Building Your Business Case for Vertical AI in Consumer Goods

Consumer goods companies are facing a tough landscape. Market disruptions, rising operational costs and changing consumer expectations mean that growth is harder than ever to achieve.

Many companies have already made significant investments in digital transformation, but broad, generic AI solutions often fall short of addressing industry-specific needs. This is where Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) comes in, a specialised solution tailored to meet the unique demands of consumer goods businesses, offering practical recommendations and automated workflows that drive real, measurable impact.

Why Growth is Needed

McKinsey’s “Rescuing a Decade” report highlights the urgent need for growth within the consumer goods sector. Over the past decade, companies have faced stagnant growth, labour shortages, and increased economic pressures, pushing them to re-evaluate their strategies to stay competitive. McKinsey emphasises that a dual agenda is essential: companies need to cut costs while simultaneously pursuing strategies that foster sustainable growth.

In this challenging environment, consumer goods companies are tasked with finding ways to operate more efficiently, optimise costs and build customer loyalty. Standard AI solutions often fail to address the complexity of these issues. However, Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) is designed specifically for this industry, providing tailored solutions to enhance operational efficiency, improve profitability and unlock new growth opportunities.

How Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) Drives Business Value

Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) delivers business value across five key areas, each carefully crafted to meet the demands of consumer goods companies:

• Differentiated UX: Ava transforms the user experience through Aforza’s Touchless Operations, allowing users to interact via voice, photos, videos, and more, rather than relying solely on a chat interface. This multimodal approach makes operations faster, more intuitive, and accessible, driving higher engagement and smoother workflows.
• Smarter Decisions: Ava equips teams with predictive insights and intelligent recommendations, from promotion planning to order predictions and sales forecasts to perfect store recommendations. By leveraging data-specific insights, Ava allows companies to make smarter, quicker decisions aligned with real-time market demands.
• Reduce Labour TCO (Total Cost of Ownership): With Aforza’s automation of repetitive and manual tasks, companies can significantly reduce labour costs while boosting productivity. Ava’s workflows streamline processes, freeing up teams to focus on high-impact activities rather than administrative tasks.
• Increase Order Margin: Ava supports profitability by recommending the mix across orders, pricing and promotions. Through targeted recommendations and data-driven insights, Ava allows companies to make informed pricing decisions, ultimately increasing order margins and boosting bottom-line growth.
• Grow Revenues: Ava drives top-line growth by enabling better sales performance, optimised promotions and precise category expansion strategies. By using AI-powered insights and recommendations, Ava empowers users to unlock new revenue streams and expand market share.

These five value drivers illustrate how Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) aligns its AI capabilities directly with the needs of consumer goods companies, driving both immediate and long-term impact.

Business Value by Personas & Use Cases

The successful implementation of Vertical AI requires a real understanding of the different personas within a consumer goods company. Each role, from Key Account Managers (KAMs) to Field Sales Representatives, Merchandisers, and Retailers, has specific goals and pain points that Ava addresses through tailored use cases.

Let’s consider the following examples:

KAMs benefit from automated joint business planning and advanced sales forecasting intelligence, allowing them to improve promotion outcomes and strengthen customer relationships.

Field Sales teams leverage Ava’s real-time coaching and sales insights to make smarter decisions in-store, optimising the shopping experience and increasing sales.

B2B Retailers utilise Ava to streamline inventory management, revenue insights, and demand forecasting, ensuring that products are always available and that the supply meets consumer demand.

Mapping these use cases to individual personas not only maximises adoption but also guarantees measurable results, as each persona can clearly see the tangible benefits that Ava brings to their specific role.

Measuring the Business Impact

The business impact of Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) is quantifiable and supported by a solid framework that reflects expected results across various levels of adoption. By addressing the specific needs of each persona with targeted use cases, Aforza provides realistic benchmarks for improvement in three primary areas: reducing labour costs, increasing order margins and growing revenues.

These metrics are based on our deep understanding of industry personas, their unique use cases, and proven outcomes from previous deployments. Aforza is confident in these numbers as they reflect realistic business impact aligned with actual needs, meaning you can be confident to measure ROI and track progress over time.

Building the Business Case

Building a compelling business case for Vertical AI is not a complex or time-consuming process. Here’s a simple, three-step approach to creating a powerful business case that showcases the impact Ava can have on your operations:

1. Confirm the Personas Across Your Business

Start by identifying the key personas within your organisation who are directly involved in day-to-day operations and decision-making. These could be roles like Key Account Managers, Field Sales Representatives, Merchandisers, and Retailers. By confirming these personas, you lay the foundation for a focused business case that speaks directly to the people who will benefit most from Aforza’s tailored AI solutions.

2. Map Use Cases across Day-in-the-Life

Next, for each identified persona, pinpoint the common tasks where they experience recurring challenges, inefficiencies, or pain points. These tasks might include sales forecasting for KAMs, real-time coaching for Field Sales, or inventory management for Retailers. By mapping these use cases, you can clearly see where each persona faces obstacles that Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) can address.

3. Understand Business Impact Across the Value Drivers

With the personas and their use cases mapped out, the final step is to assess the potential business impact across key value drivers: Differentiated UX, Smarter Decisions, Reduced Labor TCO, Increased Order Margin, and Revenue Growth. For each use case, determine the specific impact Ava will have on productivity, profitability, or revenue, then consolidate these findings to provide an overall picture of the value that Ava brings to your organisation.

By following these three steps, building a business case for Aforza Vertical AI (Ava) becomes a streamlined and efficient exercise, focused on real outcomes that resonate with your organisation’s goals. With Aforza’s industry expertise, creating a persuasive, actionable business case is both achievable and impactful.