From supermarkets to pharmacies, there are over 100,000 retail outlets in Australia. Every outlet has the potential to host in-store promotions that boost sales but the challenge is getting to all of them, or even as many as you would like to.
Until now, you have had one of three options for in-store promotions:
Firstly, you can establish a team of field reps who visit outlets in person. This is possible when you’re a large brand that can make having a dedicated team worthwhile. However, you can never have as many people as you need to cover every retail outlet in the country. No matter what you do, sales will be left on the table because of regional or lower volume stores that miss out on promotional opportunities.
Another option is to work with a third-party agency. This is helpful for setting up in-store promotions, but it is of course costly and expensive to scale. What’s more, the accuracy and timeliness of data can be frustrating.
A lower-cost option is to crowdsource independent operators to go where your field or third-party agency reps can’t. The risk with this is that you’re never really sure you will get what you pay for.
What ends up happening is unfortunately the most common approach to addressing the long tail of stores – adopting the ‘do nothing and hope’ strategy, where there is no store level interaction and you rely on your distributors to take care of it for you.
Even when you use a retail execution solution to intelligently recommend the most productive stores to visit for your field team, it is impossible to reach more than a few thousand stores with your promotions. The opportunities you’re missing can be significant but until now there has been no way to arrange in-store promotions without reps on the ground.
What has been missing is a way for brands to achieve a high-quality outcome that is cost effective at scale.
This is set to change.
Introducing Virtual REP®
The FMCG industry has waited a long time for a way to share in-store promotions across more outlets without the need to hire more field reps. Designed by woolloo, Virtual REP® has been created by retail insiders who have a clear understanding of the issues faced by modern suppliers. This brand new platform allows you to dramatically increase performance in-store, even when you can’t visit a store, by directly engaging with store managers and staff. Created to deliver a win/win for stores and suppliers, Virtual REP® creates a social media-style feed of promotional opportunities. The promotions are uploaded by suppliers, then stores have the opportunity to accept and run with them. Using Virtual REP®, you can:✓ Notify stores about new promotions/products
✓ Confirm displays in-store at regular intervals
✓ Record new products cut in
✓ Update distribution facings
✓ Receive turn in orders
✓ Complete surveys
✓ Get photo verification of every action
✓ Get direct access to real-time, unfiltered data
Stores love Virtual REP®
✓ Never missing a new product or promotion
✓ Receiving timely notifications that suit your customers
✓ The ability to opt-in to new promotions and rebates
✓ Photo verification that enables effortless promotion participation
✓ The ability to profit from in-store promotions without waiting for a rep to visit
Read more about the benefits for store owners here. While face-to-face visits from field reps using the right retail execution solution will always have their place, Virtual REP® allows you to close the gap of stores that miss out, without the need to pay third-party agencies or work with unreliable independent contractors. Execute trade promotions instantly, capture new line cut-ins and update facings, receive turn-in orders and see promotional displays with Virtual REP®. This revolutionary and easy-to-use app is the perfect way to launch new products and promotions in outlets all over the country.