Kelana Jaya, April 4 – Malaysia is among the world’s most attractive retail markets, said DKSH, leading market expansion services provider with more than 280 field marketing specialists in Malaysia that help clients boost sales in the last mile of the supply chain journey.
It notes that the country’s economic climate has considerable impact on the global retail sector, which represents around one third of the gross world product. In order to capitalise on current opportunities and temper risks in a volatile economic climate, it is critical for retailers and brand owners to expand their businesses in promising, future markets.
Avoiding the pitfalls of shifting retail markets, however, requires a strategic mindset about expansion. Each market has unique challenges and unique opportunities.
The consultancy also believes that Malaysia is the most business-friendly retail environment among all South East Asian countries. Looking forward, attractiveness of the Malaysian fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market is reflected by another recent study from strategy consultancy Roland Berger, that sees the sector growing by six percent a year until 2021.
DKSH is active in the field marketing business through its joint venture DKSH Smollan Field Marketing (DSFM). DSFM, the largest field marketing provider in South East Asia with more than 4,000 specialists in 70,000 retail stores across seven countries.
Field marketing is a relatively new and broad activity within marketing. Its main benefit is to drive growth for international manufacturers by increasing product availability and visibility in the retail space. In addition to merchandising, field marketing also includes product demonstrations and consulting, promotions, event management and design of promotional material such as product displays, promotion booths and uniforms for promoters.
These value-adding services have increasingly become important over the years as they increase the demand for products directly at the point of sale, thus enabling attractive growth opportunities for consumer goods manufacturers in a competitive environment.
“Field marketing enables the final component of DKSH’s end-to-end supply chain where shoppers get access to the products of DKSH’s clients. 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,” says Bjorn Kruizenga, General Manager Business Development (South East Asia) of DKSH Smollan Field Marketing Malaysia.
Beyond expanding to more outlets and introducing new products, field marketing can help grow Malaysian FMCG companies as follows:
Increasing on-shelf availability: at any given time, approximately one out of every twelve products (8.3 percent) globally is out of stock. Research shows that when a shopper’s favourite product is not available, nine percent doesn’t buy anything and 37 percent buy a different brand. Many shoppers never switch back to the original brand. Every two percent of extra on-shelf availability leads to a one percent increase in extra sales. In an Asian market that is more competitive, improving availability can be the key to success. Clients tell us: “By just ensuring planogramming compliance and reducing out-of-stocks, we have seen 10 percent increase in sell-out at the store level.”
Improving promotional compliance: only 70 percent of all planned in-store promotions – such as displays – are executed properly. In other words: 30 percent of booked (and payed) promotion activities are not implemented!
Studies for South East Asia show that actively managed field marketing activities can increase overall on-shelve-availability from 85 percent to 93 percent. These eight additional percentage points can be decisive for the commercial success, especially in the highly competitive fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in Malaysia.
“Field marketing enables the final component of DKSH’s end-to-end supply chain where shoppers get access to the products of DKSH’s clients. 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,” says General Manager Business Development (South East Asia) of DKSH Smollan Field Marketing Malaysia, Bjorn Kruizenga.