POI Pulse December 24, 2018

This year marked an impressive milestone for POI – our 10th anniversary. It is truly incredible to look back at the progress we have made as an Association and as an industry over the past years. This year, POI has grown to encompass a global network of more than 7,600 industry professionals, with our membership taking on, and achieving more today than in the prior years.

These changes, due in part to technological advancements, increased formats and competition, and changing consumers have affected distribution channels, trading partner relationships, and, in many instances, helped spur targeted growth.

While we are proud of recent progress, we have not lost focus on the future. In fact, we have just graduated more of our next generation leaders (from Nestle, Constellation Brands, InnovAsian, KDP, Mondelez, Tillamook, J&J, Campbell, and others) earlier this month at the POI Certification in Collaborative Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University, and we are more eager about 2019 and beyond, than ever before.

As you are well aware, our industry continues to face strong headwinds – talent acquisition, market pressures, shifting consumer preferences, constant cost cutting, and an uncertain political landscape in the U.S. and Europe.

Acknowledging this reality, the POI is working to build an even more engaged and impactful organization that can continue to effectively advocate, educate and communicate necessary trends, and needed advancement for Sales, Marketing, and Merchandising Executives.

2018 Accomplishments included The renewed POI TPx and Retail Execution Survey and Report, used by POI Members to benchmark their efforts, and identify areas for improvement.  The POI Spring 2018 Summit in Chicago was sold out, with more Manufacturers taking on new projects than ever before. The POI European Summit in May, in Budapest was a tremendous success with our growing community in the face of extreme adversity. The POI Webinar Series reached over 5000 unique professionals across the globe.  The 3rd Annual POI Retail Execution and RGM Summit (in 2019 will be the POI Northeast Regional Summit) was a success, with engaged professionals lauding the focus, takeaways, and new ways to collaborate across teams and trading partners.  This included a deep dive on On Shelf Availability and the Substantial ROI for improved capabilities.  At POI Dallas, we introduced our executive RGM Share Group. We have room for 6 more senior level RGM Professionals.

2018 was also the year of POI Lightning Talk Sessions!  These are five-minute talks presented sequentially without interruption.  The point of each lightning talk is not to give a detailed talk but rather to present briefly the latest and most interesting technological advancement.  They cover the vendors capabilities, start with the good stuff and end making a point. These efforts are especially important now as trading partners work to implement and harmonize new global systems, adjust to an evolving retail landscape, and set the stage to address challenges from Online Retailers that could directly and fundamentally impact our industry.

2018 was also the year where Pam Brown, Chief Commercial Officer took on the advancement, and renewed relevance of the POI TPx and Retail Execution Vendor Panoramas’, where Consumer Goods companies now, more than ever, rely on these documents when considering technological advancements with their TPM, TPO, RGM, eCommerce, AI, and Retail Execution capabilities.

The POI’s recent efforts on each of these topics, and more (including reports, and presentations, may be found, and are described in detail on the POI Website here.  The upcoming Holidays’ present a great opportunity to catch up, and read through the wealth of POI Resources to prepare for a successful 2017!  Reach us with your thoughts, and needs.

As our year, and 10th anniversary comes to a close, I want to thank each of you for your support and dedication to making POI the leading voice of the global CPG and Retail industry focused on the distribution and promotion of Consumer Goods (TPM, TPO, RGM, Retail Execution, and Collaborative Marketing).

With your continued guidance, I am confident we can work together to build an even stronger, more connected POI Community that will advance the interests of our industry now and for years to come.

We sincerely invite you to share your thoughts, and needs with us by dropping us a note at mkantor@p-o-i.org, or pambrown@p-o-i.org 

Sincerely,

Michael, Pam, and the entire POI Team
Reach us with any needs, questions, or requests to further engage with POI at:
PamBrown@P-O-I.org
MKantor@P-O-I.org

Presentations from the Recently Concluded POI Retail Execution Summit are available to POI Members