Ricoh Innovations Corporation (RIC) has signed a global reseller agreement with SAP to resell the RIC image recognition platform as the SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer, imaging intelligence add-on.
According to RIC, the solution is designed to enable consumer packaged goods (CPG) customers using the retail execution functionality in the SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer solution to gain a better understanding of in-store conditions to help drive sales, and improve merchandising and shelf placement.
Gartner, in its 2015 ‘Hype Cycle for Consumer Goods’, recommended that CPG manufacturers looking for simple ways to check in-store conditions “should consider how capturing digital images could lead to significantly greater compliance monitoring and richer insights that can inform their assortment planning and customer-specific shopper marketing programs”.
“The main business benefits can come from the ease with which space-planning planograms can be compliance-audited quickly, allowing corrective actions to be taken simply by capturing a digital picture and processing it. There is also substantial business benefit to be derived from negotiating with the traditional trade,” wrote Don Scheibenreif and Dale Hagemeyer, authors of the report.
By combining SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer with RIC’s image recognition platform, field representatives can quickly and easily capture and analyse images of store shelves. Using data-driven selling could result in correct shelf placement for each product, reduced out-of-stock situations, a more consistent brand experience and insights on optimising the shelf for higher sales.
“Through the use of our image recognition platform, SAP’s solution gives companies the ability to compare the real-world conditions in the store to their desired merchandising configuration and quickly make changes that drive improvement in sales,” said Dr Nikhil Balram, CEO, RIC.
“Giving sales representatives and merchandisers the ability to capture images in-store on their mobile devices and sync up the data with SAP Hybris Cloud for Customer helps automate and validate product distribution and planogram compliance to help ensure consistent execution in retail accounts,” said E.J. Kennedy, senior vice president and global head of consumer products, SAP.
RIC is a subsidiary of Ricoh which creates global new businesses based on advanced information technology. The company is headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley with a subsidiary in Bangalore.
