GARTNER Market Guide for Retail Execution and Monitoring ... · market. In the 2018 Gartner CIO...

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1 Market Guide for Retail Execution and Monitoring Solutions for the Consumer Goods Industry Summary Success at the retail shelf has become more important as selling space gets tighter. The number of solutions CIOs have to choose from in this market continues to expand, and functionality continues to improve in ways that enhance selling effectiveness, productivity and retailer collaboration. Overview Key Findings Sales activity is shifting from a more relationship-based process to one driven by cross-organizational transparency, fact-based recommendations and real-time decision making. The data and analytics driven by the effective deployment of retail execution and monitoring solutions is improving promotional performance as well as alignment with retailer agreements. Solution functionality continues to improve, with more focus on easy fact-based selling tools, powerful analytic tools and sales force performance management/coaching. Recommendations CIOs responsible for driving growth with sales and marketing technology in consumer goods manufacturing should: Ensure that when selecting a solution the vendor's roadmap aligns well with the future emerging data and advanced analytical needs of their business partners in sales. Conduct a global audit of current sales force priorities, needs, practices, tools and metrics for incorporation into the vendor selection process. Build a partnership between IT and sales, and ensure that actual users are involved in vendor selection, configuration and customization decisions, as well as in process and tool alignment.

Transcript of GARTNER Market Guide for Retail Execution and Monitoring ... · market. In the 2018 Gartner CIO...

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Market Guide for Retail Execution and

Monitoring Solutions for the Consumer

Goods Industry

Summary Success at the retail shelf has become more important as selling space gets tighter. The number of solutions CIOs have to choose from in this market continues to expand, and functionality continues to improve in ways that enhance selling effectiveness, productivity and retailer collaboration.

Overview

Key Findings

• Sales activity is shifting from a more relationship-based process to one driven by cross-organizational transparency, fact-based recommendations and real-time decision making.

• The data and analytics driven by the effective deployment of retail execution and monitoring solutions is improving promotional performance as well as alignment with retailer agreements.

• Solution functionality continues to improve, with more focus on easy fact-based selling tools, powerful analytic tools and sales force performance management/coaching.

Recommendations

CIOs responsible for driving growth with sales and marketing technology in consumer goods manufacturing should:

• Ensure that when selecting a solution the vendor's roadmap aligns well with the future emerging data and advanced analytical needs of their business partners in sales.

• Conduct a global audit of current sales force priorities, needs, practices, tools and metrics for incorporation into the vendor selection process.

• Build a partnership between IT and sales, and ensure that actual users are involved in vendor selection, configuration and customization decisions, as well as in process and tool alignment.

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Market Definition This document was revised on 30 March 2018. The document you are viewing is the corrected version. For more information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com.

Retail execution and monitoring (REM) consists of those activities executed by manufacturers or their channel partners at the store level. REM covers a wide range of activities, all of which are focused on selling as much of the manufacturer's products as possible. Examples of these activities include taking product orders, restocking shelves, building promotional displays, recording shelf conditions and competitive activity, and communicating with retail store management. For direct store delivery (DSD) products, it also includes store delivery and other related activities such as invoicing or collecting payments.

REM solutions are often packaged differently depending on the manufacturer's route-to-market sales and distribution model used across various markets. In this Market Guide, we cover the following areas of functionality:

• Retail merchandising — Tools used by sales representatives when visiting stores to ensure compliance with promotional plans and schematics, monitor competitors, and execute tasks such as building displays, placing promotional materials and selling/communicating with retailers.

• Distributor management — Tools used by distributors or wholesalers to execute in-store activities such as selling and merchandising, but with capabilities to provide visibility into sales and promotional activities for manufacturers. These solutions also push manufacturer sales collateral materials to them.

• Van sales — A mobile selling function consisting of route planning, order entry, inventory management, price data management, mobile invoicing, receipt of payments and product/payment reconciliation.

• Direct store delivery (DSD) — Similar to van sales, but with no provision for payments that are handled behind the scenes. Information about product sales is transmitted to the salesperson at the store level using direct exchange (DEX) technology.

The broad key required functionality for REM solutions includes account management, calendar and daytrip planning, product ordering, data capture of store conditions, and offline data synchronization. Most, but not all, solutions also offer the features that we have grouped into three major categories: activity optimization, sales force motivation and sales driving, and data leverage.

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Figure 1. REM Solutions: Common Features Across the Solutions

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

All of the solutions covered in this research have considerably greater functionality, but consumer goods (CG) companies can gain significant improvements by deploying even the most basic functionality. The following describes the key features summarized in Figure 1:

Activity Optimization Features

• Store visit optimization: Use of recent point of sale (POS) data (from manufacturer shipment or third-party providers such as Nielsen or IRI) and other known store factors to decide which stores should be visited.

• Route optimization: Once stores are selected, this optimizes the order of store visits for the day and provides driving directions to minimize travel time.

• Store task optimization: Use of recent POS data and other known store factors to decide what tasks to perform at each store.

• Voice recognition: Used to take orders or record observations about retail conditions.

Sales Force Motivation and Sales Driving Features

• Social capabilities: Access to a social network so sales representatives can communicate immediately with peers and supervisors.

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• Gamification: Use of performance leader boards, bonus compensation simulation and contests/games as motivators for field sales force performance.

Data Leverage Features

• Store sales data: Use of store-specific sales and other store-level data to determine the tasks to perform during each store visit.

• Store nonsales data: Use of other store-specific data to determine the tasks to perform during each store visit.

• In-flight metrics/analytics: Capabilities that use available data to provide insights that can be used immediately by a field salesperson to improve results.

• Image recognition: Captures a digital image of the shelf, recognizes each of the products, compares the image against an approved or ideal planogram, and provides variance metrics back to the user, all within a short time frame. This is most often offered through partnerships with Trax , Planorama orLab4Motion .

Market Direction Execution of negotiated and agreed-on commitments is critical to a successful sales process for CG companies. This was historically done either ad hoc or by spreadsheet; therefore, some technology solution churn and continued opportunity are likely in this market. In the 2018 Gartner CIO survey, 23% of the respondents from the consumer goods industry (n = 95) indicated that their organizations would upgrade or replace their REM solution in the next 12 months. In that same survey, 22% of consumer goods CIOs indicated that their organizations did not even have a REM solution. 1 There are now over 20 main vendors that offer mobile-based solutions to provide up and down transparency to retail conditions and tools to improve sales execution and reporting. REM tools are fairly mature, but the market is still expanding regionally, even though CG companies are looking to consolidate their sales and marketing tools. The winners in this market will deliver on all of the basic functionality globally and provide better analytics and linkage to other processes like trade promotion. Given the number of vendors in the space, the similarities of the offerings and CIOs' desire to reduce the overall number of solutions supported, we should expect this market to begin consolidating over the long term.

This research was built based on insight garnered from Gartner's inquiries with end users and a survey conducted in August 2017 with the relevant vendors. The purpose of this research is to provide a comprehensive view of the capabilities of both global and regional vendors. 2

Geographic Footprint

Geographic coverage remains a discriminating factor for REM solutions. Many large CG companies are looking for a single global solution. The reality, however, is that this would be impractical to execute even though six companies report that they have

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implementations in every geography. See Figure 2 for a market-level view of vendors' solution, servicing and local support penetration. Western Europe is the most developed market area. Interestingly, given the nature of the consumer goods market in the United States, North America is only fifth of seven regions in terms of development.

Figure 2. REM Vendors: Geographic Implementations, Servicing and Local Support

Percentages are based on the number of companies covered in this research

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

While there are good reasons to have a single solution, most CG companies report these variances:

• They place different priorities and have varying budgets in each region.

• They have different requirements based on local conditions and regulations.

• They require local support given the technical maturity of the sales teams.

• Their regional sales teams often have significant influence in the solution decision.

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These factors are likely to lead a company to select several different solutions. Given the quality and similar functionality of all of the solutions, this might lead to choosing two or three different vendors. There is no need to have a different solution in each region.

