What is Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud?

Rolled out in mid-September 2019, Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud has redefined how consumer goods businesses run. It has redefined the consumer goods value chain and bridged the gap between retail partners and end users. Moreover, the platform has transformed traditional processes into more connected, data-driven workflows to help brands build more powerful and consumer-oriented chains.

Since its launch, Consumer Goods Cloud by Salesforce has consistently evolved to meet the growing demands of the retail goods sector. Moreover, POI has recognized it as “best-in-class” for retail execution and enterprise planning. In addition, it provides field reps with intelligent insights, smart task prioritization, and enhanced in-store performance to maximize customer satisfaction. As a result, your business experiences more return on investment.

In this blog, let’s explore more about Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud, its need, and key features.

Introducing Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud

Simply put, Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud is a toolkit of cloud-based software solutions built within the Salesforce framework. It caters to the unique, growing demands of the consumer goods industry, allowing businesses and retailers to handle operations smoothly. Additionally, the platform helps elevate customer experience and boost sales by connecting and engaging with customers and distributors.

This ground-breaking platform solves issues that most FMCG companies face by blending industry-specific capabilities with Salesforce CRM. Consequently, it speeds up business growth, simplifies workflows, and enhances productivity and efficiency across various business teams. It also helps manage customers and the supply chain seamlessly.

Also Read: Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud vs. Regular Salesforce: What’s the Difference?

Why Need Consumer Goods Cloud?

Let’s take a look at some of the most convincing reasons why your consumer goods business must adopt Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud:

Unified Data

Almost 40% of businesses believe that data silos hinder their ability to deliver positive customer experiences. With Consumer Goods Cloud, you can collect and store all the data from various areas like sales, service, and back-office. This ensures that every team and department is on the same page and working toward a common goal.

Boost Retail Execution

According to Webinar Care research, only 29% of businesses believe they are getting the most out of their retail execution. A retail execution plan revolves around delivering the right product to the right store at the right time. Therefore, Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud helps organizations in the following ways:

It automates routine tasks, allowing sales reps to focus on selling. With store-level insights and advanced analytics, retailers can boost operational efficiency.
Real-time data sync between brands and field teams helps identify planogram gaps, out-of-stock items, and asset issues. This enables smarter inventory planning.
Features like guided selling, in-store collateral, and account-specific product lists ensure flawless store execution.

Integration

Easily integrate Consumer Goods Cloud with other Salesforce products like Sales, Marketing, and Commerce to create a unified solution. Plus, it supports integration with third-party systems, so you can build a comprehensive platform that meets your business’s exact needs and ensures smooth operation across your entire ecosystem.

Personalized Experience

A McKinsey report states that 80% of customers expect businesses to know and understand their needs. With Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud, retailers can offer personalized experiences in the following ways:

Get real-time information about your customers, including purchase history, preferences, demographics, etc. This helps your reps deliver well-tailored experiences to every consumer.
Businesses can set up custom fields to collect valuable customer data that’s useful to them.
With SCGC, marketers can plan targeted and omnichannel campaigns to ensure that the right consumer gets the right message at the right time.

Scalability

CG Cloud is designed to grow with your business. Its scalable architecture means you can expand your usage as your needs evolve, ensuring that the platform remains a valuable asset as your business continues to grow and adapt to changing market demands.

Enhance in-store Merchandising & Marketing

Salesforce research reveals that the U.S. consumer goods businesses spend $200 billion annually on sales, product displays, promotions, etc. However, only $100 billion of it is used effectively. With Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud, they can optimize their in-store marketing and merchandising with:

Comprehensive visibility into sales targets, orders, discounts, promotions, and more, ensuring seamless retail activity execution.
AI to optimize key tasks, driving more effective marketing and delivering better ROI.
Lead planning to improve store management and operational efficiency.

Accessibility

The platform is easily accessible from any device with an internet connection, empowering your team to stay connected, no matter where they are. This seamless access allows your remote workforce to stay in the loop with real-time data and collaborate effortlessly with colleagues across different locations.

Customizability

Tailored specifically for the Consumer Goods industry, this platform offers easy customization to align with your unique business processes and workflows. Whether you need to adjust for seasonal changes or specific product needs, the system adapts to provide the flexibility you require.

Key Features of Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud

Let’s move on to the top features of Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud. They are:

Store Visit Planning

Visit Planning helps sales professionals prioritize and organize their store visits more strategically and effectively.

