Carrefour is testing changes to its shelf layouts in collaboration with branded goods manufacturers before deciding whether to roll them out across all its stores. The French retail giant is now analysing tests conducted in selected outlets on its category management platform from In The Memory (Memory for short), which has been a part of VusionGroup (formerly SES Imagotag) since February 2023.
Earlier this month, at the ECR conference of GS1 Germany (ECR Tag) in Bonn, Clément Galeron, Client Director of VusionGroup’s Memory, provided insights into the collaborative testing of new shelf layouts. In general, he explained, the cooperative use of the Memory platform offers retailers and their business partners in the consumer goods industry the advantage of speaking a common language based on common data in range reviews and when agreeing on joint business plans. Especially since other large retailers in France, such as Intermarché, also use Memory.
Carrefour tests new shelf layouts together with the manufacturers in selected, representative stores and compares them with five other similar sales outlets using numerous KPIs. The data-based facts from the tests are accessed by category management experts from both the branded goods manufacturers and the retailer. Particularly valuable are the insights that Carrefour can gain from its loyalty data, which can be used to analyse changes in purchasing behaviour resulting from the restructuring of a product group in relation to the customer segment.
Cooperative selection of criteria
Carrefour precedes each test in real stores with a one- to two-month evaluation phase using data-based simulations, reports Clément Galeron. The retail company also makes the criteria for selecting test stores transparent to its business partners. The brand manufacturer’s proposal for a new shelf layout is adapted to Carrefour’s specific requirements. KPIs are also selected jointly and targets are set for the test. For example, retention and an increase in complementary purchases from the same product group can also be agreed as goals.
Carrefour retains full decision-making authority over how the shelves in its retail outlets are stocked in its category management projects. However, cooperative project management with its industry partners on the Memory platform enables the branded goods industry to contribute its proposals to tests in a structured manner and evaluate the results using the same data basis as the retail company.
