It should come as no surprise that tariffs were mentioned 397 times during Q1 earnings calls for S&P 500 companies this year. The words “uncertainty” and “volatility” each also scored hundreds of mentions. 

The tariff “uncertainty” that has been flooding headlines daily since April 2 is complicating business everywhere. And while no industry is immune from ongoing trade “volatility,” retail and consumer packaged goods organizations of every size and specialization are often impacted way more — and more immediately — than many other sectors.

We’re reminded of the post-Brexit chaos. Tariff issues eventually get worked out and deals are made, but in the meantime, business operations are disrupted; consumers pull back, and often-thin margins on products get strained.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a global giant like Walmart or a small independent retailer —the retail and consumer packaged goods landscape is pretty chaotic at the moment. When uncertainty is all that is certain, one thing that retail and CPG organizations can do to stay competitive is focus on what they can control: their data.

Following are three strategies for using data to meet these challenging times.

Prioritize execution intelligence. Now is an excellent time to develop organizational execution intelligence, which means using data and analytics to optimize operations across inventory management, pricing and promotion to squeeze every last ounce of efficiency out of your processes.

With international trade tensions, fluctuating tariffs and supply chain uncertainty, the use of new data-driven technologies like artificial intelligence can increase transaction execution speed. And for large enterprises, even small efficiency improvements can quickly translate to millions in savings or additional revenue. 

But even small or less-complex retail and CPG organizations can improve execution intelligence. They can abandon outdated forecasting models, for example, by ensuring that strategic external data points that impact consumer demand are integrated into their operating models. To use a rudimentary illustration from the U.K., when Manchester City plays Manchester United, every pub, grocery store, and off-license in the City of Manchester will be screaming for inventory. If you make beer and are looking at forecasting models that don't incorporate information about the football schedule before such an event, you’re going to be in real trouble.

Ensuring that products are in the right place at the right time to capture sales opportunities will always be job number one in retail and CPG. Data-driven execution intelligence directly serves that purpose.

Transform data from cost center to profit engine. Many retail and CPG organizations have already invested heavily in collecting data, but with a limited strategy for employing it effectively. Forward-thinking companies are now discovering the value of data monetization.

Successful data monetization initiatives are based on participating in secure cloud-based data-sharing ecosystems with other retail, supplier and vendor partners to market permissioned access or trend and inventory insights (with proper privacy protections, of course). 

Companies can package their data with the same type of data marketplace model employed by the Met Office, the U.K.’s national weather service. It generates revenue by distributing access to its valuable information collections and streams to “regulated industries, such as government bodies and utility firms, but also major enterprises in sectors like retail, where firms use the organization’s weather data to optimize supply chain processes.”

Some retail and CPG organizations will find that data monetization programs can generate revenue that exceeds their entire data infrastructure costs, while simultaneously improving customer experience. When companies have better visibility into retail trends, or instant access to market insights, they can better ensure the right products are properly stocked and available at an attractive price when their customers expect them. 

Unify marketing and data teams for agility. There are plenty of organizations that still maintain artificial barriers between marketing and data teams, severely limiting their ability to respond quickly to both impending risks and fleeting opportunities. This is simply bad for business. In retail and CPG, your chief marketing and data officers need to be proverbial best friends.

Marketing is and always will be essential to retail and CPG success. And marketing technology is always data-driven, so collaborative models where marketers understand data capabilities, and data teams facilitate marketing initiatives, should be supported throughout an organization’s entire data stack. 

Data is the fuel that drives marketing. Modern data platforms offer power and flexibility, while maintaining governance and compliance requirements that protect the organization and its customers. Such alignment between technical implementation and marketing objectives creates a flywheel of enhanced capability — one that drives organizational execution intelligence, while enabling data monetization opportunities. 

There are some simple questions for assessing the data maturity of a marketing organization: Can you easily report on your campaign performance? Do you know who your most important customers are? Can you create a new campaign in hours not weeks? Are you driving a consistent customer experience across all customer touch points? If the answer is “no” to any of these questions, you have work to do.

For retail and CPG companies facing tariff chaos, transforming challenges into competitive advantage may seem near impossible right now. But in an increasingly uncertain world, pursuing execution intelligence, data monetization and marketing data team integration are productive and potentially profitable strategies.

Stephen Barrett is global head of retail and CPG at Hakkoda, an IBM Company.