The 2023 Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit was held in Kyoto, Japan. The summit hosted over 1,000 CEOs and executives from the world’s leading companies in over 70 countries, including senior leaders from Advantage Group International.
The theme of the 64th edition of the summit was “Pursuit of Harmony in Turmoil: Working Together to Make a Difference.” It reflects the continuous search for a solution for consumers amidst climate change, geopolitical conflicts and other disruptions to the supply chain. Presentations and agenda items were centred around this message.
Here are our team’s key takeaways from the summit and their experiences with client and prospective client interactions.
1. Sustainability remains a priority
According to Senior Vice President of Global Client Development Leandro Bonder, most of the summit’s exchanges concerned Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), similar to the summit in 2022. Specifically, how retailers and suppliers can better collaborate on ESG and what’s currently occurring in that space for the FMCG industry.
ESG was also a popular topic of conversation, indicating that ESG has consistently remained a priority for the world’s leading organizations. Organizations want to know what’s driving perception in this area and how they can better collaborate with their business partners on ESG, and they want to understand what best-in-class for ESG looks like.
2. Businesses are living in a state of constant crisis
Organizations have realized that they are living in a state of constant disruption. They have to be ready for day-to-day crises. Now, it’s not just being prepared for a crisis to occur in a cycle but understanding how to manage it at any moment. This type of readiness requires a culture of agility and the ability for team members at any level of an organization to feel empowered to pivot, given the changing circumstances surrounding them.
3. We are moving beyond omnichannel commerce and into channel-less commerce
New ecosystem-led platforms combine our digital lives with commerce, creating a brand-new channel-less commerce system. Channel-less eco-systems include social commerce, direct-to-consumer, direct-to-business and 3P marketplaces. It’s the next evolution of brick-and-clicks and pure players. Organizations are making this move to be closer to where their shoppers are.
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay
Suppliers and retailers want to understand what changes the advancements in AI can help them with. Currently, no one in the FMCG industry has the answer because AI needs to be tested and its learnings shared. However, the consensus is that AI is here to stay. We must embrace this technology and collaborate to understand it better and its impact to lead change.
How Advantage can help with uncertainty
The theme throughout the summit was uncertainty. There is uncertainty in understanding how to approach and collaborate on ESG as well as in how to live in a world of seemingly infinite uncertainty due to constant crises. Organizations are also reckoning with how to approach and gather feedback on new sales channels, like channel-less commerce.
Advantage provides feedback and insights to help mitigate uncertainty. Our engagement solutions are an opportunity to uncover data that allows them to navigate their B2B relationships more effectively, achieve alignment and ultimately help people and organizations work better together.
To learn how Advantage Group is uncovering the needs of the retailer community to nurture stronger relationships with suppliers and, ultimately, consumers, contact us.
