white paper - salesforce's unique approach to retail execution

Salesforce White Paper

Salesforce’s Unique Approach to Retail Execution

2 | Page Salesforce White Paper Salesforce’s Unique Approach to Retail Execution

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Business Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Varied Business Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Varied Business Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Varied Functional Requirements and Business Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Varied Optimal User Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Variations in Strategic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Changing Business Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Changing Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Out-Of-The-Box Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

The Salesforce Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Salesforce1 Platform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

The Salesforce Partnership Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

New Modern Disruptive Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Salesforce Chatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Salesforce Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

1:1 Digital Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Personalized Web Portals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Dynamic Loyalty Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Interactive Geospatial Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Crowdsourcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Custom Mobile Consumer Apps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Salesforce’s Open Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10


Introduction Salesforce takes a very unique approach to retail execution . At Salesforce we have learned important lessons from the twenty plus years in which retail execution software packages have been in the market . It is almost impossible, for either the largest or most highly specialized software companies to build all the detailed retail execution functionality that global CPG companies need for their different markets and business divisions . Even if a software company could build out all this functionality, it would be almost impossible for a software company to enhance the software at the pace business is changing in today’s world . This is not to mention the need to keep pace with new technologies .

With these lessons learned, Salesforce has taken a partner-pincher approach to retail execution . The first arm of the pincher is a state of the art development platform that makes it very fast and easy for customers and partners to configure the exact capabilities they want for each market . On top of this platform we have built an extensive partner ecosystem . Our partners have pre-configured accelerator and AppExchange solutions which meet very detailed and specific business requirements . The second arm of the pincher is the leveraging of leading edge technologies which enable our partners and customers to rapidly innovate and disrupt status-quo business practices .

The Business ChallengeVaried Business ProcessesThere are very few business processes in any industry - let alone within the CPG industry - which have as complex and varied business requirements as retail execution . This is because CPG companies go to market very differently in each market . One reason for this is that packaged goods, especially food, are very driven by local market tastes, so each market brand and category manager has significant autonomy on marketing strategy . Indeed it is easy to imagine Kraft Cheese Whiz being a hit in the US, but not as well accepted in France . Another reason is the varying extents of retail consolidation . A large amount of sales in Latin America and Asia are done through little independent bodegas and street kiosks whereas in North America and Western Europe most sales are done through large chain stores . Yet another reason for the variation is the maturity of the distributor and wholesaler network . There are many developed markets like Japan where, even though a predominant portion of sales happen through small independent retailers, they have a mature distributor/wholesaler network . This means their go-to-market approach is very different from emerging markets where CPG companies often have to set up their own distribution/wholesale network to sell to small independent retailers .

Varied Business RequirementsThe large variety of business processes by market means that there are varied business requirements by market as well . For instance, many CPG companies in developed markets have retail execution representatives to augment their distributors’ and wholesalers’ representatives . They may perform very basic tasks from planogram audit and promotion compliance checks to more sophisticated trade marketing, trying to get the store managers to carry more products or place displays in better locations . At the other extreme are emerging markets, where CPG companies need to do their own distributing and wholesaling . In this case, the representatives may need to do direct store delivery where they have a van inventory to manage, orders to capture, products to deliver and cash to collect . In between there is a whole range of what CPG companies want their representatives to do when they visit stores .


Varied Functional Requirements and Business Rules For any given business requirement, there may be vastly different functional requirements and business rules . For instance, there are many different ways the representatives may need to execute any given activity . An audit can be a simple series of check boxes, or it can involve detailed facings counts or inventory counts, and for orders capture, it can be a simple list of all possible items to be ordered . It can be pre-configured based on last order, an average of several previous orders or a suggested order based on current inventory levels and promotions available .

Varied Optimal User ExperiencesFor any given business requirement there can be vastly different optimal designs . For instance, based on something as simple as the number of products that need to be audited at any given time . The optimal User Interface (UI) design and user experience to do an audit for five products is completely different from the optimal UI design to do an audit for thirty products .

