With FMCG suppliers and retailers being confronted with an almost overwhelming volume of data, finding the insights within that data to make informed decisions is one of the major challenges, according to an industry specialist.
Gina Overton, director of Bridgethorne, says it can sometimes feel almost impossible to comprehend the amount of data that is being produced in the world in which we are living.
According to the latest estimates, 328.77 million terabytes of data are created every day. In 2021, it was calculated that 90% percent of the world’s data had been created in the previous two years and that every two years, the volume of data across the world would double in size.
“These may be astounding statistics and there is no doubt that this proliferation of data is a positive step forward for the world,” says Overton. “But it is only genuinely useful if we have the insights needed to unlock the power of that data. And not only that, these need to be actionable insights that enable us to apply our understanding and manage the impact of that data for retail partners, customers and shoppers.”
Only in this way, she says, can competitive advantage be gained; competitive advantage that will
enable suppliers to drive innovation, develop new and better products and propositions, as well as improving day to day decision making and helping with execution of plans in a timely manner.
The first step in identifying and unlocking the insights your business needs is to be clear about the questions you want to answer. This means being able to understand what’s happening by gathering the right information; by recognising that insight is about more than just understanding what is happening and why, but about identifying what this means for the business. Only then can a business start to build a genuinely insight-based action plan.
“So what do we mean by insight?” continues Overton. “We regard it as “a deep understanding of why things are happening and what might happen in the future. Insights should present a clear call to action, because if your insight is neither interesting nor stimulating some action, then the chances are that it is little more than a fact.”
This will require companies to probe further and dig into what is really going on – the root causes of the situation you have identified. They should aim to find out why something is happening; whether it explains a behaviour or a trend that may not have been evident or visible before. To be a true insight, a response should inspire a clear set of possible actions that would change something or create a solution to something.
There will also be stakeholder implications to think about. To fully explore all the potential implications businesses will need to think about all their key stakeholders – retailers, shoppers, suppliers, their own business – and review the implications for each of them. This will help broaden their thinking and develop opportunities for new actions.
“I admit it can be very difficult to observe an insight,” adds Overton. “We observe facts and then have to drill down beneath the surface to uncover the insight, but this is what retail buyers and customers are looking for as they bring clarity to what actions will work the best. It’s no longer enough to simply present a fact or observation, which could mean committing time and money trying different ways to activate consumers and shoppers with little success. That’s the difference between data and unlocking the insight from it.”
