Woolworths app promises to reduce empty shelves, disappointing sales

Sue Mitchell
Apr 23, 2019
AFR
Food and grocery suppliers are set to recoup millions of dollars in lost sales following the launch of an app that monitors the performance of their products in Woolworths.
The Compass app draws on historical sales patterns to calculate daily sales expectations for every product in every store and sends alerts to suppliers when sales of their products fail to meet targets.
Suppliers can then send in merchandisers to see if the product is out of stock or whether there are other merchandising issues impeding sales.
The app is part of Woolworths’ strategy to improve in-store execution, reduce out of stocks and share more data with suppliers to support its customer-led ranging strategy.
The Compass app provides suppliers and their merchandising teams with near-live sales data, the sales “opportunity” or target, lost sales and “ranged not sold” alerts.
It has information about store planograms and the location of products in stores, display commitments and whether a product is on promotion.
It enables merchandisers to pre-plan store visits, take and capture corrective action and mark store visits as complete.
More than 10,000 third-party merchandisers visit Woolworths stores each month to check stock levels and ensure products are being ranged and displayed correctly.
The Compass app helps suppliers monitor sales in Woolworths stores and alerts them when sales fail to meet targets. supplied
Woolworths has invested several million dollars developing the app, in conjunction with analytics firm RI, and has been testing it in conjunction with field sales agency Crossmark, which handles merchandising for suppliers such as Twinings, Blackmores and Lion.
Woolworths says the Compass app has the potential to help suppliers recoup millions of dollars in lost sales while also improving availability and product presentation for customers.
Woolworths director of fresh foods and replenishment, Paul Harker, said Woolworths was the first Australian retailer to invest in a free lost sales monitor for suppliers.
“We see it as a genuine win-win because a lost sale for a supplier is a lost sale for Woolworths, and most likely an unsatisfied customer,” he said.
“Drawing on smartphone technology and a spirit of collaboration, we’re confident Compass will drive a step-change in availability and merchandising standards for our customers.”
Out of stocks have been higher than usual at Woolworths in recent weeks because of disputes with suppliers such as Nestle, Uncle Tobys and Mars Petcare over price rises.
Crossmark director of operations Luke Johnson said the Compass app was a useful tool for merchandisers and feedback to date had been positive.
“It also provides us with greater insight across our whole field force, which helps ensure we’re focused on addressing the right things in the right stores for the benefit of our clients and their customers.”
The app, which is available on Apple and Android devices, will be free of charge to suppliers.
Last October, Woolworths awarded its data sharing and research services to 50 per cent-owned analytics firm Quantium and market research firm Nielsen.
A new data-sharing model aimed at making it easier for suppliers to understand their sales and market share performance in Woolworths, with more granular detail on sales by store and store clusters and return on space, is due to be rolled out in fiscal 2020.