The Connected CPG Enterprise: Rewiring Commercial Operations for Speed

According to McKinsey, the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) sector ranks among the least digitally mature industries in the market. While retailers have spent the last five years overhauling their data infrastructure and buying habits have shifted almost entirely to digital, many manufacturers are still running their commercial operations on foundations built for a different decade.

The result is a dangerous disconnect.

On one side, you have professional buyers who expect an “Amazon-like” experience. Gartner data shows that 80% of B2B sales interactions now happen through digital channels. Buyers want to check stock, negotiate pricing, and place large-scale orders without waiting for a sales rep to return an email.

On the other side, inside the manufacturer, you have teams holding these processes together with spreadsheets and manual workarounds. Sales data lives in one silo, inventory in another, and trade spend in a third.

The new guide from OroCommerce and DataArt, “The Connected CPG Enterprise,” explores how to close this gap. It outlines the shift from transactional systems designed merely to record orders to a connected ecosystem where sales execution and data intelligence talk to each other.

The guide details five specific areas where this connection delivers immediate impact:

• Simplifying the Buy: Moving away from email-dependent ordering to portals where specific contract terms and pricing are pre-validated. This allows buyers to place or repeat orders on their own timeline without waiting for manual approvals.
• Strengthening Order Control: Connecting shipment and invoice data so service teams can spot fill-rate issues or missing line items before they turn into costly chargebacks or disputes.
• Streamlining Product Data: Centralizing complex SKU details, like pack sizes and certifications, so a single update propagates correctly to every retailer feed, eliminating version control errors.
• Turning Data into Decisions: Shifting from reviewing historical reports to monitoring live performance. Teams can identify demand shifts or inventory risks during a promotion and adjust allocations while it still matters.
• Building Stronger Partnerships: Moving beyond transactional relationships by sharing curated performance data with distributors and retailers, using transparency to align planning and deepen trust.

The market has already moved. The question is whether your internal operations can move fast enough to meet it.

Download the full guide to see the blueprint for connecting your sales channels with the data that powers them.