Introduction In today’s fast-paced and competitive consumer goods market, maximizing profits is a top priority for any consumer packaged goods (CPG) company. To achieve this goal, businesses need to make well-informed decisions based on accurate data and insights. Traditional approaches to revenue growth management often fall short in capturing the complexities of the market, hindering businesses from making data-backed decisions.  However, with the advent of AI-powered models like Athena®, CPGs can now navigate the twists and turns of the market with unprecedented precision and take thei ..read more

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about significant changes in the way consumer packaged goods (CPGs) operate. Before the pandemic, discounts were the go-to strategy for CPGs, typically offered as percentage-based savings like 10%, 20%, or 30%. However, the post-pandemic landscape demanded a shift in promotional tactics. CPGs had to revamp their approach and move away from traditional discounts to embrace enticing multi-pack offers, such as “buy two, get one free” or “two for the price of one”. Why the change? Consumers altered their behavior and became less responsive to standard discounts. They ..read more

Athena’s Journey®: Wise Athena’s Blueprint for Success As a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company, you want to ensure that your business decisions around pricing and trade promotions are informed and effective. That’s why Wise Athena has created Athena, a comprehensive and cutting-edge predictive tool that implements AI and ML to optimize pricing and trade promotions for CPGs.  At Wise Athena, we understand that the success of any business tool depends not only on its technical capabilities but also on its implementation process. That’s why we have developed Athena’s Journey®, a proprieta ..read more

If you’re a consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturer, you know that Trade Spend is a critical component of your go-to-market strategy. But how do you know if your Trade Spend is effective? And how can you optimize it to drive maximum ROI? The answer lies in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. By harnessing the power of these technologies, you can gain unprecedented insights into the effectiveness of your Trade Spend tactics, and use that information to optimize your future spend. In this blog post, we’ll explore the future of Trade Spend for CPG, and show you how you can leverage A ..read more

As a business leader in the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry, you know that revenue growth is essential for the success of your company. But with so many variables to consider, it can be difficult to know where to focus your efforts.  A winning revenue growth strategy requires a combination of effective internal processes, consumer insights, and market analysis. One of the key areas to focus on is your commercial team. Your commercial team is responsible for driving sales, building relationships with key accounts or customers, and identifying new revenue opportunities. As such, they ..read more

The holiday season is a crucial time for retailers. People often spend more money during this time of year, which is a great opportunity for businesses to capitalize on the increased spending.  However, as per a recent study, 91% of shoppers say inflation will impact their purchase behavior this holiday season. And factors like rising interest rates and gas prices are forcing shoppers to reduce their shopping budgets.  An additional study from McKinsey indicates that 74% of consumers are “trading down” by switching stores for lower prices, adjusting their quantities, postponing purc ..read more

At Wise Athena, we come to work every day to empower the CPG industry. We feel humbled to be awarded as Best-in-Class in two categories by the POI 2022 EPx Vendor Panorama, a leading institution dedicated to helping CPG stakeholders to identify new technologies driving transformational change for the sector with a global scope. Commenting on the awards, our Co-Founder and VP Octavio Hinojosa said: “It is an honor to be recognized by POI, as we continue to push the limits of technology and data to create a solution that is providing certainty and confidence to CPG leaders when making revenue im ..read more

For the past two years, consumers have spent more of their time at home. While remote work and quarantine have changed our lives, this shift has translated into consumers’ buying habits, too.  In fact, personal consumption expenditures (PCE) for furnishings and household equipment increased by 2.3% in 2020. Initially, consumers were focused on growing their savings. Multiple government stimulus packages helped consumers to boost their nest eggs, too. When prices initially rose at the beginning of 2021, many consumers still felt okay about the economy.  But everything changed in May ..read more

Major economic catalysts, like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have led to tremendous changes. Economic changes are a given in a capitalist economy, but lately, brands have weathered more than their fair share of market shifts.  And, thanks to significant increases in inflation, consumer habits are changing yet again—after over two years of uncertainty and flux. The cost of goods, and particularly of food-related goods, is increasing so much that there’s no end in sight to these inflation increases.  The Consumer Price Index has been increasing over the pa ..read more