VelociTRACKER.com to Launch Comprehensive Category Performance Features for the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry

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Cumming, GA (Vocus) November 24, 2009

How does the supply chain continually succeed in the quest for infinite sales from finite space? This challenge is met with the fascinating science of Category Management. And while extremely powerful, like any science, the results are only as good as the data available at the time.

Enter the latest enhancement to VelociTRACKER.com, Computer Resource Center, Inc’s supply chain management software toolset used by 108,000 end users from all walks of life within the Consumer Packaged Goods community. Currently, these end users benefit from increased sales and decreased costs at retail by taking advantage of the toolset’s ability to drive 100% execution of surveys and tasks at shelf level.

Early in 2010, velocitracker.com will launch a new feature designed to even further increase sales and decrease costs at retail. The new feature will be a welcome addition for category managers seeking the most timely and accurate information available when making decisions for their category. The idea behind this new feature, says President Robert Gerace, is to help category managers make decisions about what is actually happening at shelf-level, as opposed to simply what was planned.

Category managers typically measure sales against many data points. Some common data points are (by item): performance by linear foot; space allocation; dollar velocity; shrink vs. dollar volume; shrink vs. sales by planogram size; profit vs. space; % of skus generating revenue.

The above analysis is critical in the pursuit of infinitely increasing sales from limited space because knowing what is working in any given demographic gives category managers the opportunity to replicate success in similar demographics, and a head-start in other demographics.

For example: if it is possible to prove to an entire chain (or even a single store manager with authority) that a certain product mix – even one they may be reluctant to carry – outperforms what they have currently, everybody wins by making the change. The foregoing example continues to evolve with each new discovery feeding an ever increasing stream of revenue – or not. Where this model falls apart is the old ‘garbage in / garbage out’ axiom. If any of the iterations of the foregoing example are based on bad data, changes can do more damage than good.

Another downside is that changes are expensive. If the supply chain is to make the change, the decision had better be correct. And this is where the new features of VelociTRACKER.com come in. By providing a category management friendly interface, VelociTRACKER™ makes it easy for category managers to ask the right questions, test their assumptions, and know the underlying data is sound.

Of course, the already proven VelociTRACKER™ toolset can then be used to ensure 100% retail execution of the changes, ensure compliance, and feed the next cycle with timely and accurate data.

Since 1989 Computer Resource Center, Inc. has provided the supply chain with software to increase sales and decrease cost at retail. The toolset began by tracking field merchandisers via telephone and fax, and evolved into the comprehensive mobile computing (PDA, Laptop, Tablet), Web, and Phone based retail execution solution used by many of the household name manufacturers, retailers, brokers, and merchandising service organizations. Today, VelociTRACKER™ schedules, tracks, and reports the execution of over 2.5 million retail calls representing over 25 million tasks and requests for information. The expert team at Computer Resource Center, Inc. prides itself on using its expert knowledge of field execution at retail in helping its clients to continually increase sales while decreasing costs at the same time.

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