Retail execution technologies are moving beyond the automation and audit function of field sales and merchandising to where they now provide functionality that transforms the way consumer goods companies manage retail activities. It’s moved from automating key priorities at the store to optimizing processes and expanding the ability to monitor key indicators such as category share through digital image recognition.
Now many consumer goods companies are challenged on how best to quantify the benefits of adopting more sophisticated technologies.
Empirical evidence can be drawn from companies across industry sectors and geographies who have already implemented these solutions. Generally, you will find consistent bottom line gains driven by improvements in operational efficiency. These are typically immediate and are often dramatic – but they are just the beginning.
More significant and sustainable value is realized when companies harness the velocity of data flowing to and from the field and exploiting powerful new capabilities in the solution, effectively enabling retail activity optimization. The result is a step gain in competitive advantage through more effective retail execution.
Digging a little deeper, the company can uncover richer sources of bottom-line benefits from performance advantages such as:
- Monitoring of promotions, product ranging, and planogram compliance
- Faster remedial action when dealing with out-of-stocks or addressing customer service issues
- Greater access to downstream, store-level data
- Improved demographic and psychographic insights to optimize ordering and assortment by outlet, or to improve areas such as brand marketing
All of these elements make a fundamental contribution to significant and sustainable ROI. Better understanding of the potential ROI related to leveraging the field sales force and providing actionable insights through accessible data is imperative to remain competitive.