POI Pulse June 26, 2017

Join McKee Foods, ConAgra, Giant Eagle, Pfizer, Church & Dwight, Cambell’s, Colgate-Palmolive, Conair, Sears, Kellogg, Mondelez, Coca-Cola, Hershey, Johnson & Johnson,  L’Oreal,  Nestle, Dannon, Kimberly-Clark, PepsiCo, Sysco,
RB, P&G, Pernod Ricard, Bimbo Bakeries, Goya, Mars, Ahold, Kraft Heinz, Unilever, Energizer, Edgewell, Constellation Brands, Norseland, French’s, and others to learn and engage around critical
in-store, Sales Force Automation, On Shelf Availability Strategies and Pricing Execution success cases, including: Manufacturers and Retailers can follow the links and register here

POI Webinar Series: Realizing Benefits
from Trade Improvement: ACH Food’s Transformation Trade Planning Journey

Source: (POI Webinar Series July 12, 2017)

ACH Food has gone through a transformational program to reinvent business planning and trade management which included the implementation of an integrated business planning solution. This business transformation has touched all areas of people, process and technology. Within the first year of going live, ACH has realized benefits in many areas including:

–       Strengthened customer relationships

–       Reduced planning lead time and manual effort through integrated systems

–       Improved visibility into the trade P&L for all functional areas.

In this session, you will learn details about:

–       ACH Food’s transformational journey

–       Benefits and roadblocks along the path

–       How to get your company prepared for success

Lidl Opens First U.S. Stores – Inside Look
Source: (Phil Lempert Blog June 26, 2017)

On June 15 Lidl’s first stores in the United States, six
locations in North Carolina, opened and just about every retailer I know has already hopped on a plane and checked them out. The German chain is doing its utmost to shed the Aldi “me-too” image. Learn more

We see many opportunities to improve the promotion and distribution of consumer products, both on a relative
basis as well as by looking at changes year over year. We hope that consumer goods companies and retailers will take stock in the fact that
many of their struggles are shared by both peers and competitors. But ultimately, we sincerely hope that identifying these opportunities and
steadily working against them as part of strategic and tactical
planning will yield ever-improving benefits.

Recommendations related to retailer data, store access, and compliance:

Have a candid conversation with existing data suppliers, whether it is the retailer or a third party, about data quality.

Document instances where you are not given adequate access to stores. Open a dialog on why this is
happening. Ask what it would take to get better access. Better retail coverage? More sharing of insights?

Build a joint business case around data sharing. But you have to ask for data. Many European retailers did not
provide data until they were specifically asked and engaged through a business case.

Tie promotional non-compliance into post-event analysis to demonstrate how compliance drives mutually beneficial ROI. 

Use simulation tools to show how various compliance scenarios will drive levels of ROI.

Segment customers based on compliance and profitability, not the traditional ACV, where the biggest retailers get the most attention.

Establish accuracy thresholds. Do some root cause analysis on what is driving inaccuracies.

Do a pilot with a retailer that currently does not provide data. Set expectations about the value of collaboration and insight sharing.

Be prepared to change suppliers if necessary.
There are multiple options and multiple methodologies for harmonizing, scrubbing, and making data available.

Continue to press forward with the “sell more” capabilities that enable field sales personnel to better serve the retailer and to improve decisions at the store level.

There is no simple solution to data quality, but it starts with the recognition that there is a problem and focusing on mutually solving it. Learn more, and access the complete report here.  

Reach us with any needs, questions, or requests to further engage with POI at: