Justin Honaman
This month Executive Editor Kara Romanow sits down with Justin Honaman, Director, Customer Intelligence, Coca-Cola Bottlers' Sales & Services. Read about why he feels data is so important and how he leverages his love of music to make a difference.
 | What keeps you up at night? Not much keeps me up at night -- I typically only get four to five hours of sleep so I take advantage of it when I get it! When I am not sleeping: From a customer intelligence perspective, several key factors will continue to play a significant role in driving consumer goods (CG) manufacturer business decisions. First is the continued growth in the volume of information available to decision-makers. Large amounts of information do not necessarily make it any easier to make business operation or customer management decisions. With increased ability to track and retain customer and consumer information comes to need for specialized analytic capabilities -- both technical and human thought capital to interpret information and results. Supply chain, customer sales, trade spend and consumer marketing data volumes will continue to grow while key business decisions will have to be made at an even faster clip to keep pace with customer demands and a shifting, more informed consumer. Second, agreement on performance metrics that drive action across the business value chain is critical to ensuring that CG firms meet consumer demands and exceed customer service expectations. This is |
particularly critical when considering the management of trade spend. Marketing and sales managers in CG manufacturing firms are under intense pressure to secure the best return on their investments in top-line revenue drivers like, advertising, consumer promotion and trade promotion. Within this marketing mix, CG firms' investments in trade promotions to retailers are becoming ever more important. For CG firms, this process will continue to evolve and become standardized across the industry as providers consolidate. The ROI and payback period for TPM initiatives will become clear to firms still utilizing spreadsheets and databases.
Third is innovation. Without new products, new packaging, new routes to market, new ways of meeting consumer expectations, etc., CG firms will be left in the dust of those willing to step out, take a risk and challenge the pervading thoughts and ideas that exist within many large CG firms today. The "old school-always-done-this-way-need-a-committee- to-make-a-decision-thinking" will not change the fact that consumer preferences change and the competition could be taking that necessary radical leap that drives market change.
Third is innovation. Without new products, new packaging, new routes to market, new ways of meeting consumer expectations, etc., CG firms will be left in the dust of those willing to step out, take a risk and challenge the pervading thoughts and ideas that exist within many large CG firms today. The "old school-always-done-this-way-need-a-committee- to-make-a-decision-thinking" will not change the fact that consumer preferences change and the competition could be taking that necessary radical leap that drives market change.
How can manufacturers and retailers better collaborate?
Retailer margins are thin and without necessary resources to effectively invest in supply chain innovation, category management and consumer analysis, CG firms that bring new revenue growth opportunities to the customer's table will win. Areas in which CG manufacturers must focus include: New product proliferation; limited shelf space; and private-label product growth.
Retailer margins are thin and without necessary resources to effectively invest in supply chain innovation, category management and consumer analysis, CG firms that bring new revenue growth opportunities to the customer's table will win. Areas in which CG manufacturers must focus include: New product proliferation; limited shelf space; and private-label product growth.
In the last few years, what has changed to cause a renewed interest in data and gaining customer and consumer insights from various data points? Have technology improvements made a big difference?
Customers and their consumers are demanding that CG manufacturers provide the right product, in the right place, at the right time and price, and in a unique package form to exceed consumer expectations, drive revenue for the customer, and ensure availability of new and innovative products up and down the aisle.
Customers and their consumers are demanding that CG manufacturers provide the right product, in the right place, at the right time and price, and in a unique package form to exceed consumer expectations, drive revenue for the customer, and ensure availability of new and innovative products up and down the aisle.
Also, technology has progressed and will continue to drive change for CG firms. Technology enables businesses to track larger volumes of data across the CG value chain. This data enables business managers to better understand their components of the value chain, yet, when looking across components, the available metrics, indicators and levers can be challenging to identify, understand and interpret. Fortunately, reporting and analysis technologies are continuing to develop to address the greater information capture and storage capabilities. In addition, consulting firms are ramping- up business intelligence, data warehousing and strategic customer insight groups to assist CG firms in leveraging evolving technologies.
There has been an especially strong period of mergers and acquisition activity in the last five to six years. Point solutions for every aspect of customer intelligence existed and were vying for recognition on a Gartner Magic Quadrant slide. Today, it is much easier to filter through the technology leaders. The vendor-customer relationship has improved dramatically in that leading technology solution providers are working to build collaborative working relationships with their customers and thus, are able to truly differentiate themselves in ways beyond software features/functions and license fees. CG