complete the puzzle that is the consumer
purchase decision journey. While adding
complexity, the investment in understanding
what works is worthwhile as more
consumers than ever carry smartphones, log
on to social networks, use multiple channels
to research and purchase products—and
hunt for value.
6. Embrace the small screens
and the mobile consumers
so attached to them
Mobile is the most intensely
personal channel for many
consumers, and a successful
mobile strategy requires a
mindset shift that reflects this
sensitivity. We anticipate a
shift at CPG firms to “context
retailing,” where companies
interact with consumers based
upon where they are and how
they live, rather than on the
products a company is selling.
Marc Pritchard, P&G’s global
marketing officer, said as much
recently, characterizing the
shift from “I want to market to
consumers” to “I want to serve
people with our brands.”20
They’re everywhere and sometimes in the
way: slowly walking while scrolling through
texts and emails, clogging store aisles as
they scan bar codes, or tinkering with their
new mobile payment app to pay for the
skinny latte at the coffee shop. In many
markets, more than half the population has
mobile devices or smartphones, and over 10
percent have more than one mobile device.
Smartphones and tablets are the primary
drivers of growth in consumer technology
(see Figure 2), and by the close of 2012
there were more mobile devices than people
on the planet.18 Not surprisingly, revenue
from mobile data is projected to overtake
that from fixed voice by 2013 in the US.19
Rather than signaling the end of personal
interaction, however, the proliferation of
small screens provides companies with
direct access to consumers, albeit digitally
enabled. Mobile devices occupy that hazy
territory between animate and inanimate
objects, and remain uniquely personal to
their owners. Consequently companies need
to tread cautiously when using the channel
18. Cisco and TechCrunch, http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/14/
the-number-of-mobile-devices-will-exceed-worlds-populationby-2012-other-shocking-figures/. Retrieved Feb. 26, 2013.
19. http://www.telecompetitor.com/report-wireless-datarevenue-will-overtake-voice-in-2013/ quoting Chetan Sharma
research report, US Wireless Market Update – Q2 2012.
20. Quoted in Marketing Week, April 19, 2012.
Retrieved Feb. 26, 2013.
9
Figure 2: Global Unit Shipments of Desktop PCs + Notebook PCs v s. Smartphones + Tablets, 2005−2015E
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
Q4:10: Inflection Point
Smartphones + Tablets > Total PCs
800
600
400
200
0
2005
2006
2007
Desktop PCs
2008
2009
2010
Notebook PCs
2011
2012E
2013E
Smartphones
2014E
2015E
Tablets
Source: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Internet Trends @ Stanford - Bases 2012 December 3, 2012.
http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/kpcb-internet-trends-2012.
to connect with consumers. Accenture’s
experience in helping companies craft and
refine mobile strategies shows that an
effective mobile strategy combines heavyduty analytics with deep personalization
techniques.
For example, consumers crave convenience,
which location-based advertising or
marketing on mobile devices can deliver.
For a consumer compiling a grocery list, the
ability to scan a bar code to quickly add an
item to the list kept on a smartphone, and
receive a related coupon or recipe makes their
life easier, more efficient and shopping more
cost-effective. If the consumer redeems the
mobile coupon at a retailer, another stage of
the mobile cycle is launched, which includes
additional, targeted offers for products or
retailer services, or suggestions to share the
product info.
Of course, all these mobile interactions
generate a stream of data for companies
to analyze. But consumers’ surrender of
data for the convenience of living a mobileenabled life and more relevant and timely
10
offers is a trade-off many will gladly make.
This is particularly true for members of the
millennial or digital-native generations
who use mobile devices far more than they
use laptops or PCs.
Mobile is the most intensely personal
channel for many consumers, even more
than talking with floor salespeople.
Consequently, a successful mobile strategy
requires new thinking and a mindset
shift at CPG companies to reflect this
sensitivity. We think pervasive mobility
heralds the shift to context retailing, where
companies will be expected to interact
with consumers based upon where they
are and how they live, rather than the
products a company is selling. One home
and personal care company we are serving
is making the most of this shift already.
We are helping build an augmented reality
mobile app that allows users to search for
a product by attribute or user need, and
then retrieve related information about
product uses, possible pairings or even
offers of complimentary trial-size products.
