Using Data to Identify and Drive Omnichannel Growth Use Cases, with Andy Beilke, Sr. Development Manager, eCommerce Strategy & Capabilities at General Mills

Transcript

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Peter Crosby (00:00):

Welcome to unpacking the Digital Shelf where we explore brand manufacturing in the digital age.

Peter Crosby (00:16):

Hey everyone. Peter Crosby here from the Digital Shelf Institute. The zigzag shopping journey of the consumer has completely disrupted the organizational silos of brick and mortar versus digital commerce. At many brands, driving growth requires cross-functional teams to pick omnichannel use cases and devise launch measure, and optimize them together. The fuel of that process is data. And Andy Bielke, senior development manager of e-Commerce Strategy and capabilities at General Mills focuses his team on delivering the data that enables omnichannel thinking and behaviors across the organization. Andy joined the podcast to walk Lauren Livak, Gilbert, and me through the transformation of processes and data science that are driving growth. Following this episode, you will want to google the word calculator. Andy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being with us today. We're excited to have you on.

Andy Beilke (01:15):

Thanks, Peter. Thanks, Lauren. Really excited to be here.

Peter Crosby (01:20):

Yeah, it's so generous to you to give back to our little DSI community. You sit in an omnichannel role. I think you refer to it as the omnichannel junction box. Is that true? Does someone make that up? Up?

Andy Beilke (01:35):

Yeah, it is. It is. Yeah. It's a unique role. My title is really the development Manager on e-Commerce Strategy and Capabilities at General Mills for our North America segment. And how I equate that is really being our omnichannel junction box within our organization. And so what that means is that we need to bring an omnichannel mindset to both capability work, but also solving business problems that our commercial teams are facing every day. So it's super important with the growth of e-commerce in the CPG or in the food space to bring that insight into our organization. And we're that group that's beating the drum on the importance of e-commerce, digital transformation and what that means, but then helping bring that to life through really business application and connecting different teams to different solutions within our organization to help them accelerate their business.

Peter Crosby (02:36):

And talk a little bit about that shift to the omnichannel mindset. Tell me about how that merger, not finally, I guess we're at that moment now where that seems to be happening, we're seeing that happening, but what was kind of the process to get it there for you?

Andy Beilke (02:58):

I'll tell you first, there's still days where it maybe doesn't feel like it's happening where I can tell some stories about that, but it's been a great evolution that I've been in this role for about three or three and a half years now, and the role has evolved itself. And that's because I think the state of the business and the business needs have evolved in regards to e-commerce and omnichannel. And so I mean, if you think back to 10 years ago what a marketing execution was being pushed from CPG manufacturers into the retail space, it was all about activating in store, in store is super important. It still is important and it will always be important, but now you need to have omnichannel mindset when you do that and enter new things like retail media and different avenues that start to add different elements to the equation.

Andy Beilke (03:56):

And it's just super important to have that omni mindset as you're going to market to ensure that you're maximizing your marketing investment to reach the right consumers and capitalize on that. And so our team is really trying to, I view this world as a bunch of concentric circles. We historically look at things like functions. I actually sit in our sales function, by the way. I'm a sales person that is helping to just grow our brands and consult with our brand teams and our retailer teams and our sales teams in doing that. But the reality is I don't view myself solely as that. I view myself as kind of this overlapping functional expert in e-commerce, but helping to contribute across a variety of different spaces to help accelerate the business wherever I can.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (04:51):

I love the concentric circle example as a visual person, I'm envisioning all these circles kind of touching and intertwining, but to that point, how do you define omnichannel in your organization in order for all of those different functions to feel like they have a vested interest in the importance of it and the value it's going to drive for the business? Because I think you can look at omnichannel in different ways, so I'd be curious to hear how you define that for your org to really get them on board.

