CRM VS. RETAIL EXECUTION
More and more companies are seeing the benefits of leveraging technology to stay competitive in the Consumer Goods and Life Sciences industries, however, choosing the right customer relationship management (CRM) software or Retail Execution solution is no easy feat.
What is CRM software? According to businessdictionary.com, it’s an acronym for Customer Relationship Management software, which refers to software products that allow organizations to store, organize, synchronize, and search records relating to customer interactions.
What is Retail Execution? Well let’s first break up the term. The word retail means ‘Of, relating to, or engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at retail,’ and execution means ‘the carrying out or putting into effect of a plan, order, or course of action.’ Retail execution is a unique branch of CRM, focused on managing the relationship with retail outlets, helping sales field teams to ‘do more, know more and sell more’ of their product.
When meeting with multiple FMCG clients, the business strategies have shifted to wanting ‘More than a CRM’. Instead of searching for systems that are simply a ‘capturing data’ tool, they are looking at ways to help them drive their field teams to make better decisions. Complete the right tasks, at the right store, at the right time. This is where Retail Execution solutions come into play.
Retail execution can be a complicated and challenging area, spanning multiple routes to market (modern trade, traditional trade, van sales, etc.), requiring specialized tools to help navigate it. That’s where StayinFront comes in.
‘My team needs accurate data that’s easy to understand.’
With the plethora of data available and business push for BI solutions, there is a constant need to make it easier for field teams to have a really simple snapshot of what they need to perform their jobs and deliver fact-based pitches. BI solutions, however, can be an information overload.
‘I can’t believe the time I saved.’
Whether your company is looking to reduce time in store or increase the accuracy of data to 96%+, advanced technologies like Image Recognition are also becoming a key focus. Imagine if your company could take a photo and have that automatically populate KPI measures such as availability, facings, and share-of-shelf to name a few of the key features? Field teams can focus on more value-added activities.
Read Steve Bonsell’s thought leadership blog – A Picture Has a Thousand Uses for more information on this topic within the retail industry.
