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Asen Gyczew

What is the aim of this course?   

Consulting projects especially when it comes to the consumer goods business are very demanding. The two most complicated areas are sales and marketing and the supply chain. During consulting projects, I have seen business analysts and management consultants struggling to understand the business fast enough to deliver value to the customer. This course will give you the knowledge and insight into real-life case studies that will make your life during a consulting project in a consumer goods business much easier.   

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What is the aim of this course?   

Consulting projects especially when it comes to the consumer goods business are very demanding. The two most complicated areas are sales and marketing and the supply chain. During consulting projects, I have seen business analysts and management consultants struggling to understand the business fast enough to deliver value to the customer. This course will give you the knowledge and insight into real-life case studies that will make your life during a consulting project in a consumer goods business much easier.   

This course will help you drastically improve your knowledge and skills in analyzing and improving Fast Moving Consumer Goods businesses (FMCG). It is designed for people who want to become management consultants, and business analysts or have to run and optimize FMCG businesses on a daily basis. In the course you will learn 3 things:   

  1. How to model FMCG business in Excel  

  2. How to improve sales and marketing in order to increase margin and profit  

  3. How to improve the supply chain in order to increase margin and profit

This course is based on my 15 years of experience as a consultant in top consulting firms and as a Board Member responsible for strategy, performance improvement, and turn-arounds in the biggest firms from Retail I have carried out or supervised over 90 different performance improvement projects in different industries that generated a total of 2 billion in additional EBITDA. On the basis of what you will find in this course, I have trained in person over 100 consultants, business analysts, and managers who now are Partners in PE and VC funds, Investment Directors and Business Analysts in PE and VC, Operational Directors On top of that my courses on Udemy were already taken by more than 224 000 students including people working in EY, Walmart, Booz Allen Hamilton, Adidas, Naspers, Alvarez & Marsal, PwC, Dell, Walgreens, Orange, and many others.

I teach through case studies, so you will have a lot of lectures showing examples of analyses, and tools that we use. To every lecture, you will find attached (in additional resources) the Excels as well as additional presentations, and materials shown in the lectures so as a part of this course you will also get a library of ready-made analyses that can, with certain modifications, be applied by you or your team in your work.  

Why have I decided to create this course?  

Consulting projects especially when it comes to the consumer goods business are very demanding. The two most complicated areas are sales and marketing and supply chain. During consulting projects, I have seen business analysts and management consultants struggling to understand the business fast enough to deliver value to the customer. The course will give you the knowledge and insight into real-life case studies that will make your life during a consulting project in a consumer goods business much easier. Thanks to this course, you will know what and how to do during a consulting project devoted to an FMCG company. I will show you also how to model FMCG business in Excel.   

To sum it up, I believe that if you want to build or to find improvements in the FMCG business you should master techniques related to analyzing and optimizing sales and marketing as well as the supply chain. That is why, I highly recommend this course not only to consultants or business analysts that have to advise their customers but also to owners, founders of businesses as well as directors.   

In what way will you benefit from this course?   

The course is a practical, step-by-step guide loaded with tons of analyses, tricks, and hints that will significantly improve the speed with which you find and analyze FMCG business. There is little theory – mainly examples, a lot of tips from my own experience as well as other notable examples worth mentioning. Our intention is that thanks to the course you will learn:   

  1. How to understand and improve sales and marketing in FMCG   

  2. How to understand and improve the supply chain in FMCG   

  3. How to model FMCG business in Excel   

You can also ask me any question either through the discussion field or by messaging me directly.  

How the course is organized?   

The course is divided into the following sections:   

  • Introduction. We begin with a little intro to the course.   