Andy Beilke (05:19):

Sure. Yeah. It's not perfect. We have groups that have more, I'd say, of an omnichannel approach or maybe KPIs that are geared towards that than others. We have our, I would call tried and true maybe historical sales teams, for example, that are well established and routinized at a lot of the in-store elements. Think like regular Nielsen data and distribution shelving merchandising. That's the old retail model, and it's still a really important part of retail, right? That's going to be the foundation. But we have a group that we've established over the last several years that, and this body of work used to really exist within my team, but we've now kind of pushed it out into more field-based teams that we have omnichannel sales managers, for example, and they have different KPIs that they're also responsible for to help accelerate their business that will introduce the digital shelf into that equation. We have a framework for measuring success. So my team helps bring those capabilities together and define what the KPI should be, and then helping troubleshoot opportunities against them in conjunction with all the commercial teams and our tech teams. Not a perfect science, but that's where we're at. I hope I answered that question adequately, but it's really an evolution and our sales team is, I'd say, at the forefront of it because they're interacting with our retailers every day, and that's where this transformation is occurring.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (06:59):

And so you're sitting in sales, but this also incorporates supply chain r and d marketing, obviously, I'm sure shopper. So how do you stay connected with them? Are you having, and the reason I'm asking this is because for most brands it's hard to be able to bring all those functions together. So how have you found it to be successful, whether it's weekly meetings or different cadences or sprints or I'd be curious to see how your team can kind of enable that across the org.

Andy Beilke (07:30):

Yeah, great question. We've done a lot of different things over time. One of the things that was established before I was a part of this team and lives on is really just a regular monthly cadence of, we call it, it would just be e-commerce best practice sharing. And so my team organizes that every single month. So this is a change management initiative. This has been a longstanding thing that we've been doing. It's very simple. You're just getting together. It's about getting people that have subject matter expertise really related to e-commerce together. It doesn't really matter where you sit. It could be North America retail, which is my operating segment. It could be our pet segment, it could be international. We bring those groups together. It could be a sales person that works on a customer, or it could be an enterprise marketing team that supports capability development for e-commerce driven or digital driven initiatives. And so this is probably a hundred person this list that we get together every month. And that's one really good example of how we do that. And we've had many other initiatives over time where we're either driving a certain initiative or cadence that's strategically driven. When we launched our digital shelf measurement framework, we had a change management plan that we created. We would plug that into our monthly meeting cadence of course, but we had additional communications and procedures stood up around something like that to put more of a bigger focus against it.

Peter Crosby (09:01):

Andy, could you maybe walk us through the before and after experience of not thinking or not needing to think omnichannel 10 years ago or whatever, and then what it looks like today, I mean, maybe through the lens of some sort of tent pole event or some big thing you're all working on it. Can you sort of bring that to life for our listeners a little bit of how it's

Andy Beilke (09:28):

Yeah, I'd love to. I mean, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, if you're doing a big marketing event, a 10 pole event, it's going to be, so for us, think right now it's back to school season, so you're going back to school. There's big initiatives around that in retail stores across the country. And 10 years ago, this is maybe 15 years ago, this is about, it's probably focused on linear tv. It's focused on more explicitly in-store display. And it's almost the groups that are coming together to execute that. It's less cross-functional, more a merchant maybe with a retailer or a little bit more linear, I would say, in terms of how it flows. You have a brand team developing a strategy they want to get into market at this time. Our sales team would be collaborating with a merchant at a retailer to bring that to life in store.

