Companies in the FMCG(Fast Moving Consumable Goods) space have been growing at a tremendous rate during the last few years and are becoming more aggressive about their brand presence and maintaining customer loyalty. Instore campaign still remains a popular answer to the above predicament and this is where Traditional Merchandizing enters the chat.
Two of the biggest frustrations for organizations and/or brands when it comes to traditional merchandizing are:
- Inability to reach individual consumers with a targeted aim.
- The workload at hand.
Merchandisers are your brand on ground. By playing a vital role in how your brand is presented, collecting competitor notes, handling promotions, maintaining relations with key accounts and ensuring brand visibility, they are crucial to the process and your organization at large.
However, day by day, the activities to be performed are becoming harder hence increasing the workload of the rep. You create guides to be followed and set goals hoping that they will be achieved through your merchandising plan but on ground, your rep is having a hard time executing the vision you put in place. Thankfully traditional merchandising has taken on a new dimension with the arrival of mobility. Easing the daily activities of your merchandisers and increasing productivity, mobility paves way for turnover though impacting of sales.
The rapid growth of mobile technology, mobility solutions to be specific has created an unprecedented opportunity for FMCG companies to have a share of the action at the store level allowing for quicker, more agile responses to real- time market conditions and shaping demand.
A merchandising software automates merchandising activities by capturing vital in-store information through a mobile app which is then made available to management for planning and decision making.
These applications enables management to set up clear targets for merchandisers, allow instant review of task performance. Through this, companies can be able to streamline business processes, save time and money and make data easier to collect.
Benefits of Mobility Merchandising
- Strategically planning of marketing and promotions. With the information gathered, have a database for analysis. With accurate sales forecasting, set up goals and monitor the implementation of the objectives.
- Increased productivity. With an automated process, your reps get to spend less time collecting data giving them more time to perform their duties.
- Optimize shelf space. Maintaining of ideal inventory and access to real-time field data enables you to position products that are fast moving boosting sales ultimately.
- Increase in sales. Effective merchandising boosts revenue. Store layout and visual merchandising work together to create a memorable and consistent in-store brand experience
- Set target and review rep’s performance. Representatives have a view of targets they are supposed to work and given info is real time, you get to have a view of how your re is performing as the day goes.
- Real time field reps tracking. GPS allows you to track your rep’s positioning and monitor their activities live verifying authenticity.
- Photo taking. When it comes to validation, visual communication is of importance. Virtual real time snaps/ Photos gives you a view of whether proper execution has been done.
Benefits of implementing a mobile app for merchandising are endless. Brands and distributors in the FMCG space should leverage the power of mobile apps in their merchandising strategies and maximize.