By putting the consumer need first, the
company is establishing a collaborative,
lifestyle-based relationship rather than a
transactional one.
Mobile consumers and mobile data
allow a new level of customer-centric
merchandising, but many companies are
a bit behind the curve in investing in
technology that can make that goal a
reality. Gartner recently shared research21
detailing that:
• 24 percent of companies still don’t
segment consumers based upon
demographics, transaction history or
loyalty program data, although 27 percent
will start major technology upgrades
in the next 12-24 months that could
facilitate these actions; and
• 43 percent don’t or can’t segment
customers by channel use.
21. Gartner Int’l., Integrating Analytics With CustomerCentric Merchandising, June 8, 2012. Publ. ID:G00231835.
Helping P&G Transform Its
Marketing Operations
We support P&G’s Marketing Services
Organization on a wide-ranging Commercial
Business Process initiative to consolidate
and simplify marketing service management.
An Accenture team with professionals from
our consumer goods practice and Accenture
Interactive is the single point of contact for
digital campaign execution covering over 90
percent of P&G’s global brands. In support of
P&G’s XXX Summer Olympiad sponsorship,
we also managed the launch of Internet sites,
applications and home page features across
39 markets to help P&G execute its popular
Thank You Mom campaign. By extending BPO
from the back office into the front office, our
digital marketing professionals are driving
a major business transformation across
the majority of P&G’s brands, resulting in
efficiencies, cost reductions and the opening
of a vast new growth area for Accenture. 11
Digital Channels Reach
the Preschool Set
Have you played “SuperPretzel
Factory” and “Icee Maker”?
Probably not, unless you are
under four feet tall. The games
are not well-known digital
properties to most consumers,
but they are becoming a fieldtested path for CPG companies
to reach and entertain the
youngest ones. With some
companies voluntarily changing
the content of TV advertising to
emphasize healthier messages,
mobile apps are a popular and
unregulated way to market
products to children through
simple and enticing games for
touch-screen phones and tablets.
As a new channel in the digital
marketing mix, the medium also
has the advantage of being far
cheaper than Saturday morning
TV commercials. Parents may
want to watch their iPhone the
next time they take junior to the
grocery store.
The slow movement toward more actionable
segmentation using mobile data is puzzling,
as mobile provides a field-tested path to
connect with and win the digital consumer
of today and tomorrow. Our work with
companies shows that having both a mobile
strategy and an infrastructure that make
consumer interactions personal, contextrelevant and efficient is a solid investment
for CPG companies.
As channels multiply and companies seek
to enter more markets more efficiently, it’s
imperative to integrate marketing channels
and operations more effectively. Taking
such steps not only benefit the consumer by
delivering more consistent experiences, they
deliver financial and competitive benefits to
CPG companies as well.
7. Integrate digital
marketing platform and
services more tightly
At the beginning of the digital age, many
companies set up a separate unit to manage
the “e-commerce” website—separate staff,
separate budget, maybe even a separate
location. Now, the complexity of executing
marketing operations increases significantly
as the number of digital touch points and
channels multiplies, demanding a new level
of integration.
The difficulty in quantifying the return on
investment in online advertising is a case
in point. Many CPG marketers need deeper
analytic capabilities to evaluate real-time
performance of online properties, campaigns
and tactics. And performance needs to be
compared accurately across digital properties
using consistent analytic solutions and
data sources. A standardized, consistent
approach would also make analysis of online
advertising less costly. With even the most
sophisticated companies using a variety of
approaches and packages, the CMO may be
the right person to bring order to the chaos.
Marketers need cost-effective and
efficient integrated technology platform
and services processes to help manage and
consistently evaluate their ever-expanding
mix of digital and non-digital assets, and
to ensure that they complement one other
effectively to deliver consistently relevant
consumer experience.
12
Accenture has helped leading companies
such as P&G (see sidebar) achieve better
integration faster by providing marketing
support services in a variety of delivery
models. For example, our Digital Production
and Content Services are robust services
that bring core marketing operations
capabilities such as Content Production and
Management, Campaign Management and
Distribution.