Subsector Footprint

In general, REM solutions are built with enough flexibility that they can handle almost any retail sales situation. However, not every solution provider has the implementations and experience, or is built for every consumer goods subsector. The sectors considered fast-moving consumer goods are covered by every REM solution. The provider coverage is lower for specialty categories. See Figure 3 for a view of how well each subsector is covered by vendors.

Figure 3. REM Vendors: Subsector Penetration

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

Consumer goods companies consistently look for specific examples of implementations that match the categories of products they sell. Some companies in the retail and fast food sectors have also inquired with Gartner about the applicability of these solutions to their environments.

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Solution Footprint

One of the most important decision criteria for REM solutions is to ensure the specific functionality is available within the solution to address the specific needs of the sales organization. See Figure 4 and Figure 5 for a view of how well the solutions in the market cover each area of functionality. Later in this research, we will explore how well each specific vendor covers each area of functionality.

Figure 4. REM Solutions: Functionality Penetration

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

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Figure 5. REM Solutions: Functionality Penetration

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

The nature of the market coverage means that all consumer goods companies should be able to implement the appropriate level of functionality in every market for any of their businesses. Often, the provider's ability to cover unique market conditions will become a critical discussion point in the decision-making process.

Market Analysis While the market offerings are very similar, each solution approaches the REM task differently, focusing on different aspects of the solution and different geographies. A tight partnership between IT and sales leaders results in a more successful deployment. Success with REM requires broad-based acceptance and usage to realize the benefits driven by the transparency and task focus. Ultimately, the goal is to improve execution in a way that grows the business. Please see "2018 CIO Agenda: Consumer Goods Industry Insights" to benchmark your business priorities against those of CIOs from your peer set.

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Last year, this report tracked 19 vendors, and this year we have expanded that coverage to 24 vendors, as each vendor had sufficient breadth of capability to deliver against most of the required capabilities. Gartner expects this number to continue to fluctuate over the short term and ultimately begin to consolidate. Figure 6 highlights each vendor's geographic footprint.

Figure 6. REM Vendors by Geographic Footprint

Percentages are of users by region (list sorted by number of regions)

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

Most of the vendors have full capabilities in the retail merchandising functionality area. See Figure 7 for the summary by vendor. The exception is with image recognition.

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See "Image Recognition Can Help Consumer Goods Manufacturers Win at the Retail Shelf" for a deeper discussion of this technology. While this functionality has been available for a number of years, a broad-based incremental business case over just image capture has been elusive for many CG companies. That doesn't mean there is no value, but rather that it requires a specific set of conditions to be effective.

Figure 7. REM Vendors: Retail Merchandising Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

Activity optimization functionality is more variable, but this functionality is a powerful way to improve the effectiveness of a sales organization. By taking the data generated from sales visits and business performance, these features can extend the

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capabilities of the field sales representative. Combining the data and capability from retail execution activities can have a big impact on promotion effectiveness, which is discussed in "Improve Consumer Goods Trade Promotion Effectiveness With Retail Intelligence." Figure 8 shows availability of these capabilities for each vendor.

Figure 8. REM Vendors: Activity Optimization Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

Figure 9 highlights some areas of additional functionality. Of these extra areas of functionally, the most important capability is in-flight analytics, which provides the capability to react in real time and make fact-based recommendations. Given different levels of internet connectivity, it is important to have the ability to run these solutions and do the analytics in an offline mode. All of the vendors in this research have that

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capability. Sales forces are accustomed to competing with one another and having visibility into how they are doing versus targets. Gamification, which is offered by all but four of the vendors, serves this purpose. Voice recognition, an emerging capability, is not offered by as many vendors. Gartner expects this to change over time, as voice searches are increasing and younger generations will expect this kind of capability. 3 See "Top Strategic Predictions for 2018 and Beyond: Pace Yourself, for Sanity's Sake" for Gartner's prediction on voice recognition technology.

Figure 9. REM Vendors: Additional Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

Figures 10, 11 and 12 highlight each vendor's direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management capabilities, respectively. All three are particular cases of the

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solution and require some different functionality, so focus specifically on your business partner's specific needs.

