Data and Tech: A Revolution in Retail Execution

Retail execution in the Netherlands is generally static, which makes the details decisive for CPG brands. A Perfect Store programme is one answer: manufacturers and retailers working together on distribution, shelf availability, promotion execution and shelf space.

The prize is real — industry studies suggest a three-point reduction in out-of-stocks can lift revenue by up to 1%. Data and technology are what make those KPIs measurable, but complexity and cost regularly get in the way.

We put the question to Thomas van Zoggel, Team Lead Customer Success at Roamler, who has worked through many data and tech implementations with CPG brands: how do you get better results at lower cost?

What Challenges Do You Encounter With Companies That Rely Heavily on Field Sales and Retail Execution?

Retail execution is driven by representatives who want to optimise how their brands present on the shop floor. Their knowledge and experience are what identify the opportunities. As a result, part of the market is well covered — but a lot of opportunities, and some real problems, go unattended, because a representative cannot be everywhere or see everything.

Suppliers now have very current EPOS data. Few know how to use it properly to manage field sales.

The biggest challenge I see is linking insights from the data to routing and to the purpose of the representative's visit.

What Significant Transformations Do You See in Data and Tech for Retail Execution?

Over the past decade the market has been flooded with technological solutions for mapping and optimising retail execution. Digital Image Recognition is a good example: smart software turns shelf photos into data points that, in some cases, are reliable down to the SKU or the centimetre.

Alongside DIR, there is heavy investment in field sales automation, planning software and other tools that help build the route to market.

How Are Field Teams and Suppliers Currently Using the Store Data Available to Them?

Category managers and field teams already use store data to build store segments, and retailers support this at category level. Because resources at suppliers are limited, that segmentation sometimes happens only once a year.

What we see now is that frequently updated data shifts organisations away from fixed routing towards models that calculate the next best store visit. That lets retail execution become part of trade and shopper marketing, and part of key account deals — which turns field sales into an integrated part of the organisation rather than a separate function.

How and When Should a Company Make the Transition to a Data-Driven Execution Model?

If you ask ten customers what they want to measure, most will say "everything". The essential conversation is about which information is actually valuable and usable. What is the purpose? How will you handle the results? What can headquarters do with them, what can the store do with them, and who will be working with them?

Start simple — KPIs for distribution and availability. Once the basics are in place, the organisation is ready and the resources exist, you can consider more advanced solutions. Technology should be making processes easier, not more complicated. So start with the basics and build on that.

How Do You Deal With Data Overload, and How Do You Prevent It?

There are a great many data streams and sources available now, and keeping an overview while finding the right insights is a significant investment of time. Retail execution data is sometimes treated by organisations as just another source, and as complex to gather themselves. Despite the volume of data, there is a lot of room for improvement in how it gets used.

When capacity is limited, it helps to ask a few questions and see what the strategy actually requires. What answers are we looking for? Which data streams do we already link to our systems? Which can we process well ourselves? For new streams, it can be wise to look at external solutions that handle the collection and analysis.

How Would You Handle the Change Management Side?

Change management is where we often see challenges, particularly with senior management. It is difficult to convince decision-makers who are not fully aware of what is happening on the shop floor, so getting everyone on the same page matters.

To reduce the large-scale risk that stakeholders worry about, test and evaluate ideas at small scale first and decide what works in your organisation. Ideas can then be refined — or stopped — before a wider rollout. For complex and costly implementations, training is effective: explaining the technical benefits to stakeholders reduces resistance.