AI-Based Shelf Availability Recognition

After the implementation of the AI-based shelf availability recognition, businesses can achieve the following KPIs:

Industry

The AI-based shelf availability recognition is one of the most innovative technological processes offered by the effie service. Different FMCG manufacturers, distributors, and retailers can benefit from its implementation in their business processes.

User Type

This use case can be relevant for supervisors, sales representatives, regional managers, store managers, merchandisers, and other responsible officials in their everyday activities. Speaking about the separate roles’ objectives that can be achieved due to the AI-based shelf availability recognition, it’s possible to zoom further in, for example:

• A merchandiser might need to have an up-to-date planogram and generate execution reports in no time
• A store manager might need to get on-shelf availability data in real time to avoid out-of-stock situations
• A regional manager might need to monitor the actual execution of routes across teams

Pain Point

Manufacturers, distributors, and retailers face a problem: traditional manual methods for monitoring product availability at retail outlets are prone to inaccuracies. It happens because of numerous factors: human errors, inattentiveness, insufficient expertise, or even intentional data manipulation. As a result, all these inaccuracies:

• negatively affect decision-making quality
• prevent effective assortment management
• cause some lost sales opportunities
• lead to inefficient resource allocation, and more

For example, let’s consider the following symptom: some sales representatives tend to manipulate data from retail outlets. The reason for this behavior is the lack of transparency and adequate monitoring. The consequence of this disturbance is that the company loses control and cannot measure the effectiveness of the coverage. In contrast, an AI-based tool that is devoid of human factors would eliminate these risks.

One more symptom – insufficient employee expertise – can be caused by the lack of experienced workers, high costs of their training and retention, or high staff turnover. Consequently, the company loses points in its battle with competitors in sales and trade marketing activities. However, an AI-powered tool that can quickly process many factors would turn the tables.

Current Process

Let’s view an anonymous case of a company that strives to manage its business processes without the effie solution. It’s not uncommon because, according to the statistics, 67.4% of supply chain managers use Excel spreadsheets as a management tool. However, currently, management without AI tools is inefficient. Our hypothetical company undertakes the outdated steps to control its shelf availability in the following way:

1. The company managers prepare Excel spreadsheets with data and tasks to be performed →
2. They print out documents with the routes for field staff (sales representatives and merchandisers) →
3. Field employees fill in the paper questionnaires and add photos manually →
4. Field force uses insecure messengers to exchange sensitive business information →
5. Field workers create their reports manually (that is, slowly and inefficiently) →
6. And this vicious cycle repeats itself.

Needless to say, every step entails risks or losses, be it money, time, effort, or such intangible things as brand authority or customer satisfaction.

Effie Solution

To change the deplorable situation with shelf availability monitoring, the effie service can implement an AI-driven solution, using image recognition technology to assess product presence accurately. Here’s the process: field employees take photos of store shelves during their visits, and trained neural networks automatically identify SKUs in these images, achieving 99.99% recognition accuracy. This enhanced access to shelf data enables teams to:

• quickly respond to in-store situations
• adjust pricing policies in real time
• monitor competitor prices and promotions
• manage product placement to ensure compliance with standards, and more

Additionally, results obtained in real time are consolidated into various dashboards, reducing audit time by up to 50%, eliminating human error, and improving accuracy for effective inventory management.

To fully avail of the effie system benefits, managers can employ the following modules of the complex effie system: planning visits, tracking geo positions, photo registration of errors, reporting, and more.

KPI

The natural question arises: “What quantitative indicators can be achieved after implementing the AI-based shelf availability recognition?” The resultant effect can include the following:

1. Increase in the accuracy of product availability control: A percentage increase in the accuracy of product availability data can move from an accuracy rate of 85% to 99% after implementing the AI-powered image recognition.
2. Sales impact from the increased on-shelf availability: An increase in sales due to more accurate estimates of shelf availability and better stock management (e.g., 10% increase in sales within the first quarter of implementation).
3. Out-of-stock reduction: A percentage reduction in stockouts can be achieved due to real-time alerts and monitoring by the AI system (e.g., a 30% reduction in stockout instances within 6 months).
4. Reduction of human errors: A decrease in human errors related to product availability tracking and data reporting can reach up to 95% after implementing the AI-based solution.

All KPIs can be monitored in real time and measured easily with the help of the consolidated dashboard titled “KPI Performance”.

User Role

The use case of the AI-based shelf availability recognition can involve sales representatives, sales managers, system administrators, merchandisers, and other relevant roles. Please check out the table below showing some company roles, their tasks, and the effie system elements they can use to streamline their everyday routine:

Integration

If it’s necessary to exchange information with external business systems, the effie service can be integrated with SAP, Oracle NetSuite, or Salesforce CRM.