Social Media Affects Demand
In a recent article for Consumer Technology Goods titled "How Data Can Help You Respond to Unplanned Spikes in Demand," Tom McDonough discusses how data and virality can help businesses prepare and handle unplanned spikes in demand. As he states at the start of the article, inflation, labor and food shortages, and inventory planning have been just a few of the difficult tasks CPG companies have faced recently. One obstacle that’s become more prevalent is handling social media applications, such as TikTok and YouTube, and their influence on consumer demand.
There have been trends in recent years surrounding the social media application TikTok and how consumers have found new products to purchase. McDonough notes that in 2021, feta cheese became heavily in demand for a period due to a recipe for baked feta pasta surfacing on TikTok. Trends such as #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt sweep other social media applications such as Twitter and consumers share what they’ve been purchasing recently.
Concerns from CPG Industry
This rise in demand is due to product virality according to the article, it “has made inventory planning even more complex for grocery and CPG companies.” At The Intelligence Exchange, we’ve heard concerns about similar situations. Companies have had to deal with new ways of life and finding the right way to deal with demand increases is difficult. One day your product is in high demand due to a trend, and you feel the need to meet these spikes with special orders. Or maybe your business does nothing during these spikes. One thing we know is that all of this is difficult unless you and the partners in your ecosystem are all in sync.
The Right Insights for Your Operations
Intelligence Exchanges can assist in having both your shipping partners and the stores you ship to all on the same page. By supplying enough of your products to the stores using continuous intelligence to influence your decisions, you can stay on top of the game. You’ll be ready when there is a spike in demand for feta cheese one day, and also be ready when demand normalizes. With demand sensing capabilities, like mentioned in this article, your organization can be ready to predict what will happen using these cutting-edge insights.
The article writes that “Companies can also leverage demand-sensing to analyze product sales activity — from distribution activity to SKU point-of-sale (POS) data –– to gain insights on demand and channel inventory levels.” We know how important leveraging those insights are, and an Intelligence Exchange exceeds at bringing you intelligence by:
- Product (from SKU to category)
- Local Market (from zip code to nationwide), and
- Customer (from site to headquarters)
How You Respond in the Future
This platform is a tool for both the present and the future and can be the key to helping businesses solve supply chain issues. Your entire business ecosystem needs to be in sync with one another to know how to shape production, inventory, and marketing decisions. That’s not easy unless you have a data-sharing ecosystem that is secure and safe with the help of an Intelligence Exchange. You and your partners can share key insights with outside-in intelligence by using several different data sources to create this one-of-a-kind intelligence for your business operations.
Organizations need to prepare for new ways of operating. To improve revenue and take advantage of key opportunities, you need to be prepared. The next time your items are trending and in demand, you need to be ready to make impactful decisions with your partners to satisfy both consumers, partners, and your ecosystem. With so many disruptive variables to deal with, you need all the help you can get. An Intelligence Exchange is exactly what you need to sense out the way you respond.
For More
To learn more about how your organization can create an Intelligence Exchange and see operating income increase, reach out to us using the contact information below. And to read the full article from Tom McDonough, visit consumer Goods Technology here.