FMCG companies use tech to fill up stocks at Q-Comm partners
Nestle, ITC, Parle Products, LT Foods and Coca-Cola are racing to embrace real-time data exchange and demand forecasting to avert potential stock-outs at online platforms like Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket's BBNow and Zepto.
«Unless you don't do stock replenishment at quick commerce in real time, you are missing out on opportunities. We are working on forecasting demand based on sales trends, even if quick commerce platforms are doing their own forecasting to ensure we can turn around stocks within hours at the dark stores,» said Mayank Shah, senior category head at biscuit and confectionery maker Parle Products.
Quick-commerce platforms, or those which deliver to consumers within 10-20 minutes, contribute 30-50% of overall e-commerce sales of FMCG companies, drawn to their promise of rapid delivery.
For these companies, e-commerce has become a major sales channel, doubling in size in the past two years to 5-10% currently.
«Our quick commerce partners are prioritised for stock allocation to ensure better fill rates. Smaller load sizes have been actioned to cater to higher frequency of shipments,» said Sandeep Sule, divisional chief executive, trade marketing and distribution at ITC, which makes Sunfeast biscuits, Master Chef frozen snacks and Fiama soaps.
«We are evaluating real-time data exchange through electronic data interchange, for which, integration has been done with all the major quick commerce accounts for faster and digitised data exchange,» Sule said.
During high-demand periods such as the IPL cricket league, Cricket World Cup, and Diwali, ITC engages with online platforms to align buying during these events, he said.
A spokesperson for Nestle India said quick commerce contributes
