Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brands can benefit greatly from the implementation of a Perfect Store Strategy, as it enables them to increase their visibility in the marketplace and drive sales growth.
However, despite the fact that many Consumer Goods companies strive to achieve a 'Perfect Store' strategy, research reveals that only 44% are satisfied with the execution of their in-store sales.
A Perfect Store is designed to make it quick and easy for customers to find the products they are looking for. Each CPG company defines the Perfect Store differently, as specific markets and distribution channels have different needs.
With that said, all Perfect Store strategies encompass the six P's: Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, People and Process.
This article will serve as a complete guide to executing a Perfect Store strategy and explain how modern Image Recognition (IR) technology can significantly enhance the success of said strategy.
The benefits of building a Perfect Store Strategy
Customers pay little attention to the six P’s that make up the Perfect Store. However, these six tenets (Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, People and Process) are vital for focusing CPG's efforts to bring about the following benefits:
Improved presence in-store
Research shows that 70% of shopping decisions are made in-store, indicating that most consumers are easily swayed by enticing displays and price points rather than consciously seeking out specific goods they've decided upon before heading out to the shops.
This means that CPGs can easily influence their customers' purchasing behaviours by developing a Perfect Store strategy that improves the display of goods. For instance, placing a point-of-sale display of drinks next to tills can encourage more impulse purchases in warmer seasons.
Significant sales uplift
Perfect Stores go above and beyond to provide the best shopping experience for their customers and, as a result, attract customer loyalty and significant sales uplift.
For example, a beverage business in South America found that its ‘ideal’ stores had a market share over 30% greater than outlets where no Perfect Store strategy was in place.
Greater ability to monitor and improve store performance
If you're a CPG Sales Director, implementing a Perfect Store strategy is a superpower, allowing you to measure performance and gain a strategic advantage. With in-store data, you can identify stores that aren’t performing well and make changes in order to increase sales.
The six P’s of implementing a Perfect Store strategy
To maximise success of your CPG, it's essential to craft a comprehensive Perfect Store strategy that incorporates the six P's. Here are some tips to ensure success:
1. Product
To ensure customer satisfaction and maximise sales, CPG brands should create a plan to deliver a Perfect Store that exceeds customer expectations. Leveraging customer research, competitor data, and market trends, you can gain insight into customer preferences and measure your performance against competitors'.
Utilising image recognition to analyse Shelf Compliance, Product Availability, Price Analysis, Competitor Analysis, and Promotional Display Compliance will provide actionable data to inform and optimise your positioning and strategy. With this approach, you can ensure an adequate and competitive product assortment that will boost customer satisfaction and increase revenue.
2. Pricing
Price optimisation for CPG brands is a key factor for success. With the assistance of IR technology, CPGs can maximise their profits by better understanding the pricing dynamics of their products and their competitors' products.
Image recognition technology can give an accurate picture of the various price points of a product across different markets and retailers. This data can be used to understand the shopper's sensitivity to price, measure brand performance at the current price point, and calculate the optimal price point to achieve your desired objectives. Moreover, IR technology can help CPGs identify the most profitable price points to offer across their portfolio while also meeting shopper targets.
3. Place
Consumers are well-acquainted with spotting their favourite items in certain areas of a store, making in-store placement a key factor for both visibility and the likelihood of purchase. Therefore it's paramount to take into account factors like the store layout, aisle positioning, primary shelves, and secondary placements such as displays to make sure that your products catch the eye of your target customers. Again, this is where image recognition provides valuable insights, giving you data on shelf compliance, product availability, price analysis, competitor analysis, and promotional display compliance.
4. Promotion
Point-of-Sale (POS) marketing is a core aspect of success in the retail space, with an estimated 76% of purchasing decisions being made in-store.
With the aid of modern IR technology, such as Neurolabs ZIA (Zero Image Annotations), new SKUs can be recognised prior to their release date. This proactive approach allows CPG brands to measure the efficacy of product promotions and track the performance of their items across different outlets, enabling them to make informed decisions about product placement and promotion strategies. Ultimately, this provides CPGs with the means to maximise the effect of POS marketing and secure long-term success.
5. People
To ensure your employees can deliver a Perfect Store experience, it is essential to empower them with knowledge of the six P's and equip them with the latest shelf auditing technologies. Our advanced IR technology can provide your team with a reliable, highly accurate tool to expedite their shelf auditing duties and save time.
Our image recognition solution has an impressive accuracy rate of 95% from the outset, increasing to over 98% in certain categories. With such advanced technology, your employees can carry out their shelf audits quickly and accurately, ensuring your store's Perfect Store experience is delivered to the highest standard.
6. Process
For maximum efficiency in executing your Perfect Store strategy, it's essential that you streamline your processes. Neurolabs ZIA is the modern IR technology that can onboard new SKUs in less than a day, using an API to integrate with your existing end-to-end solution or any Sales Force Automation (SFA) software. This onboarding time is significantly less than the market average of five to seven days using traditional IR methods.
Moreover, to ensure the Perfect Store strategy is implemented successfully, Neurolabs ZIA offers precise and dependable image recognition and data analytics. It also utilises synthetic data for training and learning, meaning there will be no degradation in product detection accuracy over time.
Build your Perfect Store with help from Neurolabs' ZIA
Creating a Perfect Store strategy starts with setting clear goals and eliminating time-consuming, error-prone processes.
Moreover, it involves investment in powerful technologies that represent the gold standard in the SFA industry. Synthetic IR helps CPGs obtain 100% retail audit compliance by leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), giving FMAs more scope to gather and analyse shop floor data more efficiently.
Neurolabs' ZIA solution can complete category checks and receive findings in seconds. Plus, it can integrate with existing SFA tools to help minimise onboarding time and ensure your Perfect Store strategy is executed seamlessly.
To learn more, look at our latest eBook or request a demo with us today.
At Neurolabs, we are revolutionising in-store retail performance with our advanced image recognition technology, ZIA. Our cutting-edge technology enables retailers, field marketing agencies and CPG brands to optimise store execution, enhance the customer experience, and boost revenue as we build the most comprehensive 3D asset library for product recognition in the CPG industry.
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