The Branded Pantry

Welcome to ShelfSnap.  After months of investigation, experimentation, negotiation and development ShelfSnap has launched!

ShelfSnap is a process infrastructure and patented capability for turning digital pictures of in-store conditions, products and promotional material into execution-level information.   ShelfSnap aims directly through  the roof of the CPG retail store which has long been considered a data desert.

Manufacturers and retailers have watched as products, merchandising plans, pricing directions, inventory and labor have gone into the backdoor of the stores, and they waited hoping these ingredients would turn out, much as a recipe should, as tasty predictable sales and customer satisfaction.

Most of the time the plan ingredients do not turn into the satisfying repast.  Trading partners have almost no visibility into what happens in the store.  It is similar to having no visibility into the kitchen where all those ingredients have been sent.  What is happening with all those ingredients?  What do they turn into?  We know through occasional store samples that the journey these ingredients take through the store is often circuitous and, occasionally, reminiscent of that famous Three Hour Tour  on the Gilligan’s SS Minnow. 

Orchestrating in-store compliance between the plan and operations is very hard.  All of the necessary activities need to occur while coping with an uneven and changing flood of customers, a fluid labor force (difficult to staff and at times difficult to motivate), a myriad of daily directives from headquarters  and a pressure to tighten the lid on the budget.

What the last 25 years has taught us over and over is that accountability drives execution and execution drives results!  Accountability requires measurement.  The task of measurement has traditionally been very difficult and costly to do.  Generally, completed on a periodic, sample basis by syndicated data providers and generally with part-time auditors using handheld computers who capture their interpretation of a “side-stack” display. 

ShelfSnap solves for the four biggest hurdles facing the comprehensive collection of in-store intelligence.  With ShelfSnap almost anyone with a camera can be an In-Store Intelligence Data Collector.  Snap a picture of the planogram, new product cut-in, display, Point of Sale material or other condition.  Upload the picture to ShelfSnap’s servers via the Internet and we turn that image into data on product presence, number of facings, product adjacencies, shelf position, out-of-stocks, planogram compliance or new item or display cut ins in 1 store or 10,000 stores.  The hurdles we solve include:

1. Costs.  ShelfSnap is more efficient and accurate than scanning product UPCs.  Almost type of store labor, broker, 3rd party merchandiser, DSD labor or even the store personnel themselves, can snap a quick picture and effectively collect the data needed.  ShelfSnap enables census collection on every event that you are funding.
2. Accuracy.  Pictures don’t lie.  ShelfSnap provides a wealth of summary statistics on store conditions and underneath it all is the digital record available for verification and review. 
3. Collaborative.  Trading partners can review the pictures and agree on the results.
4. Action.  Data can be turned around for exception based reporting in just two days.

In addition to myself, the ShelfSnap Team includes:

Craig Hamilton:  After almost 25 years with Kroger  in a variety of line and technical roles, Craig caught the entrepreneurial bug while at efficient market services, inc.   Following ems Craig helped found STORE EYES which is a digital image collection platform and task management aid designed for retailers.  Currently, at ShelfSnap Craig runs our retailer products, product development and business development.

Brian Rock:   With a career that began in Customer Service at Nielsen South Africa, Brian truly found his calling in the product development arena.  The Architect at efficient market service,  Brian designed the infrastructure that supported store-specific data collection and reporting and first introduced the CPG industry to the first taste of census data.  Following ems  Brian has continued to work in the CPG industry with MyWebGrocer, Gladson, Hobart Valassis  after co-founding POSNet which offered the first engine to convert promotional offers from a variety of sources into POS resident

Rimas Siliunas:  With years of developing systems and software for the CPG industry first at ESCA and most recently at his own venture, Intersoft, Rimas has been the leading system contributor for the following companies:  efficient market services, inc., Nielsen, POSNet, Hobart/Valassis and Market6.