Case Study: Nestlé Vietnam and FieldPro Detect

Introduction to Nestlé Vietnam

Nestlé, a Swiss company founded in 1866, is now a global leader in the food and beverage sector, with a presence in over 190 countries. Nestlé's commitment to quality, innovation, and sustainability is reflected in its diverse products, ranging from coffee to dairy products, cereals, and baby foods.

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Nestlé Vietnam, as a part of this giant corporation, plays a crucial role in the Asian market by adapting its offerings to local tastes while ensuring international quality standards.

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Context of the Collaboration

To ensure that its products are properly displayed in stores, Nestlé Vietnam has implemented several visibility programs targeting retail outlets that distribute its products. The main objective of these programs is to guarantee optimal product presentation while rewarding stores that adhere to specific criteria. These initiatives play a vital role in maintaining brand awareness and increasing sales in the field.

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Key Elements of the Visibility Programs Include:

• Planograms: Each store must implement a planogram that specifies the exact number and order of facings required for each product. For example, SKU A must be present in quantity X, while SKU B must be displayed in quantity Y. These guidelines help maximize shelf space and attract consumers' attention to the products.

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• Must Stock List (MSL): This concept encompasses the verification of essential items that must be available in at least one unit in each store. This is crucial for maintaining on-shelf availability (OSA), as well as distribution and penetration, ensuring that consumers can readily find the products they seek. By prioritizing OSA, Nestlé reinforces its commitment to meeting consumer demand, which ultimately strengthens brand loyalty. When customers consistently find their preferred products in-store, it enhances their shopping experience and fosters trust in the brand.

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• Shelf Length Control: A fundamental aspect of the visibility programs is ensuring that Nestlé products are allocated specific shelf space in stores. This involves checking the total length of the shelf where Nestlé products are displayed. To facilitate this, Nestlé provides branded frames that stores must place on their shelves. These frames ensure that a dedicated area is reserved for Nestlé products, promoting consistent visibility and accessibility for customers. For example, by detecting the length of the branded red frame, we can confirm that stores adhere to the designated space for Nestlé products, reinforcing brand presence and enhancing the shopping experience.

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• Point of Sale Materials (POSM): Communication supports such as racks, hangers and banners play an essential role in the attractiveness of retail outlets. Evaluating the presence of these elements ensures that products are highlighted and capture consumer attention.

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However, the diversity of visibility programs, which may have several dozen different criteria, makes data reconciliation complex. Indeed, each store may participate in one or more programs simultaneously, leading to complications in tracking and assessing the compliance of retail outlets. The need to harmonize this information while maintaining a high level of accuracy represents a major challenge for Nestlé Vietnam.

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As a result, the company realized that it needed an innovative solution to optimize the management of these visibility programs and improve the efficiency of its field operations.

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Challenges Encountered

Nestlé Vietnam conducts store visits, with a frequency of 1 to 4 visits per month for each retail outlet participating in the visibility programs. 

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Before implementing FieldPro Detect, agents conducted inventory of products based solely on their visual observation. This method, although in place for some time, presented several significant drawbacks:

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• Limited Visibility on Provider Operations: Before the implementation of FieldPro, Nestlé's merchandising provider was using an app similar to FieldPro; however, it lacked advanced AI features. Although this app provided some level of digital tracking, Nestlé did not have direct access to it. As a result, the company was unable to obtain real-time data on the performance of merchandisers, complicating the evaluation of visit effectiveness. This gap in visibility hindered Nestlé’s ability to oversee the work of the provider fully, making it challenging to ensure that merchandising standards were consistently met.

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• Lengthy and Laborious Inventory Process: Counting products visually took a lot of time, making each visit less effective. This tedious process led to increased operational costs, particularly due to the time agents spent in-store.

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• Risk of Errors in Counting and SKU Classification: The observation-based method carried a high risk of errors. For example, SKU A could be counted as SKU B, leading to inconsistencies in data. These errors compromised the reliability of sales reports and market analyses.

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• Need to Train Agents to Recognize Each SKU: To minimize errors, it was essential to train agents to recognize and classify each product. This represented an additional cost for Nestlé, with no guarantee that all agents would acquire the same level of proficiency.

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• Long Visit Times and High Costs per Visit: The combination of lengthy inventory processes and the need to train agents led to prohibitively high costs per visit. This lack of efficiency also limited Nestlé's ability to increase visit frequency, which was crucial for ensuring optimal product presence in stores.

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• Semi-Manuel Data Reconciliation: Inventories performed during visits had to be manually compared to the criteria of the visibility programs, making the process long and error-prone. This lack of automation also complicated data analysis and decision-making.

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• Time to Check Qualified Results: Customers have to wait for a month to receive their incentives. 

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Faced with these challenges, Nestlé Vietnam understood that it was crucial to adopt a more modern and effective solution to manage its visibility programs.

Why Choose FieldPro Detect

In light of these challenges, Nestlé Vietnam decided to adopt FieldPro Detect. This decision was driven by the desire to optimize inventory accuracy and visit speed while reducing operational costs.

FieldPro Detect is a cutting-edge solution designed specifically for the field operations of businesses looking to enhance their merchandising efforts. Utilizing advanced artificial intelligence and image recognition technology, it enables agents to capture product images and receive instant feedback on product compliance and visibility. 

The system not only detects a wide array of SKUs and promotional materials but also provides actionable insights that empower merchandisers to make real-time adjustments. This level of automation and intelligence dramatically reduces the time spent on inventory tasks and increases the overall effectiveness of each store visit. With FieldPro Detect, businesses can streamline their operations, minimize errors, and ultimately drive greater sales performance.

The Added Value of FieldPro Detect for Nestlé Vietnam specific needs

The integration of FieldPro Detect has not only transformed merchandising operations for Nestlé Vietnam but has also generated significant return on investment thanks to a structured and personalized approach. Here are the main benefits that have resulted from this collaboration:

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• Support in Defining Needs: Before production, FieldPro worked closely with Nestlé to understand its specific challenges. This customization phase allowed the application to be tailored to the precise requirements of the visibility programs, ensuring perfect alignment with the company's objectives.

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• Advanced Technology: The developed algorithm is capable of detecting over 100 different SKUs and 10 distinct POSM (Point Of Sales Material).

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• Training for Agents and Managers: FieldPro organized comprehensive training sessions for merchandisers as well as internal managers. This initiative not only optimized the use of the application but also ensured that all users understood how to maximize detection results.

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• Operational Use Optimization: The application is not limited to having a good detection algorithm. FieldPro Detect also provided advice on taking photos that meet specific criteria, ensuring that the collected data is reliable and actionable.

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• Ongoing Quality Control: Support in establishing regular quality control measures has helped maintain a high level of reliability in the data collected.

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• Fast and Accurate Facing Inventory: Thanks to FieldPro Detect, merchandisers can conduct complete facing inventories in just a few photos. This feature focuses specifically on the products that are facing the photographer, ensuring accurate data collection. Detection results are available in seconds, allowing agents to verify data consistency immediately on-site. This rapid feedback loop enables merchandisers to make real-time adjustments, ensuring optimal product presentation and compliance with visibility standards.

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• Automated Reconciliation: The ability to classify stores in real-time against their compliance with visibility programs is a major asset. Data is instantly accessible, facilitating performance tracking and analysis during visits.

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• Algorithm Precision: With an accuracy of 97%, our algorithm ensures correct classification of retail outlet compliance in 99% of cases. This reinforces Nestlé's confidence in the data used for strategic decision-making.

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Charles, Head of FieldPro Detect, remarked, "Developing FieldPro Detect for Nestlé has been an exciting journey. Our advanced algorithms are designed to enhance visibility and operational efficiency, ultimately contributing to a better customer experience."

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Return on Investment (ROI) for Nestlé Vietnam with FieldPro Detect image recognition app

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The transition to FieldPro Detect has allowed Nestlé Vietnam not only to optimize its internal processes but also to achieve positive financial results. 

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• Increased Efficiency: Visits are now quicker, reducing the cost per visit. By eliminating the need to train agents on SKU recognition, FieldPro has simplified the onboarding process for new users. Agents only need to be trained on the application, significantly decreasing training time and costs.

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• Tangible Results: With approximately 15,000 visits per week and 40,000 photos analyzed weekly, Nestlé Vietnam has seen significant improvements in its operations. This increase in visits, combined with more effective data management, translates into better visibility and ultimately an increase in sales.

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Valentin,  GM South-East Asia for Optimetriks, commented, "Supporting Nestlé Vietnam through this transition has been incredibly rewarding. This project is a great use case demonstrating our ability to work efficiently with Asian clients, respecting their work culture while delivering a product tailored to their needs - configured to handle time zones and translations. We also acknowledge the operational excellence of Nestlé's field teams, which, combined with our digital tool, creates a powerful synergy. It’s an honor to have Nestlé’s trust for such an important initiative, as the nature of their relationship with all the shops selling their products across Vietnam is partially reliant on FieldPro. Our solution serves as a pillar for their visibility programs that reward stores for promoting Nestlé products."

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Conclusion

The collaboration between Nestlé Vietnam and FieldPro demonstrates how cutting-edge technology can transform merchandising operations. 

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Thanks to FieldPro Detect, Nestlé Vietnam has not only optimized its internal processes but also strengthened its commitment to operational excellence and customer satisfaction.

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Discover the Power of FieldPro Detect

Are you ready to elevate your merchandising operations and enhance your data accuracy? Discover FieldPro Detect today and see how our innovative solutions can transform your business.

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