Nestle Digital Moves

Consumer goods continues to move to deeper digital

Veeral Shah Named 1st Chief E-comm & Digital Officer at Nestlé USA

Veeral Shah has been named chief e-commerce and digital officer for Nestlé USA, a new role for the company. 

Shah shared the news in a LinkedIn post and indicated in a message to CGT that the move aligns with the company’s previously announced plans to further invest in its e-commerce and consumer data capabilities.   

As part of its strategy, Nestlé intends to grow e-commerce to represent a quarter of its total sales, double its consumer data records, and leverage predictive analytics to improve consumer lifetime value and identify innovation opportunities.   ... ' 

Veeral Shah Named 1st Chief E-comm & Digital Officer at Nestlé USA

 Came from CPG, and strong use of consumer data, so of interest. 

Veeral Shah Named 1st Chief E-comm & Digital Officer at Nestlé USA

Personnel Moves (of interest) 

Veeral Shah has been named chief e-commerce and digital officer for Nestlé USA, a new role for the company. 

Shah shared the news in a LinkedIn post and indicated in a message to CGT that the move aligns with the company’s previously announced plans to further invest in its e-commerce and consumer data capabilities.   

As part of its strategy, Nestlé intends to grow e-commerce to represent a quarter of its total sales, double its consumer data records, and leverage predictive analytics to improve consumer lifetime value and identify innovation opportunities.   

Most recently VP of commercial strategy and development at Nestlé, Shah has also held roles at Campbell Soup Company, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s, and Accenture.  

“I have always aspired to have a voice on a C-suite level executive leadership team and to achieve this at the world's largest CPG company is truly humbling,” Shah posted on LinkedIn. “Since joining Nestlé four years ago, I have been blown away by the culture, leadership, and people I get to work with everyday. With this newly created position, Nestlé once again confirms its commitment to stay ahead of the curve in the e-commerce and digital space.” 

See also: How Nestlé Gets Close to the Voice of the Consumer  (In Consumergoods) 

Six Ways Blockchain Is Bolstering Supply Chains

 Useful piece to consider.

Six Ways Blockchain Is Bolstering Supply Chains

June 13, 2022, Rob Viglione, SCB Contributor  in SupplyChain Brain 

In today's digital world, companies are under pressure to be more transparent with their customers. This is especially true for supply chains, where customers want to know where their products are coming from and how they’re being made.

Ethical compliance is one area that customers are putting under the magnifying glass. In Xinjiang, for example, the Chinese government is using a massive surveillance program to track the movements of the Uyghur Muslims, detaining more than one million people in forced labor camps, according to reports by the State Department and Department of Labor, as well as independent media outlets and the United Nations. As a result, U.S. companies that source products from Xinjiang are finding themselves under increased scrutiny. 

Customers understandably want to know their products aren’t being made in factories where human rights are being violated or lives are at risk. But companies often don't have the information needed to provide this level of transparency.

One way to address the problem of human rights violations within the supply chain is through the use of blockchain technology. Blockchain is a distributed ledger that allows for the secure and transparent sharing of data among multiple parties. Here are some promising applications of blockchain technology in the supply chain.

Digital ID. Blockchain can be used to create a "digital passport" for products, including information on where and how they were made. This tracing function can give customers assurance that they’re buying products from companies that share their values and are operating ethically. It can also help companies become more transparent, building trust with their customers.

Product quality and safety. In the past, there have been several major recalls of products found to be unsafe, such as baby formula and pet food. If manufacturers and retailers share data on ingredients and production processes, it can help to prevent such recalls from happening. And if a product does have to be recalled, the blockchain can allow for a quick and efficient response.

Nestlé is already experimenting with tracking Gerber baby food products on the blockchain. Ensuring the quality and safety of food products is one of the key benefits of supply chain transparency, particularly when it comes to tracing the origins of ingredients.

