Data is Knowledge; Knowledge is Power. The digital age allows us to collect and analyse data to take action on it quickly and with higher accuracy. Organisations that store large amounts of data understand their customers better because they know what their customers want, when they need it and can predict the next course of action. These organisations successfully harness the knowledge derived from data and translate it into significant profit. This provides a powerful incentive to expand the size and scope of the data collected.
Enterprises with the most actionable data tend to be the most powerful and profitable. The five most valuable (richest) global brands as of October 2021 are all tech companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook), all of which collect vast amounts of data from their consumers daily. While these organisations monetise and monopolise customer data purely for their benefit, RedCloud is different – the data collected is shared with the relevant distributors and FMCG’s to ensure that knowledge is spread across the supply chain.
At any data conference, you are most likely to hear about the 5 V’s of data: Volume; Velocity; Variety; Veracity and Value. All of which are critical for companies to unlock the true potential of the data collected and benefit from it. However, most FMCG brands in emerging markets still rely heavily on a traditional distribution chain that isolates them from the end retailer, thus limiting the amount of data accessible to business strategists. This is where RedCloud, the world’s first open commerce platform excels.
A close look at each of the five V’s of data shows how RedCloud enables FMCG brands to benefit from each of them.
Volume
Volume forms the base of the data pyramid, as without sufficient data, any analysis will be meaningless. Generally, the more data you have, the better the analysis, provided that the data is meaningful, relevant, up-to-date, and actionable. In many emerging markets, there is a clear disconnect between the FMCG manufacturers and their end retailers. Most manufacturers sell through a chain of distributors, and in most cases, this is the limit of their knowledge of the supply chain.
The RedCloud platform reconnects the full supply chain providing meaningful data from the end merchants and the distributors. The FMCG’s actionable data expands from simply knowing what a couple of thousand distributors do to encompassing the complete spectrum of their tens of thousands of merchants, enabling a better understanding of the complete supply chain ecosystem.
Velocity
Velocity is perhaps more important than the volume of data. Having the right data available at the right time is key. The RedCloud platform provides near real-time data, allowing managers to visualise data in dashboards showing stock levels at their distributors, orders being taken, and which SKUs are currently performing the best. Understanding demand across the supply chain allows can help prevent overstocking and better forecasting of when orders will be received from the distributors.
Variety
Data can come from many sources and in different forms. Data can be extracted from app usage, geolocation, feedback from marketing campaigns and other sources. The data collected by the RedCloud platform enables the FMCG producers to understand their markets and answer a wide range of questions.
- Who are the end retailers?
- Are they small informal stores, bars, restaurants etc.?
- Where are they located? (State, City, Zip Code, Street Address.)
- How often do they make transactions?
- What is the average size of each transaction?
- What products could cross-sell/upsell?
- Is the number of merchants being serviced expanding at the distributor?
Veracity
Veracity in this context relates to quality. The data that is collected must be accurate and must be meaningful. It is too easy to capture vast amounts of data that is either inaccurate or unusable by the organisation. The data collected by the RedCloud platform is accurate, meaningful and can be leveraged to derive key data-driven business decisions.
Value
Value sits at the top of the data pyramid. With the ability to capture large amounts of data, it is vital to transform the data from its raw form into meaningful business actions that bring value to the organisation. This is where the RedCloud platform excels, unlocking the full value of the distribution chain.
The disconnect between the manufacturer and the end retailer can lead to overstocking, slow responses to market changes, and negatively impact revenue. RedCloud addresses these issues by reconnecting the FMCG producers with their end retailers and providing reliable, accurate, meaningful, timely data to empower business decisions.