Andy Beilke (10:20):

And that's how it comes together. In the modern world that we're in today, if it's an omnichannel event, it needs to be significantly more cross-functional. The players have changed dramatically in how you do that. I mentioned retail media earlier in the conversation. Not only is in-store display still a component of that, but now you have other ways to reach consumers through retail platforms to be able to capitalize on your marketing investment and opportunities there. And so the tactics have changed. The players have changed. So now organizing around that is quite different where you have a more collaborative or a more cross-functional group that you need to bring together, but you need to do it faster. You need to do more real time because everything's changing all the time. So you do need to be more agile. And I would say I don't think anyone's perfect in this regard. Our commercial teams do a really great job of collaborating with our retail partners to bring these opportunities to life. It's just so different than it used to be. It used to be more of a one size fits all approach, and now it's much more of a personalized or tailored event data-driven, what are the right marketing levers to pull through retail media networks customized more at the retailer level than ever before, much different than what it was 10 or 15 years ago.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (11:43):

And what are you doing differently to set yourself up for the next five 10, right? Because it's going to continue to change more channels. Some new social media network I'm sure is going to come up or the way that in-store and digital work together. I mean that part we can't control, but we can control the part of how we operate or how you operate as a business. So I'm curious, what are you putting in place, whether that's a process or people or decision framework to really be able to make those changes so quickly?

Andy Beilke (12:16):

Yeah, I mean, I'd say the first is leveraging, I would say leveraging data that we have access to or finding access to the next tranche of data that we think would set us up for something differentiated. So data, a data-driven strategy, whether that's data-driven marketing or if that's just simply measuring your performance in the marketplace with all the data points that we have at our disposal. So I would say that's probably where we're starting and we've been investing a lot in that space. Retailer specific data, things like Walmart, Luminate or Stratum with Kroger or 84, 51 different data sources that are retailer unique that can provide a differential insight into the consumer, I think is definitely something that we've got a great strategy around and have been investing. We've really been investing in that for a long time, and I think it's only accelerated in recent years.

Andy Beilke (13:14):

And then that data, it's important that we monetize it ourselves, that we then use it and turn it into insight and create an advantage with that. So that's really the next opportunity for us. And finding a more routinized way to do that is something that my team sits at the center of. And we don't have a perfect process or strategy for that yet today, but we've got some ideas on some places that we are exploring to better maximize and accelerate our insights into decision making faster with the new data streams that we're getting access to.

Peter Crosby (13:53):

I am loving this new word routinized, so it's new to me at least. I love the routine plus eyes, and you've turned it into a verb. It is my new favorite word. So first of all, thank you for that. The second thing is I know that data kind of feels like the data that you're able to produce for folks who are trying to make these decisions faster, stronger, smarter is really your currency. I think that it's the way you are able to hopefully attract interest and engagement and to sit down at the table to have a common vocabulary. Am I right in thinking that it's currency or does it scare people? Do they not want to hear from you? That involves perhaps even more accountability or transparency that they might be concerned about? And you don't need to necessarily apply that to General Mills, but I'm thinking as somebody that's thinking about how data can be this currency, how do you think about how getting people on board of that sort of data train,

Andy Beilke (15:02):

If you will? Yeah, I love that phrase. I do fundamentally believe that data is one of the new currencies that we are in that world now. That is what digital transformation essentially, I think creates or maybe a byproduct of that. And it changes and it evolves how you need to go to market and think from a commercial perspective. For us, I would say, or maybe broadly speaking, I think it's important to know maybe balance the right amount of data that you are trying to pursue and look for and maybe bring into your organization and focus on the problems that need solving data out there for everything now. And the reality is it's all getting expensive. And so you're going to need to prioritize. You're going to need to budget for what is most important for you to get the work done that you need to do.

Andy Beilke (16:06):

And so something that I am finding myself doing and then internalizing, but also coaching many different partners inside and outside of my organization on are always focusing on the problems to solve or the use cases for that data. Don't lose sight of that. People talk about AI a lot. AI is, we could probably talk about that in a second here, but AI itself is really, I try not to talk about it too much because it's really less about ai. It's more about what's the right solution to the business problem that you're facing? And if AI is a part of that, great, I think it can accelerate that for sure if it's the right part of the solution. But we've been getting calls from many different retailers on just blanket, how could they use looking for maybe some coaching on how to leverage AI differently within their ecosystem. And I think that's the wrong question to ask. I think it's, well, what are the problems that you're trying to solve and can AI be a part of the solution? So yeah, I'm pivoting around a little bit, not trying to be dodgy or anything, but I hope that helps

