Built on an enhanced data foundation
CFO Andre Schulten said some of P&G’s early investments in digital transformation began in the past decade, talking about a global ERP platform, data lakes, data governance structures and stronger data engineering.
The initiative allows the company to tap into a “continuous stream of new data every day,” allowing it to collect “petabytes of relevant data” from product research, shopper surveys, connected homes, ratings and reviews, social media posts, brand fan websites, and more, among other things.
The plan is to mine these insights and turn them into new product innovations, brand ideas, performance claims, marketing campaigns, and more, but the consumer connectivity piece is the next phase of transformation for P&G.
In addition to the initial investment, there are also plans to activate technologies such as AI, with a focus on innovation and media. Also, on the supply chain side, P&G is focused on building capabilities to leverage automation and digitization in both manufacturing and warehousing.
“We built a data platform, AI capabilities, programmatic shelf tools, and media creation and rating systems,” Jejurikar said. “We have a supply chain platform that can operate autonomously and react faster than ever to retail demand signals, consumer innovation needs and productivity opportunities.”
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Recent trends
According to Jejurikar, these initiatives didn’t happen overnight and required a significant internal culture change for those who work with data and systems.
“The next step is to connect the dots to integrate elements from identifying consumer friction points to product ideation, product design, supply, creative concept, purchase transaction, home use, and end-of-use evaluation,” he said, adding that this effort is expected to be accomplished within the next 12 to 18 months.
So far, the company’s Supply Chain 3.0 initiative has improved end-to-end connectivity, from purchase signals through inventory systems to production planning and material ordering, allowing consumers to find the products they want every time they shop.
To address the challenge of media fragmentation, Jejurikar said the company is using gen AI to “uncover consumer-relevant insights at every step of the consumer journey, based on a unified brand idea.”
Additionally, P&G hopes to innovate faster through AI-powered product discovery.
“We are creating individual touchpoint experiences for each consumer at a time. These ideas are being leveraged with claims, demonstrations, and visuals that communicate brand performance and value across connected and broadcast TV, online video, social media, e-commerce sites, and stores,” he said, adding that there are increasing opportunities for data integration with retail partners across the entire supply chain and merchandising activity system.