ESG transparency. If a company wants to qualify the sustainability of materials, it can use the blockchain to track their end-to-end supply chain. Such transparency ensures that the materials are coming from certified sustainable sources and being used in a responsible way. It also helps to prevent the use of unsustainable or unethically sourced materials.

Blockchain can be used to trace CO2 emissions and help companies offset their carbon footprint. By tracking emissions associated with the making of a product, it becomes possible to create a “carbon passport” for that product. It can show the amount of CO2 emissions generated during production, as well as steps taken to offset those emissions  ...' 

Nestle and Carrefour Track Baby Milk

Another tracking and safety identification example.

Nestle, Carrefour Extend Blockchain Tracking Effort to Baby Milk   By Daniel Palmer in Coindesk

Nothing is more important to new parents than the safety of their infants, and food giants Nestle and Carrefour aim to use blockchain to help appease that instinct.

Following on from a previous food tracking effort by the two companies, based on IBM’s Food Trust platform, Nestle and Carrefour will track baby milk products and provide consumers with data on their origins and movements “from dairy to shelf.”

Specifically, the GUIGOZ Bio 2 and 3 infant milk range will be traced on the blockchain platform as a means to provide consumers with more information on the milks origins and transparency on product checks, Carrefour said in an announcement on Thursday. Customers will be able to scan a QR code on the milk’s packaging to access a range of information.  ... " 

Nestle and Enterra for Intelligent Daily Business Decisions

We had talked to Enterra regarding supply chain applications.  Intriguing company and solutions.  Nestle's decision to automate complex decision making for CPG is also interesting.  Like the idea of emphasizing key processes and decisions.  Good move towards the intelligent enterprise. 

Press Release.    Supporting Video.

Nestlé Selects AI-Driven Analytics Firm Enterra To Build Platform for Marketing, Autonomous Sales

David Bloom Senior Contributor in Forbes

Nestlé USA and Pennsylvania cognitive-computing company Enterra Solutions are working together to use artificial-intelligence tools to transform the way the consumer-packaged-goods giant makes daily business decisions. Following.  

The companies are deploying two Enterra software packages that provide advanced sales and marketing insights and automate complex decision-making. The companies also are creating and staffing a center for advanced analytics on the Nestlé campus.

Enterra’s cognitive computing platform will be a crucial part of Nestlé USA's Intelligent Enterprise project. The shift to advanced artificial-intelligence applications that can transform decision-making and business processes is happening with companies across sectors such as entertainment, transportation and manufacturing.  

Enterra is also building the Center for Advanced Analytics and Insights at Nestlé’s Virginia headquarters, and staffing it with an advanced-analytics team of mathematicians, artificial intelligence and data scientists, consumer-packaged-goods experts and data-management and -visualization specialists.

The new initiatives will focus on gathering a wide range of pertinent data and integrating it to make smarter, faster decisions and break silos between Nestlé, its suppliers and customers.  ... "

Nestle Open Blockchain Pilot

Always impressed by Nestle's efforts in tech,    Note the consumer facing direction.  Again another example of seriousness in CPG, Retail and Supply Chain.  Here transparency to consumer seems to be the goal. 

Nestle Embarks on Open Blockchain Pilot  By Jacqueline Barba  in ConsumerGoods
Source: Nestle

Nestle is teaming up with blockchain platform OpenSC to launch a pilot that will trace milk back to its origins as a way of bringing more transparency to the packaged goods company's supply chain.

“This open blockchain technology will allow anyone, anywhere in the world to assess our responsible sourcing facts and figures,” said Benjamin Ware, global head of responsible sourcing for Nestle S.A., in a press release. ..... " 

Originating Press release:
https://www.nestle.com/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/nestle-open-blockchain-pilot

Nestle Combines Retail Channels with Tesco

Also should give new kinds of data.

Nestlé connects in-store and online media in retailwire, with expert comments.  by Dale Buss

Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the bi-monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.

Nestlé partnered with Tesco to help launch the dunnhumby media platform that promises to bring continual, consistent and contextual communications with shoppers within and outside the store.