Peter Crosby (17:08):

Give a little no thought to, I think focusing, we often talk about the problems to be solved, the jobs to be done, whatever it is, because then that focuses the conversation very clearly. And it's not just some email dump into my email inbox every Monday with some sort of list of things, but rather it's coming, I presume to them in the context of this thing we're all trying to achieve. Does that

Andy Beilke (17:34):

Definitely not capturing it? Definitely, yeah. And especially in a world where in the CPG or in the food space where I work, the business environment has changed dramatically from even just two years ago. The growth momentum from kind of the pandemic at home eating, consumption driven behavior has started to slow. And so the dynamics of our business have changed pretty quickly. The state of the macro economy is different. The state of the consumer is different, and what that's leading to is more value seeking behavior in different things. And that's putting pressure on branded companies in general as consumers maybe trade down or find different alternatives to maybe brands they know and love. Maybe they'll try that private label product that is a little cheaper, but they'll give it a shot, that type of situation. So as a result, the momentum of our business has started to change, and that's when the prioritization of things like investment in data versus retail media versus other things that a brand has to decide on becomes really, really important on how you do that. And so going all the way back to being focused on the problems that you need to solve is really critical. And having that alignment, I think all the way to the top within your organization can be really, really helpful so that when that time comes, when your p and l gets pinched, you're prioritized against the right things, everyone's aligned, and then you can move forward together for better or for worse, whatever that direction is.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (19:09):

And Andy, how have you seen, I know Covid was kind of a crazy time for everyone, especially in e-commerce and changed the growth numbers and you saw a huge increase because people were buying online. How have you leveled out your expectations of what you're selling online versus what you're selling in store, what that balance is and what your future projections of what growth looks like in e-commerce? Because obviously that has pendulum swung a bit, and as someone who's focused on the p and l and making sure that you're driving that growth and profitability, how have you as an function, tried to think about what success looks like now and in the future for that?

Andy Beilke (19:49):

Yeah, I love the question. I think initially no one really knew what to expect. And maybe about two-ish years ago or so, things started to somewhat normalize. Normalize. I don't know that there's been a normal year in the food space in the last five, but in anything. But what's normal, I don't think anyone knows what normal is. I guess we're in the new normal, but every year is presenting a different challenge. And some of them are quite extreme from what the year before might've been. And so it's flexing the org agility of everyone in the industry. Going back to the original question on e-commerce as a growth driver and how to maybe reframe that within the context. My organization, again, we focus on a lot of the external data points and our internal data points, and we use that to really triangulate a forecast, a plan, a long range plan of what we think could be true, and all that data that we invest in.

Andy Beilke (21:03):

We bring into that ator, if you will, to try to come up with a bit of a prediction of where we see the market going. And I think earlier this year on one of our investor calls, we released that General Mills, we are from an e-commerce percent of business or development perspective about mid-teens is what our development is online, which is pretty strong for a food player. And so we know that we over index relative to the industry. So we have a lead, which is great. And so that's a critical data point, but that's part of our narrative. We need to keep that lead and how do we maximize and continue to capitalize on the growth opportunity. So it's again, leveraging data, but then using it to bring that to life to our senior leaders within our organization, quantifying it. Here's the size of the prize.

Andy Beilke (21:59):

If we continue to go this route, newsflash for branded CPG right now, not much is growing right now in that space except for e-commerce. And so it is so important in my mind, and I know I'm biased from where I sit, but it's so important to be on the leading edge of capitalizing that growth versus being behind. So that's the narrative that I am on right now. Obviously as I talk it out loud to everyone, I hope it sounds okay, but it's leveraging data, bringing that to life through really quantifying the opportunity and then getting it to the right places in your organization to help keep the eye on the prize for people.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (22:45):

How are you telling that story to your leaders, right? Because I think most CPG companies have leaders who have potentially just been focused on in-store for the majority of their careers, and they might not understand. So what has been helpful to tell that story, to get more resources, more funding to be able to support your mission statement, which by the way, sounded excellent on how you're thinking about e-commerce.

