In the early 2000s, the retail and FMCG market in Central and Eastern Europe was an almost unlimited field of opportunities. International chains were entering the region one after another, consumers were discovering modern trade, and traditional proximity commerce still seemed stable enough.
In 2025, the picture looks radically different: customer concentration is higher than ever, margins are under pressure, and commercial teams must operate in a far more sophisticated ecosystem – one in which every pricing decision, every partnership and every category is constantly reassessed.
In this landscape, the natural question arises: how can organizations develop their commercial capabilities to remain relevant and profitable, in a landscape where both retailers and manufacturers are becoming increasingly sophisticated?
To answer this, let's start by looking at the 3 major transformations of the last decade.
- The changed consumer – Today's shopper is no longer just looking for products, but for experiences and values. Brand choice is conditioned by price, but also by sustainability, convenience and the experience they have with it across the channels where they find it present.
- Retailer power – Large modern trade chains and online platforms concentrate volumes and negotiate with unprecedented force. Suppliers' commercial teams meet extremely well-prepared partners, who build their own profit strategies.
- Operational complexity – „End-to-end” processes – from supply chain to category management – are now integrated, and inefficiencies quickly turn into margin losses.
Without continuous development of capabilities, companies risk remaining trapped in a spiral of discounts and price competition, losing sight of the true growth engine: the strategic and sustainable relationship with the customer.
Which capabilities really matter?
With a sustained focus on the FMCG and retail industries, we conducted an analysis that revealed three sets of capabilities that are becoming essential:
- Customer & Channel Development – The ability to navigate between modern trade, online and traditional trade, building differentiated strategies tailored to each channel. „Winning with the Winners” is no longer just a slogan, but a reality: those who win partnerships with dominant retailers secure their long-term growth.
- Strategic Account Management – Beyond transactional selling, an approach based on shared profit pools, value vs. volume analysis, and the ability to create integrated plans with retailers is needed.
- Data & Analytics – Commercial decisions can no longer be based on intuition. High-performing companies invest in advanced analytics, capable of connecting strategy to execution and delivering a real competitive advantage.
Developing these capabilities is not an „HR luxury”, but a strategic element. In an ecosystem where competition comes both from other manufacturers and from clients themselves (retailers), building a high-performing commercial team is one of the few ways to protect profitability.
Current challenges in the FMCG and retail landscape
However, the path is not simple. Organizations face several major barriers:
- Inconsistency between markets and teams – Commercial practices vary significantly between countries, clients and even categories. The lack of a common language limits global impact.
- Short-term orientation – Pressure on quarterly results often leads to tactical decisions (promotions, discounts) that erode margins.
- Talent deficit and retention – Many professionals with potential migrate to other industries, and the necessary skills are not always cultivated internally.
- Limited adoption of new technologies – Although data is available, its integration into commercial decisions remains superficial.
These challenges make investing in capabilities not just necessary, but urgent.
For FMCG companies, the stake is not just adaptation, but building an organizational culture where commercial development becomes a core capability, as strategic as innovation or the supply chain.
HR and L&D Challenges
From a human resources and organizational development perspective, two dimensions are critical:
- Career acceleration and talent retention – Young professionals seek a clear path and opportunities for rapid growth. The lack of these pushes them toward other industries.
- Transforming the culture from individual to organizational – Success cannot depend on individual „stars”, but on a scalable model, based on shared routines, processes and competencies.
Thus, the role of L&D is no longer a supporting one, but a strategic driver of competitiveness.
In this context, FMCG Academy, developed by Marco Polo CEE, emerges as an integrated platform for commercial development. This is not a classic training program, but a development and capability acceleration journey, built on several key principles:
- Continuous curriculum – A modular, interactive path, tailored to the level and role of each participant, from account managers to top management.
- Blended methodology and digital engagement – Combining face-to-face sessions with digital platforms, to support progress between modules and provide visibility for managers.
- Ultra personalization for every business – Every program starts from interviews and concrete business cases, to ensure relevance and real ROI.
- Assessment and follow-up – Progress is measured through commercial KPIs, not just through course feedback.
Through this approach, FMCG Academy doesn't just offer technical competencies, but creates a mindset shift: from transactional to strategic, from individual to organizational, from reaction to proactivity.
The FMCG and retail industry is at an inflection point. Margin pressure, global competition and the unpredictable consumer mean that old models are no longer enough. Investment in commercial capabilities is no longer an "HR project," but a strategic choice for survival and growth.
The question is not whether organizations will invest in developing their commercial teams, but how quickly and how strategically they will do so.
Perhaps the real challenge for leaders in FMCG and retail isn't finding the next winning promotion, but asking themselves: "Are we approaching commercial development the same way we approach any other strategic priority of our business? Or do we continue to treat training as a cost, not as a competitive advantage?"
More details about the entire program can be found here