How to Navigate Transformational Change in Consumer Products in a Digital-First World

Roopa is a dynamic, results-driven leader with nearly three decades of global experience in strategy, marketing, digital, and general management, driving growth, innovation, and transformation across leading consumer products and consulting firms worldwide.

In an insightful interaction with Global Woman Leader Magazine, Roopa shares her insights on how digital transformation can shape inclusive cultures, strategies for women leaders navigating global markets, data-driven growth opportunities, and her advice on leading with vision and adaptability in consumer products and luxury.

How has digital transformation impacted the consumer product category? How can leaders use digital transformation to create inclusive and future-ready organizational cultures?

In consumer products, I have seen the efficiency impacts of digital transformation over the last 10-15 years in areas such as manufacturing automation, data migration to the cloud, the growth of e-commerce and omni-channel, explosion in mobile platforms, connectivity through the ‘Internet of Things’, and the game changing evolution in marketing and selling through social media.

Today the challenge is to understand and unleash the full potential of AI including data synthesis at scale and creative development. In each of these phases the skills and abilities needed within organizations to capture the value of new technologies have shifted, accompanied by the need to evolve organizational cultures.

For example, in the beauty industry during Covid, traditional retail selling was completely disrupted when foot traffic in department stores evaporated. Selling methods had to transform from helping a customer color match lipstick in-store in-person to virtual demonstrations on mobile phones, from ringing up purchases to packing products for curbside pickup.

As job content and ways of working evolve, different skill sets and mindsets will be needed to compete effectively. This will require a more inclusive approach and willingness to adapt the culture whilst retaining the unique elements that confer competitive advantage. Leaders need to remain vigilant to identify future impacts, embrace the future with enthusiasm, and implement needed changes with rigor and empathy.

Having led iconic brands and disruptive start-ups, what mindset shifts should leaders embrace to confidently lead change during market uncertainties or technology-driven disruptions?

Staying closely connected to your consumers and frequently assessing the value of your offering to them becomes even more important in uncertain and disruptive environments. If the key sources of your competitive advantage are disappearing, be prepared to pivot. If your product still fulfils a fundamental need or desire of your consumer, and that advantage is likely to persist, then stay the course and double down.

For example, I experienced first-hand the explosive growth in D2C e-commerce businesses in CPG and beauty starting around 2010, disrupting the US market and gaining market share from established players. The wisdom at the time was that legacy brick-and-mortar businesses were dead.

This was proved wrong a decade later as barriers to entry dropped, digital customer acquisition costs skyrocketed, and shipping became a make-or-break expense. Many hot start-ups were forced to expand to brick-and-mortar, failed, or were acquired by established players who pivoted to an omni-channel strategy.

One of the most dynamic industries is beauty, where buzzy new brands regularly generate high trial. However, repeat is trickier. Established brands, notably in skincare where patents and claims are key purchase drivers, have often proved to have the greater longevity.

Can you share an example from your career where data-driven decision-making transformed a challenge into a growth opportunity, and what women leaders can learn from that?

I was once faced with a situation where a large and profitable business segment was declining. A solution was needed quickly, but there were many complicating macro-economic factors at the time that made a diagnosis of the root causes challenging. However, in discussions with multiple key stakeholders and subject matter experts, a few hypotheses emerged that helped to narrow down where to dig for the solution.

Using deep analytics, my team and I demonstrated that the company had been underinvesting in this critical segment and that a reset in spending and innovation would not only generate a much better ROI than our current plans but also protect our long-term strategic advantage.

This solution was quickly and successfully implemented, with the segment gaining back market share. Apart from the power of data-driven decision making, a key learning here was the power of leveraging the expertise and intuition existing in the organization to generate the right hypotheses for efficient analysis. The alignment with key stakeholders built during this process ensured I had the buy-in to execute quickly and effectively.

In your journey integrating e-commerce, brand marketing, and strategy, what actionable lessons can leaders take to build resilient, customer-centric businesses in today’s hybrid economy?

A highly differentiated value proposition, clear brand identity and exceptional execution are key. In an omni-channel world, execution must be cohesive and consistent with the brand mission across all consumer touchpoints.

For example, a brand cannot be at a luxury price point in store but offer ‘Buy 1 get 2 free’ online without channel conflict and damage to its luxury positioning. This requires great discipline over the long haul, but if done right with all elements working seamlessly together to delight the consumer; it will provide a hard-to-copy competitive advantage.

Keeping a pulse on technology, willingness to learn, and the ability to build and retain a great team are all essential components to a resilient business.

In your experience which strategies help women leaders successfully navigate cultural differences while driving global growth in the Consumer-Packaged Goods (CPG) and luxury industries?

The most important step is to obtain a deep understanding of the culture, including the values and beliefs that drive behavior. Market research and cultural immersion are two of the many tools we can use to strengthen our intuition, to identify growth opportunities and ensure culturally appropriate execution.

For global CPG companies, the same product may have very different roles in different markets – chocolate that is ‘mainstream’ in a developed market may be ‘premium’ in an emerging one – necessitating go-to-market strategies that balance protecting the core brand essence whilst adapting to local needs.

For luxury products, keen insight into the nuances in status markers across cultures and the culturally relevant ways to drive desire, for example by partnering with the right influencers, is critical to generating demand.

Understanding and navigating corporate culture is also important for women leaders to pay attention to. Effective strategies for influence and impact will vary greatly by market based on factors including industry segment, cultural norms and share of women in leadership.

LAST WORD: Advice for aspiring Women Leaders in Consumer Products & Luxury

Develop a clear strategic vision, but stay flexible enough to adapt to near term challenges and opportunities. Be prepared to make major strategic pivots if there are disruptive changes in the market. As a leader, staying connected across the organization and investing in relationships will ensure that information reaches you quickly and that you have the support to implement change. Both a strategic mindset and a values-based, people-centric approach are essential to success.