Spotlight Indonesia: route to win in disruptive times

Discover the ways FMCG players can win in the market with new shopping occasions and new buyers

There are a number of paths a brand can take as well as major forces a brand needs to drive in order to gain new category buyers. While there is an opportunity to capitalise on the optimism amongst the consumers and their spending, FMCG players must push harder to stand out and win in order to grow their business.

On the rise

Indonesia has shown favourable performance throughout 2017, with stable inflation, improved export rates and increased funding allocated to infrastructure spending. Altogether this boosted consumers' optimism towards their savings and ability to spend, as shown in the improved consumer confidence index. Price increase continues to be one of the drivers of FMCG growth; consumers are also shopping less often for their in-home purchases. This situation means that FMCG players need to adapt to win every shopping occasion and attract new buyers to grow their business.

Consequently, building relevance becomes essential in this challenging time to engage with the consumers' necessity that drives trial to the category. Brands should be able to have a good understanding of the buyers' needs in addition to finding the best way to communicate in order to address their needs. To support recruiting new category buyers, brands need to drive three major forces:

1. Prevalence of emerging mega trends: health & wellness, convenience and indulgence. Does that relate to the products' delivery?
2. Push innovation within category to keep up with the evolving consumer needs. In order to survive, adaptability and agility to spot the right needs are crucial to fit into the rapidly accelerating consumer needs.
3. Maintain affordability to cater consumers' desire to seek products that are relevant for them. Communication should be directed towards the brand's value for money proposition, and the same applies for premium products in order to justify the premium positioning.

Five pivotal paths to be the ultimate disruptor

Building meaningful brand propositions becomes more critical in this disruptive time in order to win new shoppers. That said, a number of brands have been able to gain new buyers in this disruptive situation. Kantar Worldpanel home purchase panel has identified five pivotal paths to gain new buyers: