Infosys builds retail platform for global consumer brands

Indian IT bellwether Infosys Monday unveiled a new product platform that helps global brands in the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) segment drive profitable growth in emerging markets.

"As our latest offering in the products, platforms and solutions space, the retail platform has been built to help global brands accelerate profitable growth in emerging markets," Infosys chief executive N.R. Narayana Murthy said at a product preview here.

Named 'TradeEdge', the software platform delivers insights for brands to predict and meet consumer demand and improve sales and operational performance.

"As a cloud-based platform, TradeEdge provides FMCG firms affordable way to expand their reach in emerging markets, which present a challenge and an opportunity for all stakeholders across the chain," Murthy said on the occasion.

According to global consulting firm McKinsey, retail consumption in emerging markets will be about $30 trillion by 2025, accounting for half the global demand and presents a huge growth opportunity to global brands like Proctor & Gamble in light of slowing consumption in developed markets.

"The emerging markets are witnessing higher economic growth, widespread urbanisation and a burgeoning population, with demographic dividend. The growth is, in turn, spurring labour and consumer markets," Murthy noted.

Highlighting the innovative features of the platform, Infosys global head for products, platforms and solutions Sanjay Purohit said as for global brands, the next billion consumers would be in the emerging markets, they have to know the market better, reach customers faster and do so at lower costs.

"We are helping 10 global brands gain visibility into sales opportunities of about $20 billion across 70 countries," he said.

The platform allows FMCG firms and their distributors to exchange information on sales, inventory and products in weeks though a cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) system and adopt best practices in hours.

"The platform improves product placement and maximises return on promotions through visual merchandising by providing insights into share of shelf at a fraction of audit costs," Purohit said.

The platform also helps reduce wastage of perishable products with a solution that monitors their temperature and location of cooling units.

"TradeEdge can be used to serve retailers which can order and pay for products cost-effectively using basic mobile phones and reduce ordering costs up to 80 percent with suggested orders based on previous data and forecasts," Purohit observed.

Noting that the platform would be highly beneficial to Indian companies, their distributors, retailers and consumers, Murthy said though India had the world's third largest road network, spanning 4.7 million km and carrying 65 percent of the freight traffic, the roads have poor surface quality and 40 percent were not all-weather type.

"In spite of being an agrarian economy, storage capacity is limited to two percent of farm produce in a temperature-controlled environment as against 85 percent in Europe and North America," he lamented.

Similarly, 18-40 percent of farm produce in India is wasted due to lack of cold storage facility across the country.

"If the farm produce is stored properly, not only we can reduce wastage, but also contribute $100 billion to the economy," he said.

Interestingly, consumption patterns in emerging markets like India are determined by price and perceived value of goods as per capita income of the people is around $124 per month compared to $4,163 in the US.

Moreover, about 90 percent of the $455-billion Indian retail market is dominated by millions of small traders and inefficiencies in its distribution channels impact the ability to serve them better.

"The distribution cost can be as high as 18-25 percent of sales, making it the second largest expense line item after raw materials," Murthy added.