Retail Solutions Partners with Gigwalk to Bring Real-Time Actionable Intelligence to In-Store Execution

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and SAN FRANCISCO, June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Retail Solutions Inc. (RSi), a global provider of cloud-based, Big Data analytics and real-time intelligence for the consumer products industry, today announced it has selected Gigwalk, the local visibility software platform changing the way brands and retailers collaborate, to power its new RSi Intelligent Crowdsourcing solution. The new offering provides clients with end-to-end business intelligence that drives sales by delivering real-time, actionable intelligence to field operations for improved in-store retail execution and on-shelf availability.

Under the terms of the agreement, RSi Intelligent Crowdsourcing will combine RSi's daily downstream data and alerting capabilities with Gigwalk's enterprise platform for on-demand access to Gigwalk's public network of 550,000 mobile-enabled independent contractors. The integration will enable retailers and brands to gather and share in-store intelligence, identify gaps in the supply chain, and trigger actions at the store level to correct errors in near real-time.   

Each year, $800 billion in revenue is lost globally to avoidable issues like out-of-stocks.¹ Using RSi Intelligent Crowdsourcing powered by Gigwalk, suppliers can accurately detect store or event conditions, send real-time fix notices to store teams, share observations with the value chain, and reclaim lost sales. Pilot testing prior to launch, which was completed with five major retailers and multiple industry leading suppliers, resulted in an average ROI of eight times the original investment. In some instances, returns as high as 18 percent were achieved over a few weeks.

RSi Intelligent Crowdsourcing blends the company's proprietary algorithms and unmatched on-shelf alerting technology with Gigwalk's reach and on-the-ground resources to bring customers a laser-focused immediate in-store activation solution. The solution combines sophisticated retailer downstream data transformed into scientific out-of-stock alerts with local, on-the-ground intelligence and serves it to field and sales operations teams on a mobile device for immediate response, remediation and reporting. 

"This is a truly new and innovative approach to solving many store-related problems," said Peter Rieman, COO of RSi. "By combining hyper-local, crowdsourced intelligence with real-time alerting and mobile technology, we are – in many cases – providing the most cost-effective and timely way to understand, audit and solve in-store activation issues. We believe this solution is a game changer for the industry and we expect to expand this capability to address multiple in-store challenges including on-shelf availability, display compliance, new product introduction, seasonality and more."

With RSi Intelligent Crowdsourcing, CPG manufacturers can now know with certainty that each critical piece of their strategy is being executed correctly at the store level. The new solution takes the guesswork out of retail execution initiatives like ensuring proper execution of promotional displays, new item planogram compliance or preempting risks for out-of-stocks.

"You can't manage, what you can't see," said Bob Bahramipour, CEO of Gigwalk. "Gigwalk eliminates blind spots to increase in-store sales. By bringing together RSi's sophisticated algorithm-based, on-shelf alerting and scorecard reporting with Gigwalk's local insights and on-the-ground resources, we are transforming traditional models of visibility, collaboration and action -- enabling brands and retailers to achieve new levels of retail execution and compliance."

About Retail Solutions Inc.
Retail Solutions Inc. (RSi) is a global provider of Big Data, predictive analytics for the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry. The company collects and transforms billions of data points on what shoppers are buying every day and makes it insightful and actionable for better tactical and strategic decision-making at the corporate level and in the field. RSi's innovation and competitive edge comes from the science, algorithms and patented technology that power its cloud-based solutions. The RSi platform is trusted by more than 500 global CPG companies including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Diageo, Heineken, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, L'Oréal, Mondelez, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever to maximize product availability, uncover new opportunities, and drive sales. To learn more about the company, visit: http://www.retailsolutions.com/

About Gigwalk
Gigwalk is a local visibility software platform that facilitates brand and retailer collaboration to drive in-store sales. With the world's largest network of mobile-enabled independent contractors, also known as Gigwalkers, leading brands and retailers use the Gigwalk platform to track and fix retail execution to improve performance and drive revenue growth. Since launching in 2011, over 500,000 Gigwalkers have completed more than 4 million Gigs for businesses across North America. Based in San Francisco, California, Gigwalk is backed by August Capital, Harrison Metal, Nokia Growth Partners, Randstad Innovation Fund, SoftTech, Greylock Discovery, Accelerator Ventures, and Founder Collective. For more information, visit www.gigwalk.com.

¹Retail Out-of-Stocks: A Worldwide Examination of Extent, Causes, and Consumer Responses – Gruen & Corsten 2008

Media Contacts:
April H. Burghardt
PR Consultant for RSi
[email protected]
(646) 246-0484

Julia Waneka
SutherlandGold Group for Gigwalk
[email protected]
(415) 848-7173

SOURCE Retail Solutions Inc.