With visit planning elements like customer visit settings, event job lists, trip lists, and visits, sales managers can structure daily tasks effectively. As a result, field reps can execute these tasks during store visits and ensure that critical activities are completed without delays.

The platform’s automatic visit planning functionality ensures that your team visits stores at optimal intervals and stays aligned with business goals.

Additionally, the system supports dynamic list building, allowing sales reps to easily track and prioritize their daily assignments. This not only streamlines task management but also maximizes the productivity of every store visit—empowering reps to focus on activities that drive better execution and stronger in-store performance.

Store Visit Execution

Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud enhances visit execution by making every store visit more purposeful and efficient. It provides sales reps with clear, task-specific guidance to ensure they know exactly what needs to be accomplished during each visit.

Customizable templates allow teams to tailor visit plans based on the type of store. For instance, a grocery store template might include tasks like checking inventory levels or verifying promotional displays. This flexibility ensures visits align with customer-specific needs and priorities.

Additionally, tailored visits can be scheduled to target high-value opportunities. The visit execution app also enables virtual engagement and store monitoring, minimizing the need for physical visits while maintaining high execution standards.

Einstein AI for Consumer Goods

By introducing intelligent features that drive smarter decision-making, Einstein AI significantly enhances the capabilities of Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud. With Retail Activity Optimization (RAO), sales team can analyze various data points from retail visits, including store sales, customer feedback, and in-store performance. RAO enables sales reps to identify high-performing stores and allocate their time and efforts accordingly, maximizing productivity and ROI.

Einstein AI also integrates with Google Maps to optimize visit routes for field reps. This ensures smarter territory management and better resource allocation by minimizing travel time and maximizing the number of store visits. Additionally, AI-powered auditing helps assess key planogram metrics like product facings, on-shelf availability, and share of shelf, eliminating guesswork from store evaluations.

Furthermore, Einstein Analytics enables image recognition to identify products on shelves from photos, removing the need for manual product checks. Meanwhile, Einstein Discovery uncovers patterns and insights across in-store data, whether inside Salesforce or external systems. This further helps businesses make data-driven decisions and improve overall store execution.

Order Management & Data Capture

A key strength of Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud is its robust Order Management System (OMS), which empowers field sales teams with real-time visibility into product availability and order status. It seamlessly integrates with other systems to ensure smooth and accurate order processing. It’s like having a smart assistant that keeps everything organized and error-free.

With on-the-fly order capture, reps can place orders anytime, anywhere, with automatic updates that reduce manual effort and prevent data confusion. Product scanning via SKU barcodes further speeds up the process, allowing reps to quickly retrieve product details and streamline order entry.

The OMS also supports onsite order collection, enabling instant updates during store visits. Real-time inventory data helps prevent stockouts by ensuring reps only sell what’s available, boosting customer satisfaction and fulfillment accuracy.

Store Delivery

Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud helps consumer goods businesses optimize selling opportunities and streamline inventory fulfillment through smart delivery management.

It enables prioritization of deliveries, allowing teams to focus on high-priority orders based on business goals and customer importance. This ensures that critical deliveries are completed first, maximizing sales potential.

With comprehensive order visibility, sales reps can monitor order statuses in real time, ensuring timely fulfillment. Combined with live tracking and dynamic rerouting, the platform ensures deliveries are handled efficiently and adaptively, improving service levels and reducing delays.

Route Planning & Task Management

Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud empowers field representatives with optimized route planning, actionable insights, and intelligent task management. This all-in-one approach enhances their visibility into sales targets, simplifies visit execution, and supports smarter, real-time decision-making. This allows reps to perform at their best every day.

Final Thoughts

Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of tools to optimize retail execution, simplify order management, and provide real-time insights for field representatives. By automating routine tasks and enhancing in-store productivity, the platform drives better decision-making, resulting in higher ROI.

As the consumer goods sector continues to emerge, companies need to stay ahead of market trends while meeting customer demands. Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud allows businesses to achieve this with its powerful AI capabilities and data-driven approach. Whether it’s improving in-store merchandising or optimizing delivery management, SCGC ensures businesses remain agile and responsive.

For businesses looking to implement SCGC into their Salesforce CRM, Manras can help. Our team facilitates smooth integration and ensures a seamless experience, making it easier to leverage the full potential of the platform.

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