Omni-channel Retail Execution and Monitoring in Megacities

Today there are 35 megacities worldwide, cities with more than 10 million inhabitants. Rapid urbanisation has presented consumer goods companies (CPGs) with great opportunities and challenges. Indeed, with tens of millions of consumers and thousands of retailers, megacities, more than anywhere, provide an opportunity for CPGs to maximise coverage and achieve more with less.

Too much of a good thing?

Spoilt-for-choice consumers, all leading busy lifestyles, allow very little time to be won over in-store. In addition, CPGs have the difficult task of maintaining brand visibility at thousands of points of sale. The desired distribution development comes hand in hand with the need for flexible in-store execution resource, constantly measuring and improving standards. In a megacity, dispatching CPGs’ own field reps to various locations on a daily basis can be challenging, time-consuming and costly, relying on often unpredictable transport and traffic.

Mega Agency and Omni-Channel Retail Execution and Monitoring

Fortunately, the very challenge of a multi-million population and high density metropolis offers a solution, providing CPGs with flexible and decentralised resourcing options. Whether a member of the crowd, delivery partner, tactical or dedicated field rep, there is always a deskless worker in proximity who can check standards or take an action. Informed by sales data and other insights, CPGs can optimise omnichannel execution activities by dynamically scheduling the right person, with the right skill set, to fix issues or check standards at the right time and cost. At the end of a store call, field reps can also assign follow up tasks to members of the crowd or contact centres, saving them time and badwidth to focus on the highest priority store calls.

The success of CPGs in a mega city depends on the consistent and flexible implementation of execution standards. The best way to achieve this is by utilising cloud, social and mobile technology to make flexible use of all types of field resource, namely dedicated field teams, tactical teams, mystery shoppers, the crowd and members of the distribution network. 

Procedural Guidance for Megacity Success

If in-store execution and data collection are performed by different groups, how can CPGs ensure consistency and quality? 

The design of the retail execution process is only the first step. Providing agents in-store with step-by-step guidance through the process ensures its successful implementation first time right. Zaptic enables retail execution experts to design and share procedural guidance with deskless workers, whether CPG employees, outsourced field agents, members of the crowd or otherwise. A mobile- and user-friendly interface guides and assists the agents in the field through every step of the process, from performing to reporting the required actions in-store consistently and at the highest standard. Crucially, business managers can configure locally, and deploy rapidly without needing IT.

When available, the seamless integration of tools such as data analytics, digital measurment and image augmentation all into one can further support the efficiency and effectiveness of agents.

 Omni-channel retail execution with Zaptic – read the solution overview!