In the fast-moving consumer goods sector, market share is won by those who can turn a single purchase into a habit.
This is how smart communication infrastructure bridges the gap between fragmented channels and lasting customer loyalty.
In this Telerivet article, we'll cover:
- Why FMCG brands are fighting for attention
- The playbook FMCG brands are turning to for sustained growth
- Why this playbook works for FMCG
- How this playbook grew one FMCG firm to 5% market share
- Communication orchestration: Why the playbook works
- Telerivet: Enterprise Orchestration for Revenue and Operations
Why FMCG brands are fighting for attention
The landscape for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) has shifted dramatically.
Brands are currently operating in a moment of intense competition where the reliable growth of the past decade is no longer guaranteed. Consumer purchasing power has softened in many regions, while supply chain shocks have simultaneously eroded margins.
This creates a difficult environment where brands must fight harder for every transaction while having less room to absorb the costs of inefficiency.
The challenge is compounded by fragmentation. Today’s consumer does not live on a single channel.
They might check WhatsApp in the morning, receive SMS alerts during the day, and use Viber in the evening. Reaching them requires navigating a complex web of platforms, carriers, and regulations that varies significantly by country.
In the past, brands could rely on broad-spectrum advertising to cut through the noise, but those days are fading.
Advertising costs have risen sharply, and engagement on social platforms has largely become a pay-to-play environment. Relying solely on paid media to drive sales is becoming financially unsustainable.
FMCG leaders need a way to bypass the rising costs of acquisition and the noise of crowded digital feeds. Brands must find ways to engage consumers where they already are, using the device they check hundreds of times a day.
The most successful operators are realizing that owning the relationship with the customer is the only way to secure stability in a volatile market.
The playbook FMCG brands are turning to for sustained growth
To navigate this fragmented environment, successful FMCG brands are consolidating their efforts around a specific, high-impact strategy: the digital rewards playbook.
This approach is deceptive in its simplicity but powerful in its execution. The core mechanic involves customers purchasing a physical product, finding a unique code on the packaging or bottle cap, and redeeming it instantly for a reward.
The user journey is frictionless.
A customer buys a soda or a snack, texts the code to a designated number, and immediately receives airtime, data, or digital currency. This instant gratification drives satisfaction and fosters a sense of reciprocity that deepens loyalty. It transforms a routine purchase into an interactive experience.
Crucially, this playbook is not tied to a single technology.
Depending on the market and local consumer habits, brands can run this play via SMS, WhatsApp, or Viber. In markets where data is expensive, SMS remains the king of accessibility. In regions where chat apps dominate, WhatsApp offers a richer, more interactive experience.
The real strength of this playbook lies in its reliability.
Telerivet enables brands to use automated fallbacks to ensure delivery. If a message fails on WhatsApp due to connectivity issues, the system automatically reroutes it via SMS.
This guarantees that the customer always receives their reward and the brand never misses an engagement opportunity. By standardizing this workflow, brands can deploy the same fundamental campaign across multiple countries, adjusting only the channel mix to fit local preferences.
Why this playbook works for FMCG
The "buy-to-redeem" model addresses the specific growth levers that matter most to FMCG companies.
First, the promise of a tangible reward acts as a powerful differentiator at the point of sale. When a consumer is standing in a crowded aisle deciding between two similar products, the chance to win airtime or a prize creates an immediate incentive to choose your brand.
This lifts sales volume directly.
Second, these rewards incentivize repeat purchasing, which is the highest-potential growth vector for consumer goods.
The immediate positive reinforcement of receiving a reward encourages the customer to buy again. Over time, this repetition builds a habit. Further, the excitement of winning or receiving a gift often triggers word-of-mouth recommendations. Friends tell friends about the voucher or free airtime they just received, effectively lowering your customer acquisition cost (CAC) through organic reach.
Perhaps the most strategic advantage is data ownership.
In a world where third-party cookies are disappearing and ad platforms horde user data, this playbook allows brands to build their own proprietary customer database.
Every redemption provides a phone number and purchase history. Brands are no longer renting access to their audience; they own the connection. Once this database is established, companies can run subsequent campaigns - seasonal offers, new product announcements, or surveys -directly to an engaged audience, often without needing to offer a reward at all.
How this playbook grew one FMCG firm to 5% market share
The theoretical benefits of this strategy are backed by concrete results.
Telerivet partnered with a global FMCG brand to deploy a code-based rewards program linked directly to physical product packaging. The objective was to drive volume and capture data in a competitive emerging market.
Customers who purchased the product could redeem a code via SMS or WhatsApp to receive electronic rewards, primarily mobile airtime.
The impact on the business was profound. The campaign contributed to a 5% increase in total market share: a massive shift in the FMCG sector where movement is usually measured in fractions of a percentage point.
By offering a direct incentive, the brand saw over $28.2 million in additional retail sales. The redemption rate averaged 86%, proving that the mechanism was easy for consumers to understand and use.
Beyond immediate sales, the brand transformed its data capability. The campaign drove a 526% increase in the brand’s retailer database.
This allowed them to map consumption patterns and retailer performance with unprecedented clarity.
Financially, the efficiency of the program led to a 24% reduction in cost per acquisition. Speed was also a critical factor; while similar loyalty programs typically take six months to build, this campaign went live in just two to four weeks.
The client noted that Telerivet helped them transition from legacy physical rewards to a future-ready digital ecosystem, proving that agility is possible even for large multinational organizations.
Communication orchestration: Why the playbook works
On the surface, sending a code and receiving a reward looks simple. That is by design.
The complexity of the backend should never burden the consumer.
However, the infrastructure required to execute this reliably across borders, carriers, and channels is significant. This is where communication orchestration becomes essential.
Communication orchestration is the layer that makes complex engagement feel simple. It is the invisible engine that coordinates channels, routes traffic, manages workflows, and unifies data.
Without it, running a multi-country campaign involves managing dozens of vendor relationships, disjointed API integrations, and scattered data silos.
Orchestration centralizes these elements.
It ensures that a campaign running on WhatsApp in Indonesia and SMS in Nigeria can be managed from a single hub, with uniform reporting and logic.
For global brands, this capability is the difference between a one-off stunt and a scalable strategy.
Telerivet acts as the orchestration layer that allows teams to route messages based on cost, speed, or geographic reliability. It handles the logic that says, "If WhatsApp fails, try SMS," or "If this user is in Region A, use Gateway B."
If you are not using a communication orchestration platform, you will inevitably lose track of messages and data as you scale. You lose the ability to see the full picture. By implementing proper orchestration, brands ensure that their communication infrastructure grows with them, turning isolated wins into compounding business value.
Telerivet: Enterprise Orchestration for Revenue and Operations
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