Figure 10. REM Vendors: Direct Store Delivery Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

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Figure 11. REM Vendors: Van Sales Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

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Figure 12. REM Vendors: Distributor Management Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

A number of the REM vendors also offer trade promotion management/optimization solutions. Retail execution and trade promotion should be linked as the analysis done inside trade promotion software is only as good as the data that is collected. Gartner provides our point of view on trade promotion solutions in the "Market Guide for Trade Promotion Management and Optimization for the Consumer Goods Industry." There are a number of other complementary solutions offered by each vendor (see Figure 13). The most important are the POS-data-related services. Getting the data "right" is crucial to effective sales performance analysis.

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This research doesn't specifically cover food service functionality; however, 14 of the 24 vendors have reported that they have a relevant solution. Many consumer goods companies have food service divisions, so there may be an opportunity to leverage the vendor relationship.

Figure 13. REM Vendors: Complementary Functionality

Source: Gartner (December 2017)

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Representative Vendors The vendors listed in this Market Guide do not imply an exhaustive list. This section is intended to provide more understanding of the market and its offerings.

Accenture

Accenture is a publicly held company that first offered a REM solution in 1989. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company has a number of products available in the REM space:

• Accenture CAS — Retail Execution and Direct Store Delivery

• Accenture Cloud Retail Execution and Accenture Cloud Direct Store Delivery (available on Android and iOS)

• Accenture NewsPage Distributor Management, Merchandising and SFA (available on iOS, Android and Windows)

The solution licensing structure is flexible, offering named user and concurrent user for Accenture Cloud and Accenture CAS. Tiered structures are also available. The solutions vary in terms of options, with private cloud, public cloud and on-premises available. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. Accenture is one of six companies that have reported implementations in every geography; its largest area of focus is Asia/Pacific. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of pet, and apparel and footwear. The company has adjacent experience in shelf management and visualization, trade promotion management/optimization, revenue growth management, and pricing, and it has food service functionality. Other functionality in its retail merchandising solution includes sales folder, asset tracking and customer tasks. The company's van sales solution has the following additional functionality: scanning, printing and truck inventory, and its activity optimization has additional features including active triggered visits based on certain criteria.

AFS Technologies

AFS Technologies is a privately held company that has been offering REM solutions since 2000. The solutions include retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company has multiple product offerings: AFS Retail Execution/DSD, AFS POP and AFS DSD. These are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution licensing structure is named user, and the solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be implemented by module, and pricing may vary based on solution complexity. AFS Technologies is one of six companies that have reported implementations in every geography; its largest regional presence is North America and Asia/Pacific, with a growing user base in Europe. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of luxury, and apparel and footwear. The company has

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adjacent experience in trade promotion management/optimization, revenue management, warehouse management, pricing and deal management, and food service solutions.

Asseco Business Solutions

Asseco Business Solutions is a publicly held company that first offered a REM solution in 1998. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery and van sales. The company's product, Mobile Touch, is compatible with both iOS and Android, but not Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user, and it is available for both the private and public cloud. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Western and Eastern Europe, and has implementations in the Middle East and Asia/Pacific. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of luxury, and apparel and footwear. The company has adjacent experience in POS data cleansing, and has food service functionality. Other functionality in its retail merchandising solution includes perfect store, retail activity optimization, motivation (targets, compensation and gamification), coaching, smart presentation and auditor.

Axienta

Axienta is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2010. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's product, Vantage, is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is concurrent user and a tiered structure. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can only be implemented and purchased in its entirety. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Asia/Pacific and has some implementations in Western Europe. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of luxury, pet, and apparel and footwear. The company has adjacent experience in POS data cleansing and has food service functionality. Other functionality in its van sales solution includes competitor activity tracking and surveys.

