Perfect Store Execution: Driving sales effectiveness with Generative AI-powered solutions on AWS
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Staying competitive in the consumer goods industry demands rapid adaptation to shifting consumer preferences, rising price pressures, and constant market disruptions. To thrive amid these challenges, companies must adopt strategies that drive efficiency and maximize sales opportunities, such as the perfect store approach. Bain & Company says that a perfect store strategy can increase retail sales by 5% annually¹.
Perfect store execution—powered by generative AI and built on AWS—offers an innovative solution that enables businesses to optimize retail execution and maximize revenue growth. Recently, industry leaders from AWS and Sigmoid came together in a webinar to explore how generative AI can revolutionize perfect store execution.
The current state of the consumer goods industry
- Market share pressure: Competition from private labels and rising costs challenge brands to maintain consumer demand and loyalty.
- Evolving consumer preferences: Omnichannel shopping, demand for trusted products, and innovative promotions are reshaping consumer expectations.
- Pricing and promotional challenges: Inflation and stock availability require precise pricing strategies and well-executed promotional campaigns.
These challenges highlight the need for effective solutions in sales revenue growth management that can optimize store execution and enhance the overall performance of consumer goods companies.
Best practices for achieving Perfect Store Execution
Perfect Store Execution relies on the implementation of a cohesive framework that drives measurable business outcomes by leveraging advanced data analytics, rigorous compliance, and actionable strategies. To achieve flawless execution, businesses must adopt a set of best practices that ensure efficiency, compliance, and growth across retail operations. Below are the foundational pillars and the key practices that make Perfect Store Execution a success.
- Insights engine
- Compliance framework
- Product placement: Maintaining shelf positioning standards to maximize visibility and consumer engagement.
- Promotional execution: Ensuring promotions are deployed effectively and yield intended outcomes.
- Regulatory compliance: Aligning with local and global compliance standards for seamless operations.
- KPI integration: Synchronizing with internal and external performance metrics to monitor and enhance outcomes.
- Actionable recommendations
- Product assortment: Identifying optimal product mixes to meet consumer demands and maximize shelf productivity.
- Shelf design: Enhancing shelf layouts to boost consumer engagement and minimize stock-outs.
- Promotion optimization: Strategizing promotional timing and formats to maximize ROI.
- Inventory management: Addressing phantom inventory issues and improving stock replenishment accuracy.
At the solution’s core lies a powerful analytics engine capable of uncovering granular, data-driven patterns at both store and UPC (Universal Product Code) levels. This precise, real-time visibility empowers organizations to swiftly identify and address challenges while capitalizing on growth opportunities. The capability to analyze key metrics such as assortment performance, sales trends, and inventory accuracy at this level offers unparalleled clarity for decision-making.
The solution embeds a rigorous compliance framework to ensure alignment with both internal objectives and external mandates. It enforces adherence across critical dimensions, including:
This ensures operational consistency across geographies and retail channels, mitigating risks and optimizing execution.
Beyond analytics and compliance, the solution delivers prescriptive recommendations tailored to operational and market dynamics. These insights enable strategic actions in areas such as:
Data architecture for Perfect Store Execution
The Perfect Store Execution solution is underpinned by a robust data architecture that seamlessly integrates, processes, and analyzes large volumes of data. This architecture not only ensures operational efficiency but also delivers actionable insights through advanced analytics powered by AWS’s technology stack.
- Data integration and security
- Data processing and quality management
- Seamless Data Ingestion: Integrates data from diverse sources, including third-party providers and legacy systems, to create a unified dataset.
- Automated Transformations: Harmonizes disparate data formats in real-time, ensuring consistency and usability across platforms.
- Data Quality Management: Maintains high data quality through automated checks and remediation, enabling trustworthy analytics and insights.
- Generative AI for advanced analytics
- Natural Language Queries: Enables users to interact with data using conversational language, reducing reliance on technical teams.
- Dynamic Visualizations: Instantly generates visual representations of data to address specific business questions.
- AI-Driven Executive Summaries: Produces concise, insightful summaries from complex datasets for decision-makers.
- Customizable Analysis: Allows users to create and refine analytics dashboards without requiring advanced technical skills.
The solution enables secure and seamless connectivity with diverse on-premises systems such as ERP, CRM, and POS platforms using AWS Direct Connect or VPN. Adherence to stringent security protocols ensures data confidentiality, integrity, and compliance with governance standards, providing a robust foundation for reliable data operations.
Powered by AWS Glue, the solution efficiently handles the preparation, transformation, and integration of data from multiple sources. Key capabilities include:
The integration of generative AI through Amazon Q with QuickSight brings a transformative approach to analytics accessibility. This layer empowers users with advanced capabilities such as:
These features democratize data access, empowering decision-makers across the organization to leverage insights rapidly, enabling proactive strategies, and fostering a data-driven culture. Perfect Store Execution solution enhances visibility and delivers actionable insights that drive measurable business impact. Whether addressing on-shelf availability, optimizing promotions, or improving compliance, this solution sets a new benchmark for operational excellence in the consumer goods industry.
Success Story
A leading Fortune 500 CPG company has implemented a solution using AWS and Sigmoid that demonstrates the effectiveness of generative AI-powered Perfect Store in enhancing sales performance.
| Challenge | Solution | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 50+ retail data sources with inconsistent format and structure required manual inputs and harmonization, which limited data accessibility and restricted the ability to generate actionable insights across user groups. | A single source of truth for Perfect store execution with AMPPS (Assortment, Merchandising, Pricing, Promotion, Shelf Enhancement) metrics in a near real-time reporting environment. |
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Conclusion
The integration of generative AI into the sales processes of consumer goods companies presents a significant opportunity to enhance performance and drive revenue growth. By leveraging advanced analytics, data management, and compliance strategies, CPG brands can navigate the complexities of today’s market and emerge stronger than ever. The collaboration between AWS and Sigmoid exemplifies how technology can transform the consumer goods landscape, enabling companies to achieve perfect store execution and optimize their operations for the future.
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