For 40 years, Doug Tinney had built Alliance Sales and Marketing through relationships with suppliers and hundreds of retailers in his area around Birmingham, Alabama. He had added some technology along the way, but he was old-school, handling things with a mix of paper and early generation software that had long served both his business and his customers. When he
The Amazon Effect and Industry 4.0: Where Should Retailers Focus? Being a retailer these days, especially in the grocery business, is like being under seige and not knowing where the next assault is coming from. Do you focus on changes in supply chain brought about by trade wars and Industry 4.0? Do you create a new store concept to cement
RW3 Recognized as a Top Provider by Consumer Goods Magazine RW3 was recognized again by CGT in its Annual Survey of Top Solution Providers for Customer Relationship Management and Retail Execution. The top providers list “showcases the companies that received the best ‘Total Scores’ for the solutions and/or services they deliver in that area,” according to the survey. Consumer Goods
These Beliefs Persist, Despite the Data: Out-of-Stocks Aren’t a Problem Today For some reason, brands think that out-of-stocks are a problem of the past. Maybe they trust inventory control tech to make sure it never happens. Whatever the reason, out-of-stocks are even a bigger risk in the omnichannel world. With online purchasing, click-and-collect, and delivery companies like Instacart and Shipt, competing with traditional in-store shoppers, there are
Calculating The Perfect In-Store Trade Spend Mix Using Science Trade spend is tricky. If you don’t spend enough your sales could slump; and if you overspend, you eat away at your profit margins. The trick is to find the perfect in-store mix of promotions, from the frequency and placement to the overall displays. When talking to VPs of Sales regarding
A Photo Really is Worth a Gigabyte of Data A photo can replace a handful of questions in a store audit, provide supportive material for a field sales manager, or even be used in daily reports for the C-Suite. If photos are not part of your field sales strategy in 2018 that must change in 2019, the value lost is
Why Every Field Sales App Needs a True Offline Capability We’ve all been there, just when you’re looking for the right highway exit, the GPS signal is lost. Just when you want to check the last email to see where the meeting is being held, all you can get is that infernal loading signal. Just when your CPG sales rep
Client Success: Solving Phantom Inventory Issues Through POS Data Phantom Inventory has always plagued the CPG industry and previously it was just too complex to address. However, now with POS data and reporting algorithms readily available reps are quickly and economically correcting Phantom Inventory and boosting On-Shelf Availability (OSA). Below is a client success story highlighting their use of POS
The Science Behind Gamification & Field Sales We’re not here to play games. Or are we? More and more sales teams are turning to gamification to boost motivation and increase performance. Why games? Well, we can start with the neurochemical basis. When you play a game, and you score a point, it releases dopamine—a reward chemical in your brain. That
Can Robots Help Reduce On-Shelf Availability Concerns It slides along the grocery store aisles, registering out-of-stocks, low stocks, price errors and misplaced items and goes by the name Tally. Tally the invention of Simbe Robotics, does the work that seems too boring, too repetitive, and too menial for humans to do, and too expensive for retailers to pay for. It