Comarch

Comarch is a publicly held company that first offered a REM solution in 2003. The solution includes retail merchandising, van sales and distributor management. The company's products — Comarch SFA Mobile Sales Force, Comarch SFA Online Distribution and Comarch SFA Online Sales Support — are compatible with IOS and Android, but not Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user and named user by module. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. Comarch is focused on Eastern and Western Europe. Most of the major

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consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of consumer durables, pet, tobacco, luxury, and apparel and footwear. The company has adjacent experience in POS data cleansing/mining and trade promotion management/optimization. Other functionality in its retail merchandising solution includes coaching. The company's activity optimization solution has the following additional functionality: customer segmentation and visit suggestions.

eBest Mobile

eBest Mobile is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2000. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's products are iMarket, iMentor, iDelivery, iDistributor, iCustomer and Smart Cooler. The mobile solutions are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user and a tiered structure. The solutions are available for public cloud and on-premises. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Asia/Pacific and has some implementations in all other regions except Western Europe. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of apparel and footwear. The company has adjacent experience in shelf management and visibility, revenue growth management, and pricing. Other functionality includes augmented reality, business intelligence and field supervision.

eLeader

eLeader is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2004. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's product, eLeader Mobile Visit with multiple modular extensions, is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user, concurrent user and perpetual license with maintenance fee. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be implemented by module but not purchased by individual module. eLeader is one of six companies that have reported implementations in every geography; its largest regions are Eastern Europe and Asia/Pacific. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in POS data cleansing, shelf management and visibility, revenue growth management, and pricing, and has food service functionality.

Externis

Externis is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2001. The solution includes retail merchandising only. The company's products — eCOS Sales, eCOS Assort and eCOS Doc — are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user and a tiered structure. The solutions are only available via the private cloud. The product can be implemented and purchased

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by individual module. Externis is focused on Western and Eastern Europe. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of luxury, tobacco, and apparel and footwear. There is additional functionality focused on assortment, document/file/information management and point of sale materials management.

GoSpotCheck

GoSpotCheck is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2013. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's products — GoSpotCheck and HiFi — are compatible with iOS and Android. The solution's licensing structure is named user. The solutions are available for public cloud. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in North America and has some implementations in Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in shelf management and visibility, and has food service functionality.

ITC Infotech

ITC Infotech is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2007. The solution includes retail merchandising, distributor management, direct store delivery and van sales. The company's product is compatible with both Windows and Android, with a roadmap to extend the solution on to the iOS platform. The solution's licensing structure is named user and a tiered structure. The product can be implemented but not purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused on Asia/Pacific, with implementations in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Sectors covered by the solution are alcohol/beer/wine, food and beverage, health and beauty, and tobacco. The company has adjacent experience in trade promotion management and optimization, revenue growth management, POS data management, and shelf management/visualization.

Ivy Mobility

Ivy Mobility is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2002. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's product — Industry Cloud for Consumer Goods, Retail Execution App — is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is software as service (SaaS). The company offers a subscription model on a per user basis and three editions of the software: starter, professional and enterprise. Volume pricing is available upon request. It is available for both the private and public cloud. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Asia/Pacific and has implementations in every other region except North America and Eastern Europe. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered

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with the exception of perishables. The company has adjacent experience in POS data mining, shelf management and visibility, revenue growth management, and pricing. Other functionality in its direct store delivery solution includes functionality to support business processes for managing returns, credit and collections, and payments.

Kantar Retail

Kantar Retail is part of WPP, a publicly held company, and it first offered a REM solution in 1995. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's product, XTEL is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user, and it is available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Western Europe and has implementations in Africa, the Middle East, Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of consumer durables, luxury, and apparel and footwear. The company has a wide range of adjacent experience with solutions in POS data cleansing/mining, assortment and space optimization, virtual reality, trade promotion management/optimization, revenue growth management, and pricing. Other functionality includes gamification, targets and incentives management, capabilities assessment, and eLearning.

Klee Group

Klee Group is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 1990. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's products — Klee Sales, Klee Store, Klee Analysis and Klee 3D — are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user, and the solutions are available for both the private cloud and on-premises. The product can be implemented by module and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Western Europe and has implementations in all other regions with the exception of Africa and the Middle East. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of tobacco. The company has adjacent experience in POS data mining, shelf visibility and management, revenue growth management, and pricing, and has food service functionality.