Andy Beilke (23:12):

Yeah, I mean, what has been helpful? I would say the trajectory that leaders have seen, so the results from e-commerce I think has been really helpful. I think one of the biggest challenges that we actually have that starts to be this concentric circle that overlaps with this world really fast is retail media. Because unpacking the effectiveness of that media versus maybe a national media spend or a broader consumer buy that a brand team had been doing and then reallocating that investment towards something like search, which is a lower funnel conversion activity, becomes really difficult to do. And that's where this all starts to come together. So that's a little bit deeper than that broader maybe c-suite conversation. It's more at, call it the brand decision level or the p and l level that a brand needs to do. But that's where we run into challenges, frankly. How do you compare running a BOGO at Publix versus running a search deal on Walmart versus doing this thing at Instacart or DoorDash in the intermediary space that it's just so difficult to be able to coach teams across those different levers to drive their commercial business and keep a consistent performance narrative and things like that. It's very difficult to do.

Peter Crosby (24:50):

Well solve that. Would you?

Andy Beilke (24:54):

Working on it? Working on it with about 40 of my closest peers?

Peter Crosby (25:00):

No. I mean, therein lies the amazing challenge for the donator as you put it. Thanks for bringing that great vocab, Andy. Yes, I know. I love this. It brings me back to my Hogans heroes childhood, which dates me any, anyhow, that's what I think is in the business that we're, we think about attribution and how do you know where can you double down? And it's become increasingly difficult to do that and way more complex, I would imagine. And so the fact that you and 40 of your favored peers are working on that every day is exciting.

Andy Beilke (25:42):

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I mean for us, I think the recipe for the future is having a lens to leveraging data, to have a lens into where we see growth opportunity, ensuring that you are adequately setting up the right strategy to support that perhaps that is trying to distort resources that direction, perhaps that is trying to build different capabilities uniquely in different areas that you expect more growth to come from, perhaps that is changing your business processes to better integrate e-commerce or bring that to life somehow. All these things, these things are being pursued by many different organizations to try to get after that opportunity. So that's probably not a huge secret or anything like that, but for me, the future, it really is omnichannel. I sit in a team that is, we specialize in a lot of different things, but I see what pure play does.

Andy Beilke (26:49):

I see what omnichannel retail does. I see what Amazon's been trying to do, breaking into food over the last decade, really unsuccessfully. And they're doing some good things right now, but there will be a limit to what they're able to accomplish without a stronger omnichannel footprint. So to me, I think the future of this world is really omnichannel and people don't, I don't know if they'll ever be super familiar with someone else picking all their produce and dropping it on their doorstep. It's just kind of the reality of food. It's more personal than that, and people like to be more involved in that. And there, of course, are exceptions to all these things that I'm saying, but I think that's the reality. And so the faster you can get to operating effectively in that omnichannel mindset, I think the better off you will be.

Peter Crosby (27:37):

Yeah, Walmart and Morning Consult put out a report recently on a survey that they ran against I think 2200 consumers asked a bunch of questions to sort of get at what they call the state of adaptive retail, which was a really, really cool report. It is really focused on the hyper personalized future of retail and what it will take to be able to deliver almost, I think essentially every part of the consumer journey in a hyper-personalized way. How they discover, how they get inspired, all of that, all the way through how they get it, and then hopefully how they rebuy it again. And I feel like data is going to be, the only way that any of that works is if you're able to do this data and then you also own the omnichannel experience or as a brand that you are able to play across all of those things. And so looking at that and thinking about what they're trying to describe here, to me, it's a clarion call for thinking about this in a different way and that you have some time to get that worked out, but you don't have all the time in the world to get that worked out.

