BI and FMCG why is it needed?

In the FMCG industry if you could utilize some sort of BI tool we can use the insights to find answers to some important questions like

• how do I make intelligent decisions based on the data I have
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• how do I pull up reports which can be used for day to day and predicting future strategies
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• how do we relate better to the customer
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• How can we be sensitive to the market?
• should I launch a new product?
• should I invest in new inventory? ( I had read an interesting article where the company figured out that it would be a really bad decision to purchase new inventory as their BI Tool showed them that they had lots of stock which was stagnating. Instead they launched a quick sale and cleared out the inventory and just in the nick of time because they also realized that the trend showed that customers were not really interested in the size of the products anymore, they wanted something packaged smaller and priced lower. "I will try to get that website and link it here").

What you buy what you Buy and what companies do with that Data

We purchase soaps, shampoo, detergents, perfumes, toothpaste. We might buy them because someone recommended it, it was heavily advertised on television, or you simply thought the packaging looked like really cool.

Some people go by the brand, prestige (the pricier the better or maybe a celeb said she used it). Some people just don't care, they just shop, use and throw away and try something else (if things were'nt what they wanted).

Some look at price. They might be on a budget, so cheapest is best I guess.

So for FMCG industries the trick is how do I build loyalty, how do I push sales, how do I learn from what people are buying and change everything (from the advertising campaign, to the packaging, offers or no offers).

What is BI got to do with FMCG?

Lately I have totally intrigued with BI or Business Intelligence. When you are an affiliate marketer, or a part time blogger, you worry about different things.

Things like, how do I get traffic to my site, how do I get sales, which products to promote, what keywords.

Recently I moved into a much bigger playing area. I have been privy to huge amounts of Data or what some call BIG data. I have been trying to understand how to analyse this data to get meaningful insights which can be actually measured and worked with.

How does one find what are the problem areas, how does one use the structured, unstructured, semi structured data on hand to predict the good bad and ugly.

Thats when I realized I need to narrow it down. I read up quite a bit on different indutries and now my focus is on trying to work sector wise.

Because that is the best way to break this down and understand what is going on with BI say in FMCG.

What core issues does the FMCG sector have, heck what is the difference between FMCG and Retails and Manufacturing?

This blog hopefull is helpful to you as I venture out on this journey, sector by sector, step by step. Follow , Like, Comment (Agree / Disagree).

Leave me links I can work with - I know it will cut down my learning curve.