Variations in Strategic ApproachBeyond the variations for execution of activities, there are also vast variations in strategic planning, tactical planning and analytics metrics . For a task such as visit planning, there can be extremes in company philosophies . One CPG company may want to be very prescriptive about exactly where and when they want the representatives to visit specific outlets, whereas another company may offer a large amount of independence to their representatives on deciding which outlets they visit on any given day .

Changing Business ProcessesIt is a simple matter of fact that companies change their business processes over time . Whether it is because the customer base is changing, the competitive environment is changing, mergers and acquisitions are happening, or just because of an internal imperative to increase efficiency or profitability, business processes mature over time . Many traditional software systems are very difficult to configure for the initial implementation and then are even more difficult to re-configure as business processes change .

Changing TechnologiesMobile devices is an example of a technology area that is quickly evolving . It used to be all about ruggedized devices, then it was about palm pilots, next it was Windows Mobile 6, after that it was iPhone, then Android, then iPad and now it is coming back to Windows again with Windows 8 . Staying on top of the technology changes is very difficult, and the challenge can be compounded when there is an extensive amount of custom development done on top of a highly specialized technology, such as disconnected mobility, because it means all the functionality developed may need to be re-programmed on a new platform or database .


Out-Of-The-Box SolutionsMany software companies have developed very sophisticated and highly specialized retail execution functionality . Given the complexity and variations of business processes, business requirements, functional requirements, optimal UI designs, and strategic approaches to planning and analytics, it is fair to assume that even the most complex software packages will not have an out-of-the-box solution that will meet all of a global CPG company’s needs .

Even if a packaged software solution could meet the exact needs of a given market today, with the fast pace of changing business processes it is difficult to expect any software companies to release new enhancements as quickly as companies want to innovate in today’s world .

The next question then becomes how difficult is it to configure or re-configure a packaged system . Since no software company has unlimited resources product managers generally have to make a call on whether they focus their investment in the technical platform or the business functionality . This means that software packages with highly specialized business functionality are generally more difficult to configure .

This same investment dilemma is true with regards to underlying platform technologies . Many packaged software solutions with highly specialized business functionality were built quickly so that they could get to market faster, and the majority of new development investments were put into high profile new business functionality rather than less glamorous base platform enhancements . This means that at some point in time, the underlying technology platform on top of which all that business functionality was built on top of, becomes obsolete and it is no longer a matter of tweaking the platform . It becomes a re-platforming exercise, which is not only very expensive but very disruptive to the existing customer base .

The next interesting point is what if a business process has already been configured into the system but the functional design does not meet the business requirements needed for a given market . The answer is, you have to back out the out-of-the-box functionality before you can re-build the functionality you want . Besides the immediate cost of this action, there are long term ramifications because now - instead of the IT department getting a pat on the back for customizing a system to their customers’ needs - they get told by software vendors that their customizations will not be upgradeable, and that in the future, if they want to leverage new enhancements in that area, they will have to back out their customizations and re-implement the out-of-the-box functionality beforehand .


The Salesforce Approach The Salesforce1 PlatformThe Salesforce1 Platform is incredible technology that has been adopted as the platform of choice for all front-end and innovation systems at many of the world’s largest CPG companies . This place of honor has been bestowed upon Salesforce because of its proven development platform which enables customers and partners to build new enterprise-grade innovative applications extremely quickly and cost effectively . The Salesforce1 Platform is SaaS based, so no hardware set-up of software installation is required, no network, database or operating system needs to be administered . Integration with legacy systems are already pre-configured, key data model objects are already extensively pre-defined and an incredibly easy and user-friendly point-and-click configuration tool is available to perform customizations . The UI is pre-mobile enabled and form factor aware, and a visibility and security infrastructure is already in place to meet the most detailed privacy requirements . This platform enables business analysts to perform most of their own configuration saving an immense amount of off-shore development cycles . This allows business analysts to focus on designing great applications, rather than documenting basic requirements, which may or may be configured the way it was originally envisioned .

