FMCG, Consumer goods & Retail, and now Agro, are commonly thought of as elements of a single value chain. At the same time, from the point of view of trends, these industries are subject to both global cross-industrial trends and specific intra-industrial trends, on which Russian specificity imposes a large imprint. Among the trends that determine both demand and daily operating activities, it is worth noting:

• Digitalization. Increasing attention is paid to analyzing big data and trying to realize the potential hidden in this analysis.

• Automation. Despite the low cost of human resources in Russia, replacing people with robotic systems can significantly improve accuracy and predictability, increase the speed of process execution; reduce the time and financial costs of personnel search and training; better manage the risk of accidents and other major operational disruptions that today occur due to human error.

• A whole set of consumer trends that manifest themselves in different degrees in different regions of the Russian Federation: focus on your own health and the desire to reduce the negative impact on the environment; constantly growing selectivity and education of the buyer; the need for highly personalized products; the need to have quick access to the product at any time wherever the buyer is located; high price transparency among sales channels; the growing value of the service applied to the product, and not the product itself; the growing need for multi-channel promotion programs and a sharp decline in the importance of television advertising; accelerating the pace of development and growth in demand for frequent updates; development of demand for innovative digital products.

All these trends require the company to quickly change, the implementation of the practice of lean and agile in many traditional functions. Therefore, these industries, apart from traditional products for developing strategies and operating efficiency, show a demand for innovative products from SBS Consulting:

• Management of the development and implementation of innovations

• Search and implementation of solutions based on big data analytics