8. Recognize that “winning
the digital consumer” is an
enterprise responsibility
The specter of the digital consumer is
pervasive in CPG companies, informing
investments and decision making in all
major functions and at all levels. Indeed,
many CPG companies are evolving their
business models to position digital
capabilities as foundational elements in
their organizational design and across the
value chain (Figure 3). The important point
is that companies should get started sooner
rather than later.
Many companies still operate as if serving
the digital consumer is primarily the purview
of marketing and sales teams, with perhaps
a hefty assist from the technology team.
Gaining alignment between marketing
and technology is crucial, and not always
Figure 3: Journey to Digital Organization
End-Stage Models
Digital Business
Model
Cohesive Digital
Platforms
Digital Business
Processes
Ad Hoc Solutions
Digital Maturity
13
With loyalty and sales on the line,
companies need to be strategic
in how they invest in building
their understanding of and
relationships with consumers.
More focused use of data
analytics, better social listening
and a comprehensive mobile
strategy can all aid in deeper
understanding and connection.
the easiest match to make. Our research22
shows that a strong CMO-CIO partnership
is imperative for an organization intent on
evolving to a “digitized” business model,
and thus demands constant attention to
produce results. Yet, it is just one of many,
and ignoring other dependencies can be
detrimental to a company’s success. Winning
the digital consumer and maintaining
relevance to them depends upon crossfunctional leaders and teams collaborating
and sharing information, not just in obvious
commercial functions such as marketing
and sales, new product development and
customer service, but also in HR, finance,
supply chain and analytics. To become
and stay relevant a CPG company needs
enterprise-wide critical capabilities such as:
• A flexible, scalable technology platform
that can integrate new channels and
properties seamlessly.
• Advanced eCRM tools that help companies
understand and serve digital consumers
by control segmenting audiences and
targeting messages and offers.
• An organizational mindset where
employees understand and are able and
willing to leverage end-to-end enterprise
capabilities, even those not in their
purview.
• Marketing processes that enable efficient
content creation and message targeting
and distribution at scale. Ideally these
processes would allow marketers and
brand managers to segment customers
by market, device preference and path to
purchase stage.
Marketing executives who recognize
this have already begun to evolve their
marketing organizations from a brandsiloed structure to one that enables a better
multichannel consumer experience, and then
work to extend that change throughout the
company. While brand teams can serve as
the connection point, brands can learn from
one another and help leadership elevate the
22. See Driving Revenue Through Customer Relevance:
Aligning the CMO and CIO to Achieve Agile Intelligent
Marketing. 2010, CMO-CIO Alignment Imperative.
14
quality of the company’s relationship with
consumers to be an enterprise responsibility.
This could entail emulating approaches used
at consumer-oriented companies like RitzCarlton or Disney that have made customer
service every employee’s responsibility.
In addition to executive leadership, new
organizational structures and talent
management processes that facilitate
and reward sharing consumer insights are
good first steps. Without such actions CPG
companies will lose the ability to effectively
cross-sell brands or increase the lifetime
value of consumers.
Conclusion
Today’s digital consumers present CPG
companies with more information,
opportunities to connect and challenges
than ever. With loyalty and sales on the line,
companies need to be strategic in how they
invest in building their understanding of and
relationships with consumers. More focused
use of data analytics, better social listening
and a comprehensive mobile strategy can all
aid in deeper understanding and connection.
Optimizing websites to facilitate commerce,
and experimentation with digital coupons
can also generate insight and sales. Finally,
consumers who use multiple channels to
make their purchases expect companies
to deliver a high-quality, consistent
multichannel approach as well. Companies
that execute on these dimensions could
remain relevant, win sales in the short term,
and the loyalty of digital consumers in the
long run.
To learn more about Accenture’s
research and experience helping
clients formulate and execute
digital strategies, please contact:
In North and South America
Matthew DeNicola
Managing Director—Consumer Goods &
Services, Innovation Marketing
+1.917.445.5205
[email protected]
In Europe and Asia
Alessandro Diana
Managing Director, Accenture Interactive
+39 335 7496716
[email protected]
15
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visit www.accenture.com/ConsumerGoods.
About Accenture
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outsourcing company, with approximately
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and extensive research on the world’s
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Copyright © Accenture 2014. All rights reserved. This
document is produced by consultants at Accenture as
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