MC1

MC1 is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2003. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery and van sales. The company's product, WTM Suite for Sales Processes, is compatible with iOS, Android, and any web browser (Windows, macOS and Linux). The solution's licensing structure is named and concurrent user, as well as a tiered structure. The product is available for private and

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public cloud, and on-premises. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Latin America and North America. Most of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of luxury and tobacco. The company has adjacent experience in shelf management and visibility, revenue growth management, and pricing, as well as food service functionality. Other functionality in its retail merchandising solution includes product category management, customer clustering, smart agents for prediction and orientation with in-flight analytics capabilities.

Oracle

Oracle is a publicly held company that first offered a REM solution in 1998. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's product, Oracle Customer Experience Cloud for Consumer Goods, is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. Oracle is one of six companies that have reported implementations in every geography. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has a full range of adjacent experience in POS data mining/cleaning, shelf management and visualization, trade promotion management/optimization, revenue growth management, and pricing, and has food service functionality.

Pepperi

Pepperi is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2012. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's product, the Pepperi B2B Commerce Platform, offers a native solution for iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user, and the solutions are available for both the private and public cloud. The product can be implemented by and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Western Europe and North America, and has implementations in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia/Pacific. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in shelf management and visibility, and pricing, and has food service functionality. Pepperi markets its product as a B2B sales platform that also includes B2B e-commerce, catalog order taking and mobile CRM.

Pitcher

Pitcher is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2012. The solution includes retail merchandising, van sales and distributor management. The company's product, Pitcher Instore, is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The

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solution's licensing structure is a tiered structure, and it is available for the public cloud. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in North America and Western Europe, and has implementations in every other region with the exception of Asia/Pacific. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in POS data cleansing and has food service functionality. Other functionality includes data capturing and auditing capability for fast food.

RW3

RW3 is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 1992. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's products — SmartCall, MarketCheck, BI Suite and Custom Field Applications — are compatible with iOS and Windows, but not Android. The solution's licensing structure is named user, and the solutions are available for the private cloud. The product can be implemented by module and purchased by individual module. The company is 100% focused on North America. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in revenue growth management and pricing.

SAP

SAP is a publicly held company that first offered a REM solution in 2006. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's products — Hybris Sales Cloud — Cloud for Customer (C4C) Retail Execution (REX), SAP Direct Store Delivery (DSD) and SAP Distributor Management (DM) — are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is flexible; SAP offers named user, concurrent user and tiered structures. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. SAP is one of six companies that have reported implementations in every geography; its largest areas of focus include Latin America, Western Europe and North America. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has a wide range of adjacent experience in POS data mining, shelf management and visualization, trade promotion management/optimization, and pricing, and has food service functionality. Other functionality in the distributor management solution includes inventory/warehouse management, and pricing and promotion. Direct store delivery additional functionality includes electronic signatures, bar code scanning and inventory management.

SimpliField

SimpliField is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2014. The solution includes retail merchandising and distributor management. The company's

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products — Retail Execution Solution, Sell-out Solution, Store Management Solution, Merchandising Solution and Maintenance Solution — are compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named and concurrent user, and the solutions are available for both the private and public cloud. The product can only be implemented and purchased as a full solution. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Western Europe and the United States, and is covering every other region with the exception of Africa. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in POS data mining/cleansing, and shelf management and visibility.

Spring Mobile Solutions

Spring Mobile Solutions is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2007. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's products — mobileRetail, mobileSales, mobileVanSales and mobileDelivery — are compatible with Android and iOS, but not Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named and concurrent user, and the solutions are available for both the private and public cloud. The product can be implemented by module and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in North America and Latin America, and has implementations in every other region with the exception of the Middle East. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in pricing, and has food service functionality. Additional functionality includes data and analytics using artificial intelligence and machine learning.

