Retail Solutions and Danone Present Use Case on Improving On-Shelf-Availability at ECR Tag 2013

-- Attendees of Germany's Largest Event for the Consumer Goods Industry Learn How to Use Real-Time, POS Data at the Store Level to Optimize Product Availability

MUNICH, Sept. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Retail Solutions Inc. (RSi), a global provider of cloud-based, Big Data analytics and real-time intelligence for the consumer-products industry, today announced that it will join the multi-national food products company Danone to present a joint case study at ECR Tag 2013, Sept. 11-12 in Stuttgart, Germany. 

Recognized as the largest industry event of the German consumer goods industry on Efficient Consumer Response, ECR Tag brings together industry experts and decision makers to exchange innovative, cross-industry solutions.  Executives from RSi and Danone will share with the ECR audience new ways data can be shared and communicated between retailers and suppliers – allowing for more frequent and open collaboration, more insights and more value captured.

As part of the conference's "Value through Intelligent POS Data Management" forum on Sept. 11, 2013, Gonzalo Fuste Pin, Head of Supply Chain Planning Germany for Danone GmbH, and Alexander Voigt, Sales Director DACH at RSi, will present at 16:00 "OSA for All at Danone," a strategic program from Danone Corporation to improve on-shelf availability.  The presentation will explore how Danone uses the RSi platform to integrate retailer downstream data, in near-real time, to gain a more accurate view of store-specific demand levels for improved inventory levels, replenishment forecasting, and to ensure product availability levels are always high. 

The store shelf is the ultimate moment of truth for the consumer goods company, the retailer and the consumer.  If product is not on the store shelf, consumers will seek alternatives and the sale will be lost.  For the last decade, the industry has struggled to identify the root cause of out-of-stocks due to the absence of real-time, accurate data shared across the value chain.  This lack of transparency and insight has caused out-of-stock levels to hover around 8% and double during promotional periods.  In this presentation, Danone will explain how its enterprise-level program leverages retailer POS data to get proactive about on-shelf availability – driving better relationships with retailers and capturing sales that may be otherwise lost.

RSi changes the inventory management and replenishment paradigms to integrate real customer demand at each stage of the process, managing inventory coverage in near-real time and by designing order forecasts based on actual sales – by item, by store, by day – to ensure each step of the supply chain has the optimal inventory to maximize availability.  Gonzalo Fuste Pin will share with the ECR audience how Danone uses the RSi platform to establish an intelligent, structured and well supported data management and data sharing program across the entire organization.  By deploying best practices for data sharing and collaboration between retailer and supplier along the entire process chain, Danone has identified and started realizing significant incremental sales opportunities and will present and discuss detailed examples such as distribution voids and zero-scan alerts at the event.

The forum will conclude in a roundtable discussion at 17:00, where all presenters of the forum will come together to review new developments and challenges of data-sharing initiatives and the increasing availability of Big Data in Germany.

About Retail Solutions Inc.
Retail Solutions Inc. (RSi) is a global provider of Big Data, predictive analytics for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry.  The company collects and transforms billions of data points on what shoppers are buying every day and makes it insightful and actionable for better tactical and strategic decision-making at the corporate level and in the field.  RSi's innovation and competitive edge comes from the science, algorithms and patented technology that power its cloud-based solutions. The RSi platform is trusted by more than 500 global CPG companies including Colgate-Palmolive, ConAgra, Danone, Diageo, Heineken, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, L'Oreal, Mondelez, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever to maximize product availability, uncover new opportunities, and drive sales.  To learn more about the company, visit: www.retailsolutions.com.

Media Contacts:
Alexander Voigt
Sales Director CEE
Retail Solutions Deutschland GmbH
+49-89-2006-166-10
alexander.voigt@retailsolutions.com