How FMCG companies can use E-commerce to broad-base their portfolio
A few days ago, I had published a report on how FMCG companies can use E-commerce to launch new products and even new categories. One of the questions I received on this report was, shouldn't companies focus on strengthening their core rather than launching new products left right and center? That question misses the point of the report completely. The point is that the emergence of e-commerce, turns an "OR" situation in an "AND" situation. It is very obvious that all companies need to focus on their core, and without that it doesn't matter how many new products they launch. But resources and risk for new launches in an ecommerce set up can be significantly lower than in a GT (general trade) set up and therefore a company can afford to launch a multitude of products in e-commerce in a relatively short time, without diluting its focus on the core. Some products (either because of the consumers it caters to or because of its price point or several other reas