Within arms’ reach of the retailer and consumer

In a competitive environment, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies are increasingly forced to get within arms’ reach of the retailer and consumer. CPG companies that have a Route-to-Market strategy that includes a direct focus on mom-and-pop stores are the most successful in reaching the “base of the pyramid”. The buy-in-bulk mentality is unlikely to have [...]

House of Sampoerna

I made a stop last week in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city. The city is also home to Sampoerna, the well known Indonesian tobacco and cloves company. The company was founded in 1913 and was the first publicly listed kretek cigarette company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. The visit included a stop at the House [...]

Cold Chain in Emerging Markets: The Heat is On

For many Chinese and Vietnamese consumers, frozen food is still a foreign concept. Large retailers in China and Vietnam continue to focus on fresh food options such as live chickens and in-store fish tanks. However, consumer shopping and buying patterns are changing. Chilled products, including juice and frozen foods are increasingly becoming popular in emerging [...]

Africa mobile technology – learnings from the not-for-profit sector

Mobile phone networks have proven to be a vital piece of technology for Africa. The technology is playing an important part in bridging the infrastructure divide and assisting entrepreneurs and businesses to improve efficiency. The mobile revolution is still in its infancy and organizations are slowly adopting new tools and technology to conduct business.  The [...]

Green efforts from the consumer goods front

With climate change in the news and the prospect of volatile oil costs, the pressure is on for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies to become more efficient and environmentally responsible.  As a result, the FMCG industry is reevaluating its approach to “green” programming.  This is leading to exciting innovations that might not only profit [...]

Aquatabs – the Hybrid Social Distribution Model

Aquatabs – the Hybrid Social Distribution Model Last month I spoke to Michael Gately, Marketing Director of Medentech.  The company is well known for its Aquatabs brand of rapidly dissolving tablets. It is one of the best known and most respected names in point-of-use water purification globally and is used to disinfect billions of litres [...]

Two-tier distribution in emerging markets – telecom and electronics

What is a two-tier distributor? They buy from manufacturers and sell to resellers. What are their competitive advantages? Two-tier distributors can expand the retail footprint in emerging markets. They normally sell a diverse range of brands and control a large percentage of the local distribution in the telecom and the computer industry. Two-tier distributors understand [...]

Evolving Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)

Managing supplier relationships used to be a zero sum game. Most companies focused on short terms goals where price was the main focus. Bullying suppliers were commonplace in some organizations. Employees took great pride in “facing down suppliers” and relationships were viewed on “how much money we will make”. However, with the increase in outsourcing [...]

Sri Lanka Distributor Issues

Sri Lanka is currently waking up from years of civil war. There is a sense of optimism in the air and the country is most certainly open for business. In September I spent two weeks in the country and also had a chance to review a FMCG company’s distributor network.  I jotted down a few [...]

Gambia is Good

On a recent trip to West Africa I had a chance to make a short stop in Gambia. As part of our company’s increased interest and research in the supply chain in social products, I made contact with Amy Hause, General Manager of Gambia is Good (GiG). TN: Who is GiG? GiG is a horticultural [...]

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