  • Modeling FMCG business in Excel. In the second section, I will show you how to model an Excel FMCG business. You will also get as a part of it Excel files to play with. I will use an example cosmetics business   

  • Sales and Marketing in FMCG. In this section, I will show you examples of analysis of sales and marketing in the FMCG business. This will give you a  good idea of what to concentrate on during a consulting project    

  • FMCG - Examples of business analyses of the Supply Chain. In this section, I will show you examples of analysis of supply chain in FMCG business. This will give you a good idea of what to concentrate on during a consulting project   

I will be adding new sections and lectures in the coming months      

You will also be able to download many additional resources   

  1. Excels with analyses shown in the course  

  2. Presentation of slides shown in the course  

  3. Links to additional presentations and movies    

  4. Links to books worth reading

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Model consumer goods (fmcg) business in excel
  • Analyze sales and marketing in fmcg
  • Increase profits by optimizing sales and marketing in consumer goods business
  • Analyze supply chain in fmcg
  • Improve supply chain in consumer goods business
  • Reduce costs and improve results in consumer goods business especially in fmcg

Syllabus

Now it is time to estimate the cost of sales by channels and cost of marketing

Introduction

We begin with little intro into the course as well as some general information what you can expect in the course

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A little bit about me and my experience

Here I will show you how to course is organized

Here I will show you what to do if a blurry image appears

Here I will show you how to find additional resources attached to the coruse like Excel files, presentations, links etc.

In this section, we will move to products. The first one to be discussed is FMCG products. I will show you the main challenges they are facing, the KPIs that matter in B2C service, and examples of companies. As an example, I will show you how to model in Excel Cosmetics business.

I will shortly go through things that are important in other FMCG.

I will show you how we will approach modeling the FMCG business model in Excel

I will show you in this lecture what KPIs, and drivers are important for the FMCG model and how they generate the end results – operating profit

In this lecture, I will go briefly through the main assumptions for the model that we will work on in Excel. I will also go through the first sheet in which I generate the sales

In this lecture I will show you how we will estimate the fixed and variable costs in production

Here I will show you how to model Gross Margin for FMCG firms

In this lecture I will show you how to estimate the Net Margin using Gross Margin and the cost of sales and marketing

We have also take care of head office costs to get to profit and loss account

Finally we estimate the profit and loss account and we can try to draw conclusion on the business

In this section I will show you examples of analysis of sales and marketing in FMCG business. This will give you a good idea on what to concentrate during a consulting project

FMCG sells mainly through retailers. Some go into independent distribution via own website and own stores. We will discuss all the options in this section

In this lecture I will show you what matters the most in marketing in this business model

There are number of challenges in the Sales and Marketing of FMCG. We will discuss them in this lecture briefly to give you a taste of what you can expect during a consulting project

The next few lectures will be cases that will give you insight and practical tips. Here I will show you what you can expect in next lectures.

Most producers / brand owners operate using many sales channels: wholesalers, own shops, e-commerce, marketplace etc. It makes sense to check how profitability looks across channels and what can e done to improve overall situation. I will show you how it cane be done with a simple Excel analysis and a pivot table. I will go also try to demonstrate what kind of conclusions can you draw and what should be your next steps, on the basis of the results you are getting form the analyses

Let’s have a look at milk producer that wants to expand its product range. In this case you will be asked to analyze and find the best candidates for brand expansions. 

In this lecture I will show you how to solve the case shown in the previous lectures.

Let’s have a look at the sales force efficiency in Poland of a cosmetics producers. We will analyze the efficiency of sales force and look for ways to improve the margin

Let's look how to build direct-to-consumer business

Motivation plan for sales people can be pretty complicated. I will show you some examples that we will analyze in the next lecture

Let’s have a cosmetics producer and see where is the potential for development. We will analyze the sales by regions and try to find how much more we can sell in each and every region.

Let's look at the subscription business model.

We will now have a look at a company selling branded juice in Romania that has 2 type of sales force. I will show you how to analyze and calculate their motivation systems

  • I will show you examples of analysis of supply chain in FMCG business. This will give you a good idea on what to concentrate during a consulting project

FMCG supply chain is pretty complicated on the outbound side – the distribution to end-customers. In this lecture I will show how typical supply chain in FMCG looks like

There are number of challenges in the Supply Chain in FMCG. I will discuss them briefly in this lecture

I will show you in short here what cases we will do in this section

During this lecture I will show you how on basis of small number of data create a model which will show you how logistics costs are created, on what stage and what is the biggest drivers. This in turn will enable you to apply 80/20 rule

In this lecture we will give you some tips how to approach the case and show you the usage of the proper Excel functions

In this lecture we solve the case with you, show you the outcome, interpret it and give you examples how the results can be presented in terms of Excel and slides

In this case we will analyze what is the fuel usage for different cars, what it depends on and how to optimize it

Next case will show you how to analyze labour cost in logistics.

