AI-Driven Shelf Monitoring for Nestlé

20% Reduction in Out-of-Stocks

Regular and efficient monitoring, leading to fewer stock shortages

Time Savings for Sales Representatives

Accelerating sales representatives' or merchandisers' tasks with SKU recognition

AI-Driven Planogram Compliance

Utilizing neural networks for precise product detection and sorting

"With Shelf Inspector we are looking at 20% out of stock reduction across multiple categories. It helps us consistently improve our store layouts and price monitoring so our sales representatives can attend their jobs with higher added value."

Tibor Molnár

National Field Sales Manager, Nestlé

About the Client

Nestlé is a multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Switzerland. Founded in 1866, it's one of the world's largest consumer goods companies, with a vast range of products including chocolates, coffee, dairy, and pet food. It operates in 187 countries and has over 2,000 brands, employing around 300,000 people.

The Challenge

Nestlé faced the challenge of managing multiple non-digitalized planograms with over 500 SKUs (stock keeping units) arranged into five categories. The only resources available were photos of shelves where many products appeared similar. Additionally, the company regularly redesigns approximately 15% of its portfolio, a relatively significant figure given the hundreds of stores involved.

The Solution

To address these challenges, we utilized our prebuilt Data AI product Shelf Inspector, powered by neural networks within Microsoft Azure Cloud to detect product design and size. We developed a front-end mobile application for sales representatives and merchandisers, who are the primary users. They can log into the Shelf Inspector app, select the category and products, and then take a photo of the store shelves being inspected. The application guides the user through the process, displaying the required goods and highlighting different packaging types with a semi-transparent mask to sort them by size. Once the photos are collected, they are sent to the cloud and analyzed by the neural network with more than 97% accuracy. The business results are then displayed inside the Power BI app for business managers. High-level statistics are presented, but it also allows for easy drilling down to details when necessary, helping to quickly identify problematic outlets.

The Benefits

This robust solution for inventory management helped Nestlé significantly reduce out-of-stocks, particularly by 20%, based on their internal study. It streamlines store layouts and enhances price monitoring, enabling sales representatives to work more efficiently, benefiting from a user-friendly mobile application, instead of manual data collection. The solution also ensures planogram compliance and achieves over 97% accuracy. Most significantly, the integrated Power BI app provides business managers with actionable insights and the ability to delve into detailed analytics to resolve issues in specific outlets.