Utilising field marketing to help FMCG brands grow

DKSH, a market expansion services provider, recently showcased a new smart technology deployed in Singapore’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) retail industry, which is used by field marketers across the modern trade retailers in Singapore, consisting supermarkets, hypermarkets, pharmacies and convenience stores.

It enables FMCG brands to glean valuable insights on consumers’ buying behaviour to help them plan their retail strategies better, optimise business efficiency and ultimately drive sales.

DKSH makes the most out of field marketing through DKSH Smollan Field Marketing (DSFM), a joint venture with global field marketing organisation Smollan Group. DSFM, which is the largest field marketing provider in South-east Asia with more than 4,000 specialists in 70,000 retail stores across seven countries, also leverages on its in-house smart technology to collect data and analytics.

To optimise the supply of existing products into the retail space and maximise retail availability and visibility, the field marketing team acts as the glue between FMCG brands and retailers to help both parties drive an optimal end-to-end supply of products to shoppers. In Singapore, close to 200 field marketers from DSFM visit over 1,200 modern trade retail outlets daily, ensuring on-shelf availability and visibility.

“Our field marketing activities are based on three key pillars, namely in-store execution, technology and reporting as well as brand activation to turn shoppers into buyers and, ultimately, driving sales growth for our partners,” said Bjorn Kruizenga, general manager, business development (South-east Asia), DSFM.

A central element of DSFM’s field marketing activities is smart technology which captures critical data on the in-store performance of the products. The field marketers use a smart device on the ground in stores and the information captured is used by DKSH’s key account and sales teams to optimise growth for their clients by increasing on-shelf availability and visibility and tracking the success of planned promotions.

Additionally, all the information captured in the field is sent to DKSH in the form of daily, weekly or monthly reports.