"Among packaged goods companies, sales via digital channels increased by 70%": GroupM report

As a result of the COVID pandemic, the use of virtual sales channels and other digital transformation strategies have undergone remarkable acceleration. Marketing has been forced to rapidly transform itself, all without the aid of any playbook or standard operating procedure.

With GroupM’s global advertising forecasts coming out next week, 'The Great Shift 2020' publication provides key context to what the forecasts will be. It also details the shift caused by the pandemic in four major sectors (auto, CPG and e-commerce, telecom and financial services) and another (entertainment), where the industry has gone through significant change. As a result, we must alter the way we think of them as sources of inventory.

Some key takeaways:

● Auto has rebounded from 40-45 per cent decline at the low point in April to current levels of flat or better.

o Car manufacturers have shifted to direct online relationships with their consumers.

o As a result, it will be vital for them to invest heavily in consumer insights to integrate new desired experience from customers in the buying process.

● CPG manufacturers experienced a significant transition in how their products are sold, leading to a 277 per cent increase in retail sales via e-commerce channels for food and beverage, and health and personal care companies.

o Manufacturers relying primarily on third parties, like Amazon or other online retailers, will find tremendous opportunities in prioritising investments in DTC initiatives, since consumers are more primed than ever to buy online.

● Telecom consumers have exponentially increased Internet usage. Telco has responded with faster, more robust broadband services to support working or schooling from home and streaming service growth to telehealth needs, e-commerce and contact tracing systems.

o IoT connectivity is more favourable for mobile carriers because network improvements like 5G will enable wireless communication companies to offer today’s home-based services on a more equal footing.

o Reliability, ease of use, access to additional services, etc., will become even more important as those get reinforced by ongoing consumer interactions.

● Financial services has fared well during the pandemic, aided by liquidity from central banks from around the world, paired with new government-backed loan programs and stimulus payments made to the consumers.

o Banks have served as a digital role model for other industries, with more digitally focused services into their product portfolios.

o Banks will need to sustain their investment in branding to reinforce trust, as well as invest heavily in data-related infrastructure.

● Entertainment, particularly streaming services, soared in large part because spending on content packaged by streaming services has been growing much more rapidly than spending on content packaged by incumbents.

o Going forward, studio owners will need to invest heavily in capabilities to aggregate and analyse data to understand consumers’ content and platform preferences, optimising assets accordingly

The report suggests that among the world’s largest global packaged goods companies, sales via digital channels typically increased by 70 per cent. Whatever the actual economy-wide growth figure was, it was substantial. Those digital channels now, on average, account for around 12 per cent of the total sales for those companies, and it expects this represents a new plateau on which future growth of e-commerce-related sales will occur.

The full report is attached below: