CIO Bulletin

Most Advanced Retail Visual Intelligence for Massive Sales Growth: Infilect

The future of retail data analytics is changing. The technologies that are working now will not work in the future, because markets and consumers are always changing. But to respond quickly to changing markets, safeguard market share and identify new revenue opportunities, retail industries are fast adopting cutting-edge real-time & advanced technology stacks such as AI and computer vision to improve business metrics and revenue performance. At Infilect, the teams are empowering the retail ecosystem with visual analytics to make faster and smarter high-impact retail decisions, at scale.

Instantly improve critical shelf metrics and prevent out of stock situations at a per store level. Boost per-store sales, optimize trade spends and empower your field force with accurate and real-time retail execution insights. Marketing in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) industry is a dog-eat-dog venture. The spends are gigantic, be it currency, manpower, or time, and the returns are volatile. Despite the rocky curve, the CPG marketing sector takes up a lion’s share of the budget. According to a survey conducted in the U.S., approximately 24% of the budgets were devoted to marketing efforts in 2021, making CPG the leader among the U.S. industries with the highest share of ad expenditures. But while companies like PepsiCo, Nestle, L’Oreal, and P&G continue to invest billions of dollars in marketing, they must adapt to the fundamental shifts in consumer behavior.

‍Top 3 reasons why CPG marketing holds the crown for being one of the most competitive grounds:

Saturated: The CPG and retail industries are both highly fragmented, with many players operating in the market. This means that companies must compete with a large number of rivals to gain market share.
Data Silos: CPG manufacturers are dependent on retailers (supermarkets, grocery stores, departmental stores, etc.) for purchase data, including the best and the least performing SKUs. Real-time access to this information can help marketers optimize trade promotions and thus gain better results.
Low switching costs: Consumers have low switching costs in these industries. This means that they can easily switch between brands and retailers based on factors like price, promotions, and convenience. As a result, companies must constantly innovate and differentiate their products and services to retain customers.

All these above-mentioned factors make marketing in the CPG and retail industry fiercely competitive. Consumer behavior keeps evolving and thus it is important that CPG companies, in order to ensure profitability, cater to personas rather than just geographies. According to a report by Epsilon, personalized marketing campaigns can generate up to 6 times more revenue than traditional campaigns. Furthermore, a study by McKinsey found that personalization delivers five to eight times the ROI on marketing spend and can lift sales by over 10%. Despite the crests, adding the Midas touch of personalization to an industry as vast as CPG is a tedious process, and if not done calculatedly, can result in catastrophic financial losses.

‍Image Recognition for Personalized CPG Marketing

‍In order to better understand the function of Image Recognition AI in optimizing and personalizing marketing campaigns for CPG, let us first look at the components of a CPG marketing campaign and how Image Recognition facilitates each step.

Data Capturing & Harmonization

Q. How Image Recognition AI Can Help?‍

‍Automated data extraction: Image recognition AI can be used to automatically extract data from digital images and videos, such as text or product information. This can save time and reduce errors associated with manual data entry.

Direct Business Benefits:

Save time on store audits
Eliminate Manual Errors
Save time and cost

Promotion Effectiveness Measurement

Q. How Image Recognition AI Can Help?

‍Promotion tracking: Image recognition AI can be used to track the success of promotions by analyzing sales data and identifying patterns in customer behavior. This can help CPG companies determine which promotions are most effective and optimize future marketing strategies accordingly.

Direct Business Benefits:

Real-time access to performance data
Real-time monitoring allows CPG companies to make adjustments on the fly based on customer behavior and sales data.
Eliminate guesswork

Promotion Analysis

Q. How Image Recognition AI Can Help?

‍Competitive analysis: Along with dissecting self-promotions, Image recognition AI can be used to monitor competitor activity, such as promotions and product launches, in order to gain insights into market trends and consumer behavior. This can help CPG companies stay competitive and identify opportunities for growth.

Direct Business Benefits:

Cut down on experimental marketing spends
Increased product lift off of the shelves
Better customer engagement

Planning & Improvisation

Q. How Image Recognition AI Can Help?

‍Planogram & shelf compliance optimization: Image recognition AI can analyze in-store displays, product placements, shelf compliance, and planograms to identify opportunities for optimization. This analysis can help CPG companies plan more effective marketing campaigns that maximize the impact of their in-store products.

Direct Business Benefits:

Elevated sales numbers
Better ROI on marketing spends
Competitive Advantage

Infilect specializes in helping CPG brands solve their day-to-day challenges and increase sales through the power of Image Recognition AI. At Infilect, the team is passionate about helping more and more CPG manufacturers, retailers & distributors across the globe make better decisions with data that is unadulterated and immediate. Infilect’s image recognition technology is designed to provide real-time insights (within 60 seconds) enabling CPG brands to make data-driven decisions about their marketing and promotional strategies.

Anand Subramanian, Co - Founder & CEO