Carsten Krohn, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, shares commentary on the Sitation experience at GroceryShop 2023.
The Sitation team spent a week at GroceryShop in Las Vegas, meeting with brands, manufacturers, retailers and technology partners. The show was packed with many informational seminars, panel speakers who shared their successes, and great opportunities to network and exchange. While innovation in certain areas has dramatically accelerated, the critical challenges in CPG/Grocery remain.
We all know customers shop digitally, and along with the goal of delivering the most engaging customer experience on the digital shelf come major product data requirements for brands and manufacturers.
Our team used GroceryShop to network with attendees, dive deeper into major pain points, and start outlining creative solutions for a successful 2024.
We had countless valuable conversations, and here are some of the most pressing questions we heard:
We’ve heard a lot about AI. How can AI help me drive tangible business value?
Let’s face it, EVERYONE is talking about AI. It’s not that AI hasn’t been around for years, but the recent introduction of ChatGPT has paved the way for modern AI and ruined its perception at the same time.
AI is not just a neat party trick that can help create basic content. If we set very specific guidelines and instructions, we can harness AI to accelerate everyday business processes. From “generative AI” for scalable product content that meets brand and compliance regulations to “applied AI” that can solve massive data quality problems and help harmonize product data across multiple systems.
Learn more about RoughDraftPro.
Meeting retailer data requirements is tough. How do I publish product data at scale?
This isn’t news, and you are certainly not alone. Syndicating product content to retailers in CPG is exceptionally complex. There are a variety of systems companies need to sign up for, data standards to adhere to, compliance requirements to meet, and so much more. Even major brands struggle to create innovative digital merchandising strategies as they often spend countless hours keeping brand content consistent across the various digital shelves.
Ultimately, every Grocer asks for the same information in a slightly different flavor – so how hard can it be? Very! The key is a centralized system that allows marketers and data teams to manage product data efficiently, synchronize the data across other systems and publish directly to retail. Add reporting and analytics, and you are halfway there. If this sounds too easy, it is! Sitation has seasoned experts who have spent 15+ years in the industry, and most of our customers have unique requirements.
Explore how Sitation Managed Services tackled these grocery syndication challenges for Bush Brothers & Company.
What systems/software do I need? What can I get rid of?
After a financially tough 2023 and tons of new tech and buzzwords, it is hard to identify where to invest. We are talking about Salsify, Syndigo, Label Insight, Brand Bank, GDSN, IX-One and many others. The truth is, there is no simple answer. While you can’t get rid of them all, there are ways to optimize your current tech stack, identify opportunities to scale back, focus on systems you absolutely need and create processes to help manage content syndication more efficiently.
Depending on your company’s digital maturity, these systems can be integrated to further drive automation and improve data quality. It’s critical to align software needs with sales goals over a multi-year roadmap to make smart investments.
Until GroceryShop 2024
All in all, GroceryShop was a great event with lots of opportunities to network with clients, peers, and industry professionals during the 15-minute Meetup series, lunches, cocktail hours, amazing events, parties, or while wandering the showroom floor. Sitation will certainly be back next year, but in the meantime, we invite everyone to connect with us directly. We are excited to hear from you.
