The brand needed strong early launch results in more than 900 stores belonging to a major US retailer. As a result of selling within a tiered system; first to a distributor and then a retailer, the beverage manufacturer lost visibility to the presentation of products in-store and how the shelf was changing. They required a way to have coverage across all stores despite having a small team, to identify and correct retail execution issues and also to spot new market opportunities quickly.
Trained retail representatives from the Trax Flexforce visited every store to replenish shelves, identify OOS instances and document product placement. The Flexforce ‘Tasking Engine’ identified the right reps for each job and every store visit is tracked, QA checked and scored using nearly 50 metrics.
Data collected from multiple signals such real-time shelf conditions and inventory data highlighted additional insights for the team; some retailers were separating cans from four-packs and selling individual cans. This visibility into shopper behavior shaped future product introductions.
Without asking consumers, we learned about a major market opportunity because we had Trax Dynamic Merchandising acting as our eyes and ears in the field…They are an extension of our sales team.
VP of Strategy
Using Trax Dynamic Merchandising the brand discovered that its products were missing from approximately one-fifth of stores. Leveraging the AI-driven merchandising platform and real-time images, the team was able to quickly identify gaps in compliance and fix the most urgent inventory issues first. Data collected using Trax also highlighted that 15% to 20% of the stores were breaking up the four-pack, validating that there would be strong consumer demand for a single pack type. This led to a stronger product line-up, with the launch of a single-can SKU. Overall, the brand, now found in 2500 stores, was able to drive a 25% increase in its retail presence with up to 600 new product placements.
