Trax Debuts ‘Signal-Based Merchandising’ to Brands In-Store Visibility

Retail brand management company Trax has debuted its signal-based merchandising (SBM) solution.

The new tool lets brands gain visibility down to the individual product level, the company said in a Tuesday (Feb. 27) news release, engaging shoppers in-store to gather data points so brands can “make quick and cost-effective decisions about their store-level execution.”

“The fundamental principles of merchandising are broken. Brands don’t have visibility into what is happening in store aisles, which results in inefficiencies and lost sales,” said David Gottlieb, chief revenue officer at Trax Retail.

“Consumer habits ebb and flow, and brands need real-time visibility into store and shelf conditions to take corrective action within hours, not weeks.”

According to the release, SBM involves the use of Trax’s “flexible merchandising workforce” known as “Flexforce” and works like this:

When a consumer packaged goods (CPG) maker identifies its priority and retailers, Trax deploys its network to collect data to determine which products are out of stock and the average duration.

“Based on the data and additional proprietary insights, Trax is able to highlight high impact stores, allowing brands to improve ROI by only deploying in critical retail locations,” the release said. “Empowered with the insights garnered from these high impact stores, Trax deploys the Flexforce in near real time.”

Flexforce examines the data, confirms the insights and works with store managers to adjust inventory, pull product from the backroom, and update shelf tags to ensure accuracy.

Elsewhere in this space, PYMNTS wrote last week about collaborative commerce firm Crisp, which offers retailers with real-time inventory data and just has raised $50 million.

The company said its Series B funding will support product development and expansion into new markets and acquisitions, with Crisp having recently acquired Atlas Technology Group.

Crisp provides brands and distributors with up-to-date store and shelf-level data that offers visibility into actual inventory and sales, allowing brands and retailers to optimize the manufacturing, distribution, merchandising and marketing of CPGs.

“Because of this data, brands are better able to predict demand, maintain stock levels, avoid overstocks and markdowns, and target marketing spend to the areas with the best sales potential,” PYMNTS wrote.