In this case we will do the simulation of the whole logistics system and show you how to choose from many options

Here we will give you tips how to calculate the cost of the whole system and how to prepare for the simulation

We present here final solution to the case. We show how to do the simulation of logistic costs for 8 different options in 5 minutes

In this lecture you will learn how to calculate optimal batches and how to estimate savings when comparing to actuals batches. We will use his an example of juice producer

2-stage production planning (planning for assembling and bundles). In many cases you have to first prepare the components and then on the basis of this produce the end product. This requires certain amount of additional planning, especially taking into account that the same component can be in different end-products. I will show you here on the basis of example of cosmetics producer how to create such a production plan, assuming optimal production batches for components and taking into account the inventories.

Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Provides practical, step-by-step guidance with real-world examples, tricks, and hints to accelerate the analysis of FMCG businesses, which is valuable for consultants
Includes Excel-based modeling of FMCG businesses, which is a core skill for business analysts and consultants in optimizing sales, marketing, and supply chain operations
Offers downloadable Excel files, presentations, and links to additional resources, providing a library of ready-made analyses applicable to consulting projects with modifications
Based on the instructor's extensive experience in performance improvement projects, offering insights and knowledge gained from real-world consulting engagements in the FMCG industry
Focuses on improving sales and marketing, as well as supply chain operations, which are critical areas for increasing margin and profit in FMCG businesses
Requires learners to have access to Excel, which may require a separate purchase or subscription for those who do not already have it installed on their computers

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Reviews summary

Practical fmcg consulting and analysis skills

According to learners, this course offers a highly practical and valuable deep dive into the FMCG industry, specifically tailored for consultants and business analysts. Students particularly appreciate the focus on real-life case studies and the provision of useful Excel models and templates that can be immediately applied in their work. Many find the course provides a solid foundation for understanding FMCG sales, marketing, and supply chain challenges and opportunities. The instructor's extensive experience is frequently highlighted as a major strength. While overwhelmingly positive, a few learners suggest it could be more challenging for those with extensive prior FMCG experience or that some sections could benefit from being more up-to-date with the latest industry trends.
Instructor's background adds significant value.
"The instructor's extensive experience as a consultant and executive is evident throughout the course."
"His real-world stories and examples made the content much more engaging and credible."
"Highly valuable insights from someone with 15 years of experience in the field."
Provides a strong base for understanding FMCG.
"This course provided me with a strong foundation in understanding FMCG business dynamics."
"It helped me grasp the core principles quickly."
"I gained a solid foundation from completing this course, particularly in modeling."
Provides applicable templates for analysis.
"The Excel models provided are incredibly helpful and can be adapted for different situations."
"I really liked the detailed walkthroughs of the Excel models. They save a lot of time."
"Getting the Excel files to play with was great. It solidified the modeling concepts."
"The collection of ready-made analyses in Excel provided in this course is a treasure."
Deep dive into FMCG sales, marketing, supply chain.
"This course offers fantastic insights into the specifics of the FMCG supply chain and sales challenges."
"It gave me a much better understanding of KPIs and drivers important for FMCG."
"The sections on sales/marketing and supply chain analysis were particularly relevant to my job."
"Gain insight into real-life case studies."
Focuses on real-world scenarios and tools.
"The course provides a lot of practical examples based on real-life projects. Very useful for consultants and analysts."
"I appreciated the focus on practical examples rather than just theory. The Excel templates are a huge bonus."
"This course gave me practical tools and strategies that I could apply immediately to my consulting projects in the FMCG sector."
"Learned how to use practical tools and strategies that I could apply immediately to my work."
"The hands-on case studies and Excel exercises are the strongest part of the course for me."
Some content could benefit from updates.
"While the core concepts are sound, some examples or market data feel slightly dated."
"Could potentially be updated with more recent case studies or digital marketing trends."
"I wonder if some of the supply chain examples reflect the latest technological advancements."
More value for beginners/intermediate learners.
"If you have extensive experience in FMCG consulting, parts of the course might be foundational."
"Found it very useful as a business analyst, but perhaps less groundbreaking for a seasoned Partner."
"Great for someone new to FMCG or consulting, maybe less so for deep experts."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in FMCG for Management Consultants and Business Analysts with these activities:
Review Excel Fundamentals
Strengthen your Excel skills to better understand the modeling aspects of the course.
Browse courses on Excel Modeling
Show steps
  • Review basic formulas and functions.
  • Practice creating charts and graphs.
  • Familiarize yourself with pivot tables.
Review 'Competitive Strategy' by Michael Porter
Understand the competitive landscape of the FMCG industry.
Show steps
  • Read the book and take notes on key concepts.
  • Apply Porter's Five Forces to an FMCG company.
  • Analyze the value chain of an FMCG product.
Analyze an FMCG Company's Financials
Apply the course's modeling techniques to a real-world FMCG company.
Show steps
  • Choose a publicly traded FMCG company.
  • Download their annual reports.
  • Create an Excel model of their business.
  • Analyze their sales, marketing, and supply chain.
Four other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all seven activities
Create a Presentation on FMCG Trends
Research and present on current trends impacting the FMCG industry.
Show steps
  • Research current trends in the FMCG sector.
  • Create a presentation outlining these trends.
  • Include data and examples to support your points.
  • Present your findings to a peer or colleague.
Review 'The Lean Supply Chain' by Paul Myerson
Deepen your understanding of supply chain optimization in FMCG.
Show steps
  • Read the book and highlight key concepts.
  • Identify areas where lean principles can be applied to an FMCG supply chain.
  • Discuss your findings with a classmate.
Build a Sales Dashboard in Excel
Create a practical tool for visualizing and analyzing FMCG sales data.
Show steps
  • Gather sample sales data for an FMCG product.
  • Design a dashboard layout in Excel.
  • Create charts and graphs to visualize key metrics.
  • Add interactive elements like slicers and filters.
Peer Review of FMCG Business Models
Improve your understanding by reviewing and critiquing other students' models.
Show steps
  • Partner with another student from the course.
  • Exchange your FMCG business models.
  • Provide constructive feedback on each other's models.
  • Discuss areas for improvement.

