Challenges of Digital Marketing Adoption in FMCG Sector in Pakistan: A MICMAC-ISM Approach

The study is aimed to analyze the interrelationships of challenges of digital-marketing adoption in Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector in Pakistan. The design comprises of review of up-to-date literature, primary data gathering, modeling and analysis. The data are collected through survey from an expert’s panel recruited from stakeholders on the basis of predetermined criteria by using matrix type questionnaire. The literature discourse for extraction of list of challenges, Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) to extract the underlying model of interrelationships, and Matriced' Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (Cross Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification) popularly known as MICMAC for analysis are employed as research methods. Results of literature survey reveal that there are total fifteen challenges of digital-marketing adoption in FMCG-sector. Results of ISM modeling show that customers’ digital engagement, consumer trust concerns, engaging relevant content, utilizing multi-media channels, integration of AI, continuous optimization, building digital capabilities, marketing innovation, responsive customer service, and handling new sources of data occupy Level I. Managing supplier & customer coordination occupies Level II. Organizational resistance occupies Level III. Integration of online and offline channels occupies Level IV. Data privacy and security occupies Level V. Technological barrier occupies Level VI. The results of data-centric and scale-centric MICMAC analysis substantiate the results of ISM modeling. It is a real time data based unique type of study that provides understanding to stakeholders particularly to marketers, regulators, FMCG mangers, researchers and technologists.