StayinFront

StayinFront is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2000. The solution includes a full suite of configurable capabilities for conducting retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management with a single solution. The company's product, StayinFront TouchCG, is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is available in three levels, and is tiered based on the number of named users. The solutions are available in a private or public cloud, as well as on-premises. Customers can mix product levels to meet the exact requirements of their various field teams, but cannot purchase individual modules. StayinFront is one of six companies that have reported implementations in every geography; its largest area of focus is North America. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered with the exception of apparel and footwear. The company has adjacent experience in POS data mining, shelf management and visualization, and pricing, and has food service functionality. Other functionality includes social chat, guided selling, dashboard selling, digital merchandising and EPoS analysis, and insights reporting.

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Vincle

Vincle is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 1991. The solution includes retail merchandising, direct store delivery, van sales and distributor management. The company's relevant products are Sales Management, Van Sales & DSD, Retail Execution, Telesales, eOrder Portal, Distributor Portal, Customer Service, Forms, and Customer App. The latter is a web application for customers to place their orders directly based on their segmentation, sales and store conditions. The mobile solution is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is named user and a tiered structure, and the company is willing to set up an enterprise structure. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be implemented and purchased by individual module. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is focused in Western Europe and has some implementations in every region with the exception of the Middle East and Asia/Pacific. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in shelf management and visibility. Other functionality in the solution includes electronic signature, outlook integration, transfer order management and a timeline of interactions.

Zaptic

Zaptic is a privately held company that first offered a REM solution in 2015. The solution is specialized for retail merchandising, and also supports distributor management and direct store delivery. Zaptic is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows. The solution's licensing structure is a tiered structure, a monthly active user structure and a SaaS model with a deal on extra functionality. The solutions are available for both the private and public cloud, as well as on-premises. The product can be bought in the core package offering standard functionality, with the ability to top up from a menu of value-added functionalities. From a geographic implementation footprint standpoint, the solution is 100% focused on Europe. All of the major consumer goods subsectors are covered. The company has adjacent experience in POS data management and display for field execution, and in foodservice and store operations. Other notable platform functionality includes the ability to apply gamification, or game mechanics, to the execution of tasks.

Market Recommendations • This is a mature market with many vendor options that have similar functionality. Gartner expects to see some consolidation over time. As you evaluate your portfolio of sales solutions, it is critical to look out to the future and ask tough questions of both the business and your vendors. A single solution may be more cost-effective, but could leave you scrambling if you make the wrong decision. On the other hand, given the similarity of solutions, there is no need to jump to the next thing or have too many experiments. Balance your risk as you make decisions.

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• Look for ways to drive synergy between your sales applications. REM solutions can be deployed faster than many other software products, as value can be garnered from the task and monitoring features immediately. But, integration and quality of the data generated by these solutions can have a substantial impact on the decisions made in different processes such as trade promotion analysis. Getting this part right in the long run is critical. Make sure you have a clear internal roadmap on where your sales capabilities need to be in the future.

• Success as it relates to retail sales execution is about focus, consistency and transparency. Focus ensures that sales teams are working on the right problems. Consistency ensures that key lessons are reflected on. And transparency means the entire organization can leverage the data generated to make better decisions and enable the growth of the business. Achieving these goals requires that the solution be an integral part of the sales process. As a CIO, help the sales teams select the right solution and build a collaborative process to ensure that the solution is rolled out and deployed in a way that makes it easy for the field.

Evidence 1 The 2018 Gartner CIO Survey was conducted via an online survey from 20 April to 26 June 2017 among Gartner Executive Programs members and other CIOs. Qualified respondents were the most senior IT leader (CIO) for their overall organization or a part of their organization (e.g., a business unit or region). The total sample is 3,160, with representation from all geographies and industry sectors (public and private). Respondents could opt in to answer a series of industry-specific questions at the end of the survey; 95 respondents from the consumer goods manufacturing industry opted to answer these questions. The survey was developed collaboratively by a team of Gartner analysts, and was reviewed, tested and administered by Gartner's Research Data and Analytics team.

2 The data represented in each of the figures was based on information collected directly from each vendor in August and September 2017.

3 "Google Says 20% of Mobile Queries Are Voice Searches." Search Engine Land, 18 May 2016.

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