Nestlé worked with dunnhumby media in the U.K. to promote the launch of a new on-pack promotion to Tesco customers across owned and paid channels, including in-store, mobile, online and out-of-home. The insights-driven media plan reached 5.8 million customers and drove an 11 percent increase in sales.   ... "

Nestle and Fresh Thinking

Have long followed Nestle approaches in CPG.

How Nestle infuses fresh thinking to strengthen its brands   (Nestle USA)

Nestle says its strength in coffees is part of its overall strategy for future growth, even as consumers' food and beverage needs are changing. Chief Strategy Officer Rui Barbas points to the company's leveraging of its Coffee-mate brand to develop a line of RTD coffee drinks as one of the ways it is forgoing old-fashioned thinking on heritage brands, and instead shifting the focus of well-known labels to stay relevant to today's shoppers.  .... "

Nestle Tests Blockchain on Baby Food

Looks like a typical use, control and track the hand off of product in a supply chain to transparently and control order hand-off and quality.   Note here Nestle is also tracking supplier sources.

Nestle tests blockchain technology on baby food

Nestle will use blockchain technology on select Gerber baby food items as part of a pilot program to determine whether it can track the produce in its products. "People want to know, quite rightly, where ingredients they give to their baby have come from," said Chris Tyas, Nestle's global head of supply chain. ....  "

Nestle Global Head of Digital Innovation

My former colleague at P&G, now at Nestle writes:

2017: From Mom's Digital Trail to a Brand Safety #Fails

A very personal review of 2017's digital highs and lows by Pete Blackshaw, Nestlé's global head of digital innovation and service models.   ....  By Pete Blackshaw

Food, Retail Aim for Blockchain Ledger Data

A considerable endorsement of a technology.  Where in more general terms is non-food is CPG?   Is this mainly driven by food safety considerations?

Walmart and 9 Food Giants Team Up on IBM Blockchain Plans    by Robert Hackett

Walmart and a group of food giants are teaming up with IBM to explore how to apply blockchain technology, also known as distributed ledger tech, to their food supply chains.

The coalition includes retailers and food companies such as Unilever (UL, -0.19%), Nestlé , and Dole (DOLE). They will be aiming to use blockchains, a technology that made its name as the basis of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, to maintain secure digital records and improve the traceability of their foodstuffs, like chicken, chocolate, and bananas.

These companies see blockchains as an opportunity to revamp their data management processes across a complex network that includes farmers, brokers, distributors, processors, retailers, regulators, and consumers. One potential benefit: investigations into food-borne illnesses to take weeks (see this summer's fatal Salmonella outbreak linked to papayas), but a blockchain-based system has the ability to reduce that time to seconds.  ... " 

Also, are they ready, legally and otherwise, for prime time? 

Nestle and Startup Innovation

Via former P&Ger and colleague, Pete Blackshaw.

Nestle takes cues from Silicon Valley to boost innovation

Despite having thousands of product lines in its portfolio, Nestle uses a startup mindset adapted from Silicon Valley firms like Google to keep its innovations fresh and on-trend, said Pete Blackshaw, vice president of digital and social media. The company has created a digital acceleration team to develop new ideas internally, and uses alliances with other firms to forge external innovations, such as its recent Amazon partnership, which marries Alexa voice automation technology with Nestle recipes. ... " 

Putting Coffee Machines on the IOT

It has long been a challenge to connect coffee machines to the internet.   Something comfortable about making coffee available reliably at all times and letting us know it.   Even inspiring the worlds first webcam in 1991.  Now we are seeing it commercially, clearly a better way

 Nestlé picks Telefónica to build IoT for coffee machines by Alex Scroxton
Nestlé’s professional business services unit will incorporate internet of things technology into its coffee machines in pursuit of greater efficiency and customer satisfaction

International food and catering services supplier Nestlé has chosen Telefónica Business Solutions to provide a 50-country internet of things (IoT) communications network for its Nestlé Professional coffee business as part of a major digital transformation.  ... "  

