MARKET WATCH
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Product Content Offering Powers Category Management Platforms
Enhancements have been made to the space management solution from Gladson, the leading provider of digital product content and related services for the consumer packaged goods industry. The upgrades are designed to provide customers a comprehensive content solution for category management processes and platforms.
Customers now have more options to ensure that the content they receive can quickly and seamlessly integrate with diverse category management technologies, including platforms for assortment planning, virtual research and merchandising, space planning and more. They can determine various specifications for the content, ranging from file format and image resolution to the number of product views.
By delivering the right content for the right platforms, Gladson is helping CPG companies meet the demand for product content in increasing quantities and complexities to speed up technology deployments and keep pace with category management trends.
“The software platforms across category management are expanding and in some ways blurring, requiring a product content provider that can deliver ‘enterprise ready’ images and data,” said Gladson CEO and President Susan Sentell. “Our customers benefit from a single, easy-to-integrate content solution that can support everything from virtual retail environments to planograms to analytical shopper research.”
Gladson Space Management content can include up to six merchandisable views of each product - available in high and low resolutions. Customers also receive up to 30 product attributes, including weights and dimensions; identifiers such as GTIN/UPC; and descriptors including item name, brand and manufacturer.
AFS Technologies Cited in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for BI
AFS Data Discovery (formerly Discovery G2), an end-to-end data visualization and data discovery solution, was cited in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms, February 2015 report.
The solution from AFS Technologies was listed in the Other BI Platform Vendors section where it notes that “a number of other small vendors may be worthy of consideration, depending on requirements, although they did not meet the criteria for inclusion in this year’s Magic Quadrant.”
“We are thrilled to be mentioned on Gartner’s prestigious Magic Quadrant for Business Intelligence and Analytics Platforms,” said Joe Bellini, CEO, AFS Technologies, a leading global provider of software and services purpose-built for consumer goods. “Our user-friendly AFS Data Discovery platform empowers customers with dynamic views and functionality to enable users to answer today’s business questions without waiting for static reports to be built. By putting credible, actionable information in the hands of decision makers, we are helping our customers become more productive and effective daily. The value we are generating for our customers is significant and thus we expect our growth to give us the volume to qualify for the magic quadrant in the very near future.”
Affiliate Network for Card-Linked Offers Gains Traction
The first affiliate network built exclusively for card-linked digital offers, incentives and promotions is gaining traction among savings-minded consumers.
The Omnyverse network from Linkable Networks has scaled quickly. It already reaches more than 50 million consumers monthly across more than 30 leading publishers such as Slickdeals, Shopathome and savings.com. It is like traditional affiliate networks with one difference: All its offers are linked to the shopper’s credit or debit card so they can use them in-store or online with proper first-click attribution no matter where they buy.
The network enables retailers to engage shoppers digitally with SKU-level or store-wide promotions and coupons redeemed automatically without paper, printing or promo codes. Company officials said retailers for the first time can leverage the efficacy of performance-based marketing to drive and measure sales, whether mobile, online or in-store, in a way that is easier and more rewarding for the shopper.
“It provides retailers with the first fully digital, closed-loop coupon solution that bridges online and offline,” said Jeff Jensen, executive vice president, general manager of the network.
Grocer Cuts Out-Of-Stocks in Frozen Pizza, Ice Cream
A regional grocer was able to reduce out-of-stocks on top-selling items in frozen pizza and ice cream by 25% when comparing results vs. a year ago by using Visibility & Analytics and Scan-based Trading solutions from Park City Group, a cloud-based software company that uses big data management to help retailers and their suppliers sell more, stock less and see everything,
The grocer leveraged the solutions to evaluate sell-through of top-selling pizza and ice cream items when on promotion to identify out-of-stocks. Scan-based Trading helped to provide on-hand inventories when combined with delivery information. Leveraging these two solutions, PCG was able to provide the grocer with the information needed to collaborate with the distributor on changes in both delivery frequency and quantity delivered, which enabled higher product turns and increased sales. The items are supplied by a large national frozen foods distributor.
“We are pleased to see the impact on out-of-stocks achieved for this grocer by aligning consumer demand with supply,” said Randall K. Fields, CEO of Park City Group. “Sharing visibility to shelf performance between retailer and supplier not only achieves sales growth, it also increases shopper satisfaction by ensuring product is on the shelf when the shopper expects it.”
Former Oculus VR Exec Joins VideoMining Advisory Board
Former Oculus VR head scientist Steve LaValle has joined the strategic advisory board of VideoMining, the leading provider of in-store behavior analytics.
LaValle is a highly successful engineering professor and entrepreneur. He has over 20 years of research and development experience in a broad set of areas, including robotics, computer vision, filtering, sensor fusion, artificial intelligence, control systems, virtual reality and perceptual psychology.
In addition to his academic accomplishments, he was the head scientist at Oculus VR up until the $2 billion Facebook acquisition in 2014. He started working with Oculus VR a few days after their 2012 Kickstarter campaign; he developed head tracking methods based on IMUs and computer vision, and led a team of perceptual psychologists to solve human factors issues in virtual reality.
“We are delighted to have Steve as an advisor,” said Rajeev Sharma, VideoMining’s Founder and CEO. “His input will be particularly valuable as we evolve our predictive analytics platform, transforming big data on shopper behavior into easy-to-use decision support systems.”
Nearly All Retailers to Use Gamification: Survey
Within five years, nearly nine of ten retailers (87%) plan to use gamification to engage the customer, says a survey by Boston Retail Partners. And almost half of them (46%) say a structured loyalty program is a top CRM priority.
Other findings of the survey recognize the key CRM aspects of customer engagement across channels:
- Identify the Customer - 883% more retailers plan to identify customers when they walk in the store within five years.
- Analyze the Customer - 100% of the retailers plan to utilize analytics/dashboard to understand shopping behaviors within two years.
The consultancy’s 2015 CRM/Unified Commerce Survey of top North American retailers offers insights into their current state and planned initiatives, priorities, and future trends that relate to CRM practices associated with the retail industry’s shift to unified commerce.
“Customer experience and engagement continues to be the top priority for retailers in their quest to gain and retain customers,” said Brian Brunk, principal, Boston Retail Partners. “It is interesting to see the explosive growth in the use of gamification as part of a CRM program to engage and motivate customers.”
Ken Morris, principal, Boston Retail Partners, said, “The key to influencing a customer’s purchase and offering a personalized experience is to identify the customer early, as soon as they enter the store. However, in many cases, customer identification is happening at the point of checkout, which is too late to influence a current purchase decision. Fortunately, our survey indicates that within five years, more than 50% of retailers plan to identify customers when they walk in the store.”
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