The Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry has often been on the forefront of implementing the latest and greatest technological advances to increase profitability, from adopting the first Supply Chain software and RFID to today’s sensors and IoT. Yet, surprisingly, many CPG companies are lagging behind other industries in implementing true mobile retail execution. Why? Read on to find out about five of the most common misconceptions.
Myth: Field sales forces already have the necessary solutions they need.
Truth: Field sales reps and marketers already use many different applications to perform their jobs. But in order to keep up with the competition, your teams need a simple, consolidated one-stop-shop when accessing materials from their marketing teams and engaging with customers in the field.
When your field reps are traveling from one retail location to the next, they don’t have time to search through multiple platforms to get the information they need. A mobile retail execution solution saves time and increases productivity, which will help both your sales and marketing teams be more impactful.
Myth: I don’t need to segment my data to the individual store level.
Truth: There is no reason why retail companies should not segment their individual store data like eCommerce companies have been doing for years. eCommerce stores have micro-segmented individual customers by tracking their buying history, location, search preferences, and much more. This segmentation has enabled eCommerce stores to target customers with more engaging experiences, and, as a result, increase their sales.
Some critics voice concern regarding individual privacy because of an overload of data sharing. But the bottom line is that if retail locations are going to compete with both online and retail competitors, you still need to use the data to make informed business decisions. You can also use this data to compare your retail locations against each other. By doing so, your field reps can create customized plans faster than ever before.
Myth: Adding more cloud-based services creates vulnerabilities in data security.
Truth: In the past, there were some companies that were vulnerable to outside servers hosting their information, but those days are long gone.
According to a 2015 IDG Enterprise survey, 44 percent of companies’ software and data were managed on a cloud-based server, including public and private cloud installations. Furthermore, by the end of 2016, companies expect 56 percent of their software and data to be cloud-based.
Cloud-based, subscription solutions like Pitcher can be integrated with many sales and marketing programs, including SalesForce CRM, one of the most popular cloud-based platforms in the world. Cloud-based computing services are quickly dominating all business functions of today’s enterprise. You can bet that almost all business operations will be done in the cloud in the near future.
Myth: Sales reps can just input their information when they get back in the office.
Truth: Time spent doing manual data entry takes valuable time away from customer and prospect engagement and leads to inaccuracies that throw off analytics and planning across the enterprise.
For example, studies show that the cost of errors related to data entry are undercutting profitability across the board. Estimates say that it costs a business relying on manual processes $1 to verify the accuracy of data at the point of entry, $10 to correct or clean up data in batch form, and $100, or more, per record, if nothing is done – including the costs associated with low customer retention, and inefficiencies. Further, field reps and the companies they work for are best served when employees can focus on building a solid and engaged customer and prospect base.
Myth: Integration takes too much time and effort.
Truth: Today’s web services make integration easy, without expensive services-based implementations and maintenance teams or large software costs related to proprietary middleware.
Today’s technology has made the transition so that new implementations and integrations do not take much time. The key is to find a software provider with experience in integrating with multiple systems to prove the validity of its architecture, but who understands that the user should enjoy a unified experience that is marked by usability and productivity, making ramp up time fast and the learning curve nonexistent.
Take the next steps toward realizing your potential with mobile retail execution
Now that you know the truth about CPG mobile retail execution solutions, the next step is to learn how Pitcher’s unique software can help your organization.
And want to see how all this works for you right now? Click here to schedule a demo today, so we can show how first-hand how Pitcher can help.