Kraft Foods Achieves Active Execution
Prior to the Kraft Foods Group/Mondelez International split, Kraft Foods South Africa (www.kraftfoods.co.za) was a massive multi-national company competing across various categories and a vast geographical landscape. One of its key challenges was getting the right products to be seen in store to be sold to consumers. In order to grow market share, the company embarked on a mobile solution strategy in March 2007 that would abandon its 100 percent paper-based retail execution system.Starting small as Cadbury South Africa at that stage, the company implemented Direct Store Delivery (DSD) or Cash Van Sales modules from JustEnough (www.justenough.com) for use by its gum sales force to sell product in a tactically-oriented “top-up” approach.
“This ensured that smaller stores always had adequate stock and improved Cadbury’s product availability in these retail environments,” says Deon Maritz, national sales systems manager, Kraft Foods South Africa.
As a result of this early implementation, sales performance increased by an astounding 400 percent — proof positive that a broader implementation would be a worthy investment.
Thus, the JustEnough Mobile Sales Force Execution solution, running on Motorola (www.motorolasolutions.com) devices, was extended to the pre-sales/account sales force, which is responsible for key accounts. The project was initiated in September 2007 with a March 2008 go-live.
Other benefits emerged, such as time savings when placing promotional sales orders — decreasing from 45 minutes to 45 seconds.
Using the system, call planning and compliance improved from low 50 percent scores with well over 75 percent accuracy and remained in the top quartile of performance.
In addition, the mobile system offers built-in intelligence that uses real-time data to help the company’s 2,500 field representatives to identify sales opportunities.
These successes have not gone unnoticed. The year after the solution was rolled out, Kraft International selected the implementation as one of the organization’s top five most successful IT projects of the year. It was also later nominated as one of Kraft’s Top 10 Global Best Practice Standards.
FAST FACTS
A Strong Support System
Using JustEnough Mobile, Kraft Foods South Africa improved call planning and compliance, mobile sales ordering, invoice processing and promotions; ensured retail execution standards and enhanced cash van sales, specifically for the DSD workforce.
Company at a Glance
Competing in the grocery and confectionery sectors, Kraft Foods South Africa encompassed portfolios from Kraft Foods and Cadbury following their merger in 2010. With the recent formation of Mondelez International, the business will once again be split, with Mondelez South Africa focusing on the confectionery business.
Mobility Mogul
Deon Maritz was named Enterprise Mobility Person of the Year, as part of the 2013 Enterprise Mobility Forum Awards, for demonstrating visionary leadership and adopting best practices in the implementation of mobility technologies.