CARGOCONNECT-APRIL2026 - Flipbook - Page 35
FMCG SUPPLY CHAIN : SPECIAL FEATURE
In 2026, the term ‘Forecasting’ has been
replaced by ‘Autonomous Demand Sensing.’ We have moved away from the
‘bullwhip effect’ that plagued traditional
supply chains. Organisations are now
deploying Graph Neural Networks to
decode relationships between millions of
demand variables, enabling anticipatory
stock movements closer to consumption
clusters.
MIHIR S PARAMANE
National Head– FMCG Planning & Logistics,
Reliance Consumer Products
Now the expectation is that product
should reach you in minutes and we want
a live tracking of that shipment, which
is prompting companies to increase
the number of storage nodes closer to
consumption clusters rather than relying
on fewer, larger distribution centres. In
this environment, route optimisation
is becoming a critical component of
speed-led fulfilment execution.
BHAWNA BILLA
Category Lead– Freight & Logistics Procurement,
McCain Foods
“By combining store-level sales velocity insights with structured
inventory tracking, organisations are increasingly able to identify
fast-moving SKUs early and 昀氀ag potential shortages well before
they a昀昀ect service, thereby reducing last-minute replenishment
pressures during peak consumption windows.”
This shift toward granular demand intelligence is further
supported by advances in AI-led forecasting tools that enable
organisations to move beyond historical trend-based planning.
Bhawna Billa, Category Lead– Freight & Logistics Procurement
at McCain Foods, states, “Earlier we used to do the forecasting
basis the past data, the seasonality e昀昀ect and all those factors. But
now we can actually predict the future demand through AI tools.
As q-com continues to rede昀椀ne expectations around delivery speed,
such predictive capabilities are becoming essential to maintaining
availability across high-frequency consumption categories.”
From a broader transformation perspective, organisations
across the FMCG and CPG landscape are increasingly aligning
their planning frameworks with real-time demand visibility and
smarter ful昀椀lment architectures. Durgesh Agarwal, Co-founder
and COO at BLA BLI BLU, notes that “Brands are actively
shifting from reactive supply chains to AI-driven forecasting
and planning models, driven by the need for real-time visibility,
smarter inventory decisions, and proactive responses to demand
and supply variability.” He says, edge computing, in particular, is
enabling shelf-level intelligence to evolve from periodic alerts into
continuous monitoring systems capable of predicting depletion
patterns before stock-outs occur.
For companies managing fast-moving lifestyle-driven categories,
the impact of these intelligence-led systems is already visible in
how brands respond to digital demand signals. Pravin Bhoj,
VP– Supply Chain and Operations at Swiss Beauty, explains
that traditional forecasting cycles often failed to capture emerging
trends quickly enough to prevent availability gaps. However, he
went on to add that, “Today, supply chains are evolving into what
he describes as self-adjusting ecosystems, capable of detecting
social sentiment signals and triggering autonomous operational
responses that ensure products remain available precisely when
demand peaks.”
Importantly, the transition toward predictive shelf availability
is not limited to large-scale enterprises alone. Keyur Doshi,
Head– SCM at Vadilal Industries, points out that FMCG brands
are aggressively shifting from reactive, spreadsheet-driven supply
chains to AI-driven, proactive forecasting to manage volatility and
support hyper-local ful昀椀lment models aligned with always-on
commerce environments. “With edge computing enabling realtime shelf monitoring directly inside stores, retailers can now
detect empty shelves and planogram deviations within seconds,
enabling immediate corrective action,” he puts across.
MICRO-FULFILMENT POWERING FMCG’S
INSTANT TODAY
The acceleration of instant commerce is steadily reshaping the
physical architecture of FMCG supply chains. With 10–30-minute delivery windows increasingly becoming the benchmark
across urban India—and rapidly extending into tier II and III
markets—companies are redesigning ful昀椀lment networks around
proximity, responsiveness, and inventory intelligence rather than
scale alone. The emergence of Micro-Ful昀椀lment Centres (MFCs),
modular dark stores, and distributed storage nodes is enabling
organisations to reposition inventory closer to consumption
clusters, fundamentally altering how availability is engineered
across geographies.
CARGOCONNECT APRIL 2026 | 35