Nestle Innovation Platform

Previously mentioned,  my former colleague Pete Blackshaw announces Nestle's Open Innovation  Platform. :

" ... I’m extremely excited to unveil our new “Open Innovation” platform, Henri@Nestle.com (http://Henri.Nestle.com). Check it out! If you are an entrepreneur, tech enabler, or partner, sign up and tag your interest areas. Henri facilitates the rapid sharing of ideas and solutions in response to business challenges. Four challenges are now up, including one related to Nespresso and sustainability, micronutrient deficiency, and the future of bottled water. Each brief owner clearly outlines expectations, and we’ve tried to make the platform mobile friendly in every way possible. 

“With the ingenuity and innovative spirit of startups Henri@Nestlé can help address some of the world’s biggest nutrition, health and wellness challenges, creating funded opportunities to drive real impact at scale," said my colleague Gerardo Mazzeo, Global Innovation Director. ...  " 

See also Procter's Connect and Develop.

Nestle Open Innovation Platform

Via Idea Connection.   Former colleague and P&Ger Pete Blackshaw is quoted.

" ... In an interview with The Drum, Pete Blackshaw, global head of digital and social media at Nestlé, said:  '…the way that will work is we will take businesses challenges from within Nestlé. That might be how to figure out the next generation Nescafe or figure out the Internet of Things for Nespresso, and it will allow entrepreneurial technology start-ups to almost bid for the opportunity and then we have to respond in a certain amount of time.'  ... " 

Nestle Opens Digital Innovation Office

A number of companies I know have taken similar action. We did this informally for a long time.  Such teams should look at a number of global locations:

Nestlé is setting up a digital innovation team with staff drawn from the company’s marketing and technology groups, moving into an office in Silicon Valley co-located with swissnex, in 2016.

The move, as part of a coordinated Swiss presence within the ‘Swiss House’ at Pier 17 in San Francisco Bay, will strengthen the firms digital presence to build partnerships with startups and technology companies, and develop online experiences and services....  " 

Rich Fast Data, Focused Digital Enterprise Advisory Systems

A connection with a former colleague let me to take another look at Nestle's Digital Acceleration Center. Our Enterprise started similar efforts in Business Sphere.   I point to Nestle's work  here. 

This brings to mind that today any enterprise needs focus on data and focused expertise.  Linked to how this data can be leveraged with analytical methods.    And to multiple sources of expertise, human and cognitive.    Prescriptive and collaborative results delivered.  Example of job augmentation.

Nestle's Digital Acceleration Center

Via former  Procter colleague Pete Blackshaw: Video about the Second Nestle Digital Acceleration Team (DAT).  Very impressive work. Note emphasis on emerging markets.   Now this is where we were headed at one time.  Looking for more detail about this effort.

(Update) More from MIT Sloan.

Curating Personalization through E-commerce

Good approach, in use:  In Progressive Grocer.

How grocers can customize and curate through e-commerce 
E-commerce is a good place for grocers to start to boost customization and curation efforts, according to a panel of experts at the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference that included Bi-Lo Holdings Marketing Chief Bill Nasshan and Nestle USA CEO Paul Grimwood. Retailers should approach customization and curation first by working with manufacturers to get an understanding of shoppers through their consumer insights and product expertise and then by studying shoppers' purchasing behavior and engaging them via online dialogue, the panelists said. ... " 

Business Excellence Function at Nestle

Late reporting this, but have never heard this being established as a function.  Will be interesting to follow it.  On the further reading it, is this about excellence or reorganization?

" ... Over recent years, Nestlé has consistently strengthened its nutrition, health and wellness strategy and expanded its boundaries with the creation of Nestlé Health Science and Nestlé Skin Health. At the same time, the company has continued its drive to take full benefit of its scale, and to position and organize itself effectively and efficiently for profitable growth.

Given this context, at its meeting on 26 September 2014, the Nestlé Board of Directors supported the proposal to create a new Executive Board function, Nestlé Business Excellence, and to redefine Zone Europe and Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA).   ... "