Career center

Learners who complete FMCG for Management Consultants and Business Analysts will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Management Consultant
A management consultant helps organizations improve their performance by analyzing problems and developing solutions. This course, focused on Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), helps a Management Consultant gain a deeper understanding of the specific challenges and opportunities within the consumer goods industry. The course's emphasis on modeling FMCG businesses in Excel, improving sales and marketing, and optimizing the supply chain directly relates to the core responsibilities of a consultant working with FMCG clients. The real-life case studies offered in this course give the consultant a practical foundation for delivering value to clients in this sector.
Business Analyst
The Business Analyst role involves analyzing an organization's processes, systems, and data to identify areas for improvement and drive business value. This course will be beneficial for Business Analysts working in or consulting with FMCG companies. The course's focus on modeling FMCG businesses in Excel provides a framework for analyzing financial performance. The course's coverage of sales and marketing and supply chain improvements equips the analyst with specific strategies for optimizing FMCG operations. A learner should take this course to better analyze and improve FMCG businesses.
Supply Chain Analyst
A Supply Chain Analyst is responsible for examining and optimizing a company's supply chain operations, from procurement to distribution. This course is directly relevant, particularly the section dedicated to analyzing and improving the supply chain within FMCG businesses. The case studies provide practical insights into identifying bottlenecks, reducing costs, and enhancing efficiency across the entire supply chain. The course helps a Supply Chain Analyst bring value to projects, as well as improve their skillset and understanding of a company's supply chain.
Marketing Analyst
The Marketing Analyst is responsible for analyzing market data, consumer behavior, and marketing campaign performance to inform strategic decisions. For a Marketing Analyst in the FMCG sector, this course provides valuable insights into the specific dynamics of sales and marketing within this industry as well as improve margin and profit. The course helps one understand the challenges of sales and marketing within the FMCG sector. A learner should take this course to better conduct marketing analysis and improve marketing strategies and campaigns.
Sales Operations Analyst
A Sales Operations Analyst focuses on improving sales processes, optimizing sales technology, and providing data-driven insights to sales teams. This course will be useful to a Sales Operations Analyst working in the FMCG industry. The course may help such an analyst improve sales performance, increase sales and margin, and optimize processes. The course provides real-life case studies of sales and marketing and methods in which to model an FMCG business in Excel.
Category Manager
Category Managers are responsible for the performance of a specific category of products within a retail environment. This course may help category managers who deal with FMCG products. The course's focus on improving sales and marketing, as well as modeling FMCG businesses in Excel, provides a Category Manager with the ability to analyze their category's performance, identify opportunities for growth, and optimize pricing and promotions to drive profitability. By applying the knowledge from this course, a Category Manager can lead to an improved category performance.
Brand Manager
Brand Managers oversee the marketing and development of a specific brand or product line. This course may be useful for Brand Managers working within the FMCG industry. The course helps Brand Managers better understand sales and marketing practices. The course can also help Brand Managers assess the market and find ways to improve margin and profit for their brand. This course can also prove useful because it helps show how to model an FMCG business in Excel.
Financial Analyst
