Kimberly-Clark Improves Promotion Execution Rate
Today’s technology is transforming the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry and providing organizations with new solutions to improve in-store execution, including directly targeting promotional compliance. Historically, the rate of promotional compliance at retail is thought to range between 15 percent and 50 percent, well below the agreed-upon program expectation. With no conclusive data to support this however, organizations were kept guessing. Kimberly-Clark saw an industry-wide opportunity to increase collaboration with its retail partners and improve the current promotional compliance standards.
Found Opportunity
Like most CPG companies, Kimberly-Clark invests to promote its brands at retail. With retailers juggling thousands of promotions each week while trying to streamline labor costs, elements of the agreed-upon programs occasionally are overlooked. Knowing this, Kimberly-Clark wanted to quantify trade promotion compliance to understand what is truly being executed in the store and at the shelf. During the promotional periods, Kimberly-Clark’s team audited a significant sample size, giving the company access to an ample amount of data for internal analysis. By sharing its findings with its retail partners, both parties can identify areas of opportunity and effectively increase ROI.
Finding the Right Fit
Kimberly-Clark equipped its retail operations team with the RW3 InStore Mobile application from RW3 Technologies. In 2013 the company developed and conducted retailer-specific audits with areas of focus including off-shelf display, pricing, signage, and on-shelf availability. The mobile InStore app provided an end-to-end tool to share these insights with Kimberly-Clark retail customers.
“By creating retailer-specific audits we were able to accurately collect, organize, and analyze a large amount of data while eliminating the uncertainty of what was occurring on the selling floor and at the shelf,” explains Lon Hanson, director, Customer Development-Broker Headquarter/Retail, Kimberly-Clark.
Revealing Results
Results of numerous audits across grocery, drug and mass retailers revealed that the promotion execution on Kimberly-Clark products was hovering around 15 percent to 50 percent. Incorrect signage, lack of inventory, and limited communication all led to lost opportunities for revenue growth for both parties.
“Identifying the promotional compliance rates was the first big win of this project; the next one will be derived in the subsequent steps of collaboration with our retail partners. By clearly identifying areas of opportunities with our partners, we can achieve a significant rise of compliance over the next program period,” says Hanson.
With the data in hand, Kimberly-Clark now has the ability to approach its retailers and present its findings based not on isolated instances of noncompliance, but on thorough, comprehensive data. Also with their findings, the field sales team can link photos of compliance that tie directly to a retailer’s store. With these results, both Kimberly-Clark and the retailers can start collaborating and adjusting their in-store execution efforts.
Next Steps
Moving forward, the Kimberly-Clark Retail Operations Team plans to expand across all retailers and continue to seize the opportunity to improve promotion compliance and the overall shopping experience.
Found Opportunity
Like most CPG companies, Kimberly-Clark invests to promote its brands at retail. With retailers juggling thousands of promotions each week while trying to streamline labor costs, elements of the agreed-upon programs occasionally are overlooked. Knowing this, Kimberly-Clark wanted to quantify trade promotion compliance to understand what is truly being executed in the store and at the shelf. During the promotional periods, Kimberly-Clark’s team audited a significant sample size, giving the company access to an ample amount of data for internal analysis. By sharing its findings with its retail partners, both parties can identify areas of opportunity and effectively increase ROI.
Finding the Right Fit
Kimberly-Clark equipped its retail operations team with the RW3 InStore Mobile application from RW3 Technologies. In 2013 the company developed and conducted retailer-specific audits with areas of focus including off-shelf display, pricing, signage, and on-shelf availability. The mobile InStore app provided an end-to-end tool to share these insights with Kimberly-Clark retail customers.
“By creating retailer-specific audits we were able to accurately collect, organize, and analyze a large amount of data while eliminating the uncertainty of what was occurring on the selling floor and at the shelf,” explains Lon Hanson, director, Customer Development-Broker Headquarter/Retail, Kimberly-Clark.
Revealing Results
Results of numerous audits across grocery, drug and mass retailers revealed that the promotion execution on Kimberly-Clark products was hovering around 15 percent to 50 percent. Incorrect signage, lack of inventory, and limited communication all led to lost opportunities for revenue growth for both parties.
“Identifying the promotional compliance rates was the first big win of this project; the next one will be derived in the subsequent steps of collaboration with our retail partners. By clearly identifying areas of opportunities with our partners, we can achieve a significant rise of compliance over the next program period,” says Hanson.
With the data in hand, Kimberly-Clark now has the ability to approach its retailers and present its findings based not on isolated instances of noncompliance, but on thorough, comprehensive data. Also with their findings, the field sales team can link photos of compliance that tie directly to a retailer’s store. With these results, both Kimberly-Clark and the retailers can start collaborating and adjusting their in-store execution efforts.
Next Steps
Moving forward, the Kimberly-Clark Retail Operations Team plans to expand across all retailers and continue to seize the opportunity to improve promotion compliance and the overall shopping experience.