Pepperi Retail Execution Monitoring: Insights from Gartner’s Map

With thousands of successful deployments increasing the bottom line for scores of satisfied customers across the globe, Gartner has taken notice.  Gartner has dubbed Pepperi’s mobile-first B2B e-commerce platform as being “highly flexible and configurable” in a report entitled the Market Guide for Retail Execution and Monitoring Solutions for the Consumer Goods Industry, published on June 7, 2016.

Gartner recognizes Pepperi’s Retail Execution Software

According to Gartner analyst, Ed Porter, consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and wholesalers should “evaluate Pepperi if [they] want a solution that integrates B2B e-commerce or when product order capabilities are a high priority.” Porter also notes that Pepperi should be considered “… when a high level of flexibility and configuration, or global deployment experience is desired.”

The report examines 19 retail execution and monitoring (REM) solutions in a category Gartner concludes is “linked to sales force productivity and product sales improvement,” a fact that is driving significant vendor growth in this market.

Ofer Yourvexel Reacts to Gartner’s review

“We’re very excited to debut in Gartner’s respected Market Guide for retail execution and monitoring solutions,” said Ofer Yourvexel, CEO of Pepperi. “To be recognized for our platform’s flexibility and configurability by Gartner analysts is rewarding, because these are the foundations upon which our B2B e-commerce platform was designed. Our customers are clearly gaining sales agility — exhibiting sustained growth in their average order size, number of orders per sales rep, and self-service orders, and at the same time they see marked decreases in order processing costs and order to delivery time. And that’s exactly why we created Pepperi, to provide an intuitive tool that increases our customers’ sales productivity and ultimately their overall B2B sales.”

As the B2B industry migrates to cloud, mobile and omni-channel sales, CPG companies need to optimize their channel management and seize the business benefits that a solid REM solution affords. According to Gartner, an advanced REM solution begets increased sales force efficiency and effectiveness, better sales force and retail store compliance, and increased purchase orders that are more accurate.

Anatomy of an advanced REM solution

So what does an ideal retail execution software look like?

Advanced REM solutions integrate mobile sales automation, mobile merchandising, mobile route accounting, and B2B e-commerce under one roof – delivered on all mobile devices. Going BYOD on all operating systems and devices gives your sales team and customers maximum freedom and flexibility to sell at reduced costs with reduced hassle, freeing up time for intelligent selling.

• In order to delight customers while empowering your sales team, your retail execution software must be easy to configure (read “code-free”), so you can customize workflows, forms, business rules, and dashboards to fit your specific sales needs, without expensive and time-consuming third-party tinkering.
• Integration with your backend ERP and accounting systems must be seamless. Find a vendor that has “been there, done that” with the leading ERP and accounting solutions so your back-end systems are updated real-time while reps and customers enjoy reliable 24/7 access to the information they need to sell sell sell.
• Don’t be a guinea pig. With your name on the line, make sure you consider an REM solution that your competitors adore.

Shopping around

How do you find the right REM solution for your unique business needs?

Consider the following recommendations:

1. Look for a vendor that jives with your company’s specific local needs and longer-term geographic requirements. Market research indicates that when an advanced REM solution delivers desired business benefits, the solution is quickly extended to additional countries. So if your company requires a global solution today or may require one tomorrow, look for an enterprise-grade REM platform with multi-lingual/currency/pricelist/catalog capabilities that can scale and support your future global market expansion strategies.
2. Look for a cloud-based REM solution, a rising trend in this market. According to Gartner, if you are sensitive to swift deployment and require configuration speed and flexibility, you should consider a SaaS-based retail execution and monitoring provider. Cloud delivery means your REM vendor handles automatic functional upgrades, product fixes, routine back-ups, performance monitoring and security compliance — freeing up valuable resources in your organization for other imperative sales activities.
3. Carefully consider how your REM solution will fit with existing selling and marketing tools, and streamline vendors. Reduce the need to interface with multiple vendors and find a single, modular solution that answers both your retail execution and e-commerce needs, and integrates seamlessly with your current ERP and accounting systems.
4. Carefully consider if your company is prepared for using more advanced selling and analytics tools. We’ve heard it time and time again, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” The most advanced REM solution will fall on deaf ears if your sales force doesn’t buy-in. Be sure to choose a platform that will maximize adoption. Mobile-first solutions that work on all devices and operating systems both online and offline, are more likely to speak to sales reps on the go.

 
The benefits of integrating a Retail Execution and Monitoring solution are easily documented. Not so simple is the task of identifying your company’s unique business needs and sorting through the various vendors offering service. Regardless of your organization’s size, the right REM solution is the one that reflects industry technology advancements and will give you instant insight for immediate sales impact.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.