Nobody understands the frustration of consumers who can鈥檛 find the products they鈥檙e looking for more than the experts at , an artificial intelligence (AI)-based startup with operations in Latin America and the United States. Teamcore鈥檚 cloud-based software platform uses machine learning to power intelligent workflow automation that tells consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and retailers why products aren鈥檛 selling and what they can do about it fast.
鈥淲e help CPG companies and retailers make sure products are available when their customers are ready to buy,鈥� said Sergio Della Maggiora, founder and CEO of Teamcore. 鈥淲hether someone is shopping online or in a physical store, our retail execution platform based on intelligent workflows helps connect data across the supply chain 鈥� from warehouse to shelf, virtually or in-store 鈥� so companies don鈥檛 miss out on sales opportunities.鈥�
Intelligent Automated Workflows Boost CPG Sales
Based on sales data analytics, Della Maggiora said that Teamcore鈥檚 machine learning algorithm detects when products aren鈥檛 selling as planned and, in over 94% of cases, finds the root cause of the problem before assigning a task. Unlike garden variety alerts, Teamcore鈥檚 intelligent workflow notifications keep going until they reach the people who solve the problem. If someone in replenishment can鈥檛 find the product in the warehouse to restock virtual or in-store shelves, the workflow automatically routes that task to the appropriate store sales representatives, all the way up to regional store and supply chain managers.
鈥淭eamcore connects the whole CPG and retail team for opportunity detection sales and doesn鈥檛 stop until someone actually fixes the problem,鈥� said Della Maggiora. 鈥淥ver time, the collected data trains the model, improving its accuracy and ability to make predictions about potential issues.鈥�
Automated Retail Execution Leaves No Opportunity Unturned
Teamcore tackles some of the biggest challenges retailers face. Consider the problem of phantom inventory, which happens when company systems show products at a location, but they aren鈥檛 actually there. Another issue is underperforming promotions. CPG companies can have the best intentions in giving discounts to retailers, but if the right-priced products aren鈥檛 available to customers for whatever reason, the items won鈥檛 sell. Addressing these problems is not as simple as it sounds.
鈥淩etailers deal with thousands of product-related issues happening every day in virtual and brick and mortar stores,鈥� said Della Maggiora. 鈥淒ata from our automatic workflows lets retailers see where the problems are and act faster to correct them. If the algorithm detects that a product is underperforming compared to the same promotions in other locations, sales teams can take appropriate steps, like prioritizing in-store visits, replacing missing signage, or other activities, to help the retailer take full advantage of the promotion.鈥�
Teamcore鈥檚 customers include well-known global brands in food and beverage, personal care, and other CPG sectors across Latin America and the United States. On average, these companies have increased product sales from 3% to 5% by improving on-shelf product availability from 4% to 9% and online product availability from 5% to 15%.
鈥淥ne major CPG company reallocated its field sales team to activities where they could impact greater sales,鈥� said Della Maggiora. 鈥淥nce our data revealed how much time reps wasted on low value store visits, the company shifted the same team to dynamic, higher-value activities that had bottom line business results.鈥�
Data Science Meets Fast-Changing Consumer Demands
Born in Chile, Della Maggiora initially studied business, then began exploring technology during his undergraduate work. He and his cofounders took advantage of a government grant program in Chile to start a software company that developed mobile solutions. Eventually, he applied his eight years of retail operations experience at Walmart to cofound Teamcore. After seeing huge process inefficiencies firsthand, he and his team conceptualized a mobile and desktop app based on data science. Then the pandemic hit.
鈥淲e knew that designing a simple user experience on top of a solid data science platform would help retail operations become more efficient, selling what consumers want to purchase,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen COVID-19 disrupted supply chains, many CPG organizations shifted to e-commerce and faced customer demands in unexpected ways 鈥� everything from rising home cooking trends to spikes in uptake of particular products. Our solution helps brands better understand and adapt to these fluctuating sales cycles.鈥�
麻豆原创.iO Hones Targeted CPG Product Design and Messaging
Della Maggiora and his team began working with experts across 麻豆原创 while participating in the data and analytics cohort. He saw alignment with 麻豆原创鈥檚 intelligent enterprise vision and expected Teamcore to deliver greater value by integrating with 麻豆原创 solutions in and . Teamcore is already integrated with .
鈥淲e鈥檝e learned so much from 麻豆原创鈥檚 consumer products and retail experts about how customers can generate value from our data when it鈥檚 integrated with their enterprise resource planning (ERP), financial, and supply chain systems,鈥� said Della Maggiora. 鈥淭hese insights have helped us in product design and crafting our messages for stronger market resonance on a global scale.鈥�
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