The Promotion Optimization Institute Names the Top Retail Execution and Monitoring Vendors for 2019 in Annual Report

WYCKOFF, N.J., April 29, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Promotion Optimization Institute (POI), the leading resource for trade marketing and merchandising executives, today released its 2019 Vendor Panorama for Retail Execution and Monitoring (RetX) in Consumer Goods . This year's RetX Panorama evaluated 21 solutions from 19 vendors and named the following vendors as best-in-class for helping retailers and CPG executives: Accenture, AFS, Asseco, Comarch, Ivy Solutions, Kantar, SAP, Spring, StayinFront and others.

"As the retail environment shifts, CPG manufacturers will need to execute effectively across both physical and digital stores and to do this Retail Execution Solutions will need to evolve," said Pam Brown, Chief Commercial Officer, POI. "Today's CPG manufacturers will need more than share of shelf and pricing to compete. They will also need AI/ML, RAO, gamification, digital content management and other capabilities based on market demand."

POI designed the Vendor Panorama for Retail Execution and Monitoring in Consumer Goods to help consumer goods companies and their distribution partners execute at the individual store level because if the product is not available, merchandised correctly, and promoted effectively, the consumer will likely purchase from a competitor. The 2019 POI Vendor Panorama added Predictive Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to the 13 total functional areas the functional areas the vendors are rated on.

Key Survey Findings:

• 17.5% of those surveyed are not satisfied with their ability to execute at store level.
• 91.2% of respondents have challenges moving capabilities from transactional to analytical.
• 71.5% of field based users reported they do have the tools they need to make appropriate decisions.
• 60.2% reported their off-line capabilities are not being met.
• 32.9% of office based users reported their analytical needs are being met.
• 68% of respondents do not have "sell more" capabilities.

Recommendations:

• Continue to prioritize functionality above delivery method. The lines between SaaS, managed services, hosted private cloud, and public cloud are blurry and highly dependent on where the deployment(s) will take place. On-premises is still as popular as cloud.
• Prioritize capabilities that will help users be more effective—for example to "sell more." These capabilities include retail activity optimization (RAO), image recognition, guided selling, social selling, gamification, voice recognition, and in-flight analytics.
• Take bring your own device (BYOD) in retail execution seriously, not just as user preference, but also as a standard if active in emerging markets.
• Test, script, and test some more to ensure that prospective solutions can meet off-line requirements for in-flight analytics and complex pricing and promoting.
• Recognize that a single solution is not likely to meet a global needs. There is just too much disparity in price, suitability to local requirements, and availability of support to be able to do so. Three to five solutions are typical for truly global companies.
• Ask for best practices from your vendor or implementation partner. The POI 2019 Survey found that only 21.9% percent felt strongly that they received best practices in combination with their solution.
• Consider how advanced retail execution capabilities like image recognition, gamification, retail activity optimization, embedded social capabilities, and guided selling can be added to your sales tool-kit to provide line of sight to in-store opportunities and execution at the store level.

Vendor Evaluation for POI Best-In Class
In the 2019 POI Panorama, 21 solutions from 19 vendors were evaluated. Sixteen capabilities from each vendor were analyzed and compared consisting of: company viability, geographic strategy, market understanding, vertical and industry strategy, partner leverage, company vision, product aptness and flexibility, delivery flexibility, solution completeness, offline capabilities, user experience, analytical capabilities, product vision, and configurability. More information about upcoming 2019 POI events can be found at: http://poinstitute.com/events/

About the Promotion Optimization Institute
POI brings together manufacturers, retailers, solution providers, analysts, academics and other industry leaders. Members of the POI share cross-functional best practices in both structured and informal settings. Additionally, members benefit through our industry alliances, the Certified Collaborative Marketer (CCM) ™ curriculum and certification, global industry leadership events, and the Promotional Collaborative Capability Matrix (PCCM). POI aims to instill a financial and metrics-based discipline not typically found with other trade groups.

The goal of our innovative approach is collaborative promotion optimization. The focus is on the customer/shopper through sales, marketing, and merchandising strategies. POI is based in Wyckoff, New Jersey. To learn more about the POI, including how to participate in research, how to register to attend or sponsor events, and how to engage with leaders on the CCM, visit http://www.poinstitute.com/ or email Mkantor (at) P-O-I (dot) com.

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The Certified Collaborative Marketer (CCM) ™ is a trademark belonging to the Promotion Optimization Institute. All other trademarks are the property of their registered owners.

SOURCE Promotion Optimization Institute

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