Andy Beilke (28:56):

Yeah, I like that. I think there is a ticking clock. I don't think I can disclose maybe our percentage of business on e-commerce at Walmart, but it is growing dramatically. If you look at their earnings reports for North America and you focus in on maybe if you can find some of the food facts and things like that, e-comm is all over over there. Same with Kroger. This is the talk of the investor community in that space, aside from AI of course, and technology and those things connect, they connect really well in a digitally transformed retail ecosystem. Those things connect and can benefit each other. To your point on leveraging data to essentially refuel your marketing, refuel your approach to how you reach your consumer is really, really important for the future of retail. And that's what I think will give omnichannel retailers a leg up.

Andy Beilke (29:55):

I think how to reach them in store in a personalized way is where I'm becoming more and more curious. I think you're seeing more of that experimentation happening, which is really fascinating, but it's essentially, it's kind of the flip of what's happened during Covid where digital disrupted or the need to push towards an online experience disrupted the retail marketplace so quickly. I view it a little bit more like the opposite now. It's going to be more of digital technology and transformation is going to be completely disrupting in-store retail in a different way through this transformation. So it's going to be fun to be a part of it and fun to watch mostly. I'm sure it'll be a little painful here or there, but as we figure things out, but I think the next three years are going to be really telling, as you said, you have some time, but not a lot of time as a brand to

Peter Crosby (30:51):

Start to figure

Andy Beilke (30:51):

These things

Peter Crosby (30:52):

Out. The pace of change that seems to be on the horizon with ai, I just feel like it's just going to become an onrush, because right now I would say Gartner has their trough of disillusionment, and I feel like ai, I dunno if you're aware of that. So when you're in SaaS software, they sort of talk about the adoption of technology and there's forgotten all the stages. But one of them, after you have the, oh my gosh, this is so exciting, the hype cycle, they call it, I think. And then so they have all these expectations and then it drops into what they call the trough of disillusionment, which is just one of my favorite things

Andy Beilke (31:32):

Spent. I've the not to you.

Peter Crosby (31:35):

Yeah, exactly. And I think AI is actually going to be somewhat of drops into the trough of disillusionment quickly, and then back up to expectation. I think it's going to, the use cases are going to come at us so quickly and then we'll discover, oh, this really doesn't help me as much as I was hoping it would help me. But the next one will. It's going to be a very interesting time to be in the business.

Andy Beilke (32:03):

The good news is that I just Googled trough of dissolution and according to their search results, which are driven by AI according to what they're posting to me, it's given me a really good overview of this topic in a synthesized way. Excellent. Excellent. So thank you for the tip. And I do agree with the premise that it should mean it will be a faster dip into the trough and then back out

Peter Crosby (32:25):

Given, but then it will be a continuous circle back into overhyped expectations down into the trough and back up again. So it's exciting times, Andy, and thank you so much for coming on to sort of share that journey with us that you're on. It's super exciting and inspiring because what the relationships that you're putting together at General Mills to move forward in this omnichannel way, I think are setting the bar for the industry. And so learning about it from you is just really valuable, and we're really grateful.

Andy Beilke (33:07):

Well, yeah. Thank you for having me. I hope maybe everyone that's listening gets a nugget out of this conversation that they can take away. I certainly have a few from our conversation as well, including this trough of Disillusionment sab.

Peter Crosby (33:21):

Use it

Andy Beilke (33:22):

Like it. I like it. Thank you very much for having me. I really appreciate it and appreciate everything that the DSI and Salsify have done to help bring this community together in recent years. Thank

Peter Crosby (33:36):

You. Wow, you were really kind. Thank you so much, Andy.

Lauren Livak Gilbert (33:38):

Thanks so much, Andy.

Peter Crosby (33:40):

Thanks again to Andy for sharing all of his wisdom and vocabulary. If you're looking for more wisdom, swing on over to digitalshelfinstitute.org to become a member. Thanks for being part of our community.