Seamless Xtra’s Alia Alhussein speaks with Christelle Govender, Group Business Analyst at SPAR Group South Africa. Christelle has been a Business Analyst for almost 8 years and has spent over 10 years in Information Technology. She is at the forefront of innovation in the fast moving consumer goods industry and has worked on a variety of projects related to customer loyalty and rewards both locally and internationally.
Christelle, thank you for being here. How have the recent technological advancements reshaped the FMCG industry in your opinion?
So I think there’s been a few areas. The first would definitely be the buzzword data analytics. Now everyone’s talking about it, but personally seeing the impact in the fast moving consumer goods industry, it’s unlike shopping for high end items such as jewelry, perfumes and clothes. These are basic food necessity items and they’re often repeat purchases.
So understanding the customer trends and using data analytics to do that has allowed us to introduce things such as customer loyalty programs and hyper personalisation of rewards for repeat purchases. I’ll give you a very simple but basic example. If a parent is continuously buying diapers for their little one, they would be rewarded with a coupon for diapers.
You know, it’s those sort of data analytics, rewarding you with a percentage of your purchase on your birthday or a free coffee on your birthday. It’s just learning how to use data analytics, but also being mindful of not being invasive and using it responsibly. Then there’s also been impact with e-commerce platforms, which I’m very involved in here in South Africa.
There are so many trends that it changes on the daily and just keeping abreast of it has really impacted the fast moving consumer goods industry, but also trying to predict, which I know we’re going to touch on later. But just trying to not only swim or keep your head above water, but actually swim.
That’s very insightful, Christelle. Leading on from this then, can you provide specific examples of how technology has improved efficiency in the FMCG supply chain?
I think one of the biggest areas is leaning off data analytics into demand forecast, especially when you’re dealing with fresh produce. You don’t want produce to get spoiled. You want to do sustainable practices and have just enough fresh produce to grow and meet your supply and demand. So the greatest impact I’ve seen is in demand forecasting to avoid wastage as well, because food wastage is a massive thing that worldwide a lot of companies are focusing on to reduce our carbon footprint.
Those sort of things have really helped, but also just basic automation at the warehouse, right to streamline the processes. And sometimes it’s not as grand as we would imagine, but simple automation has really streamlined our processes at the warehouse to get produce to the stores quicker and as a result it will get to the customer quicker.
Thank you, Christelle. And just to round this up, what future tech innovations do you foresee having the most significant impact on the FMCG in the next five years?
I think the way in which we incorporate AI is going to be very interesting. We were one of the first stores to implement an AI scanner for fresh produce, where you actually weigh your groceries and get the price based on the weight. The machine learning in terms of how you set it up to recognise a green apple versus a green pear was very interesting, but also just watching how customers would not go to the machine because they did not know what it was and they were still looking for someone to help them.
So there’s also the human aspect of change management. We could have the best technology, but if there’s not change management that’s implemented, customers just won’t adapt to it, especially because with fresh produce or groceries, you’re going to get everyone from a 70 year old to a young person. So you’ve got to implement change management. And I think that’s where we would need to be focusing on.
Also with the rise of e-commerce and just how we do it in a sustainable fashion, but also staying abreast with international trends, which is why I love seamless because I get to see it at the forefront. I get to be at the table with some amazing innovators and just hear what’s happening around the world and obviously partner with some great service providers. So I’m so looking forward to Seamless this year.
We’re excited to have you on board again. Thank you again. You’ve touched on some very key points. It’s been invaluable and very insightful. You’ll be able to hear Chriselle speak in person at Seamless in October in Johannesburg. Thank you and see you next time.