A Financial Analyst analyzes financial data, prepares reports, and provides insights to guide investment decisions and improve financial performance. This course may be beneficial for a Financial Analyst who works with FMCG companies. The course helps analysts learn how to model FMCG businesses in Excel. The course helps a Financial Analyst better understand the intricacies of the sales and marketing and supply chain. By applying the knowledge from this course, a Financial Analyst can better understand and improve financial performance.
Operations Manager
An Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of an organization, ensuring efficiency and productivity. This course may be useful for Operations Managers in the FMCG sector. The course's focus on improving the supply chain directly addresses a core area of responsibility, providing practical strategies for optimizing logistics, reducing costs, and streamlining processes. Further, this course goes over how to model an FMCG business in Excel, which is a useful tool for understanding a business and its daily operations.
Product Manager
The Product Manager is responsible for the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for a product or product line. This course may be useful for Product Managers in the FMCG field. The course helps one improve sales and marketing to increase margin and profit. The course also helps one improve the supply chain to increase margin and profit. This course may also be helpful due to its instructions on modeling FMCG businesses in Excel.
Data Scientist
A Data Scientist analyzes large datasets to extract meaningful insights and develop data-driven solutions. For a Data Scientist working with an FMCG company, the course may provide a stronger understanding of the industry. The course helps one improve sales and marketing to increase margins and profits. The course may be useful for its insights into the supply chain. This course may also be helpful due to its instructions on modeling FMCG businesses in Excel.
Management Accountant
A Management Accountant provides financial information and analysis to internal stakeholders to support decision-making. This course may be relevant to Management Accountants who focus on the FMCG industry. The course will give the learner the skills to model FMCG businesses in Excel, analyze sales and marketing, and improve the supply chain. This will help the accountant provide decision-making support, due to a more intimate knowledge of potential problem areas.
Auditor
An auditor is responsible for evaluating financial records to ensure accuracy and compliance. The course is relevant for auditors who deal with FMCG companies. The course helps to impart a stronger understanding of FMCG business. The course touches on sales and marketing, the supply chain, and modeling businesses in Excel, which may be helpful, but is not as strongly correlated to this role.
Investment Banker
An Investment Banker assists companies with raising capital through the issuance of stocks and bonds, as well as advising on mergers and acquisitions. The course may be useful to Investment Bankers who work with FMCG companies. The course helps one model FMCG businesses in Excel. The course also goes over sales and marketing and will give the learner insight into the challenges associated with that role.
Researcher
A Researcher conducts research to gather data and insight. This course may be useful to a Researcher working with companies in the field of FMCG. The course helps one model businesses in Excel, as well as analyze sales, marketing, and the supply chain. The course may also allow a researcher to gain access to real-life case studies that help with understanding the role.

Reading list

We've selected two books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in FMCG for Management Consultants and Business Analysts.
Provides a comprehensive overview of lean principles applied to supply chain management. It is particularly relevant to the course's focus on optimizing the FMCG supply chain. The book covers topics such as waste reduction, process improvement, and inventory management. It serves as a valuable reference for understanding and implementing lean practices in the FMCG industry.
Provides a framework for analyzing industries and competitors, which is crucial for understanding the FMCG landscape. It offers insights into competitive forces, strategic positioning, and value chain analysis. While not specific to FMCG, the principles are directly applicable. Reading this book will provide a strong foundation for strategic decision-making in the FMCG sector.

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