The Salesforce Partnership StrategySalesforce’s AppExchange marketplace is a true application of the free-market philosophy to the product development world . This lego building block approach encourages partners to develop functionality that customers want, and allows customers to mix and match this functionality as they need or please . It is apparent that the centralized planning approach to software development has not been successful . We always hear about the thousands of development staff large enterprise software companies have working on enhancements, but what percentage of those enhancements do any specific customers ever feel were exactly what they have been asking for? With the AppExchange approach it only takes a few customers and sometimes only one customer, for an enterprising young company to decide it is worthwhile to build an app to handle that requirement, which can then be sold to multiple customers on the AppExchange . Today there are several thousand apps on the app exchange that handle everything from a full retail execution solutions to the building blocks that can be used to assemble a retail execution solution, such as geo-spatial mapping, calendaring, contracts management, order capture, loyalty programs, etc .

Salesforce1 Platform

• Proven development platform

• Extremely fast and cost-effective app development

• SaaS-based, no hardware or software required

• Point-and-click configuration

• Mobile-ready and form factor aware

• Proven security infrastructure


New Modern Disruptive TechnologiesSalesforce Chatter gives field reps real-time access to HQ based knowledge owners throughout the enterprise . This includes authorized distribution lists, planogram and merchandising plans, promotion updates and new product introduction announcements published by key account managers or product information and marketing campaigns published by brand managers . Not only does it give knowledge owners the ability to communicate directly with field representatives, but it gives field representatives the ability to provide valuable direct feedback, such as how difficult a promotion display may be to set up, how well new product introductions are doing or what new competitive brands are gaining traction in the marketplace .

Traditional technology only allows field representatives to enter comments in fields buried deep within CRM systems that no one ever reads let alone respond to . In addition to making the top down communication process more dynamic and enabling the communication to be interactive, Chatter also enables peer-to-peer communication in the field representatives community, so that innovative ideas about how to merchandise products better, set up displays in awkward locations, handle unruly store managers and sell in new items, can be dynamically shared at the grass roots level . More importantly, it gives field representatives the feeling that there are more people in the company than just the managers they report to .

Salesforce Communities gives key account managers the ability to dynamically interact with their customers at all different levels, from the buyer and category managers, out to the warehouse and distribution staff and down to retailers’ district managers, store managers and even merchandisers . Now, everyone from Key Account Managers and Regional Managers all the way down to field representatives can communicate seamlessly, and more importantly they can include customers and distributors and brokers in the conversation . Not only can dynamic conversations happen around special events, such as promotions, new product introductions and store openings, but potential order, shipment, invoicing and payment issues can also be automatically posted in social feeds, so that everyone affected can have real-time visibility to that information in a convenient form such as a mobile device and easily start a discussion around a potential issue to prevent it from becoming a large one .

1:1 Digital Marketing extends the reach of CPG companies far beyond the 1 to 10% of retail outlets that most can ever reach with traditional retail execution . Simple monthly email programs with messaging and offers personalized for individual store owners, managers and merchandisers enable CPG companies to develop digital relationships that they never could have had before . Simple analysis such as email open and click throughout rates enable CPG companies to know their customers better, enabling future communications to be more on target, so that only relevant categories will be marketed and only promotions with a specific discount thresholds will be offered, based on the psychological discount profile of that customer . Though many people may think that the smaller retailers do not drive a lot of the total volume, thus are not worth developing a relationship with, there are others that believe the smallest retailers are the ones that have a huge influence within the few square blocks that they serve, and that building a brand or launching a new product can be done better by winning the hearts and minds of these influencers rather than by paying large slotting fees to the big box retailers .


Personalized Web Portals enable store managers to self-serve . Whether it be for placing orders, logging service requests for general product information, web portals with personalization technology enable store managers to feel like they have a direct relationship with manufacturers . More importantly, the digital exhaust from capturing retailer’s clickstream enables CPG companies to get to know their customers better, so that more relevant offers and promotions can be presented to them .

Dynamic Loyalty Programs have the potential to make traditional retail execution an obsolete business process . CPG companies can incent specific behavior, such as on-time promotional display set-ups, planogram compliance and continuous product on-shelf availability . These programs are far more dynamic and cost effective than traditional deals of the week, or annual agreements . In addition to points for merchandise, more novel and just as easy to execute incentives can include the emailing of a coupon code for free movie tickets . Moreover, when retailers’ daily-store-sku level consumption data is leveraged compliance can be determined electronically .

Interactive Geospatial Mapping not only enables field planners to be more efficient, but it allows them to incorporate more variables in their decision making process that wouldn’t be possible with traditional planning methodologies . Traditional automated visit plans often do not properly account for the prioritization of time-dependent activities, nor does it account for the realities of customer and field rep schedules, and traditional manual visit plans can be extremely laborious to create . Interactive Geospatial Mapping technology enables planners to quickly create visit plans by dragging and dropping entire routes onto a day in a calendar, or individual outlets onto a time slot . The ability to visualize the proximity of outlets relative to each other, and to prioritize visits to each outlet enables planners to make the best decisions possible and to execute those decisions very easily .

Crowdsourcing is now an acceptable method of performing audits, but it can also be used to deepen consumer loyalty . Using the Salesforce1 platform, consumer goods companies can develop their own crowd sourced retail audit platform, which is not only a cost effective means of performing retail audits, but it also deepens consumer engagement and loyalty .

Custom Mobile Consumer Apps are an incredible way for CPG companies to win the favor of smaller retailers and get closer to consumers . The Salesforce1 platform is a powerful tool that can quickly develop custom mobile consumer apps . Since many smaller retailers cannot afford to build their own consumer apps, CPG companies can leverage the Salesforce1 platform to build generic apps that retailers can rebrand as their own . Not only is this a great opportunity for small retailers to better engage with their consumers, but it also provides CPG companies the ability to co-interact with consumers .


Salesforce’s Open Architecture makes it easy to integrate modern technology into the retail execution process . GPS technology can auto-focus the app on a specific outlet or visit based on geo-location and enable a representative’s mileage expense report to be automatically created . Also, their outlet visits can be automatically verified and the amount of time they spent at each outlet can be calculated automatically . Photo Capture technology can be used for promotional display compliance verification, and integration with third party image recognition technology, planogram audits, competitive shelf-share analysis and even price checks can be automated, enabling real-time situational analysis . With this technology category managers can now program sophisticated rules into the system to instruct field representatives on the most important selling objective to discuss with the store manager . New Video Analysis technology takes this to the next level with representatives efficiently capturing video footage by walking down an entire isle to gather a complete understanding of the category and adjacent categories . Cameras mounted inside merchandising equipment, such as coolers cannot only provide real-time constant planogram checks, but it can also be used for real-time sales analysis, walk-by traffic analysis and consumer profiling .

Salesforce1 Platform Open Architecture enables easy integration of modern technologies such as

• GPS

• Photo Capture

• Video Analysis

• Cameras inside merchandising equipment


SummaryRetail Execution is a complex not to mention dynamic and quickly evolving business process . Large software companies are not nimble enough to keep pace with the rapidly changing business landscape, and smaller software companies cannot afford to keep pace with the rapidly changing technology landscape . Salesforce’s focus on simplicity enables us to develop a state of the art development platform that customers and partners can use to quickly create highly specialized functionality . Our focus on partnerships encourages nimble companies with highly specialized consumer goods and retail execution skills to pre-configure extremely sophisticated business functionality that precisely meets industry needs . Finally, Salesforce’s advanced technology enables consumer goods companies to disrupt the traditional retail execution process by reducing communication friction, extending reach with digital marketing technology and improving effectiveness with intelligent real-time recommendations .

Author: Carey Wong, Industries Senior Director, salesforce .com

Agile and Flexible Application Development Platform:

• Communities – dynamic conversations

• 1:1 digital marketing – targeted messaging

• Customer and partner portals – convenient self-service experience

• Dynamic loyality programs – incent specific behavior

• Interactive geospatial mapping – better and faster visit planning

• Crowdsourcing – deepen consumer loyalty

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white paper - salesforce's unique approach to retail execution

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