An RTD Brand Took Control Over Its Branded Assets in Australian C-Stores
One of the largest non-alcoholic ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage player in the Asia Pacific region prevented an impact of hundreds of thousands of dollars on their financial results by leveraging the power of Wiser Solutions.
The RTD beverages company engaged Wiser to map their branded fridges in the convenience channel, where they had limited visibility.
Wiser sent shoppers to convenience stores everywhere in Australia to “hunt” branded fridges, report the asset number, its in-store location, and any equipment maintenance issues.
Challenges
It’s a common practice in the fast-moving consumer goods industry (FMCG) to offer fridges to retailers and ask for the exclusivity of use (or a higher share of shelf) in return. This is a strategy leveraged to secure space in the stores and increase brand awareness, given the fridges are usually merchandised and help drive impulse purchases.
The challenge with this practice is keeping track of all the assets that are physically in the retailers’ stores. Managing fixed assets in the system is one thing, knowing exactly what’s happening in the field is completely different.
If brands don’t physically audit their fixed assets, they are likely to have to dispose of the “ghost asset” and asset disposal results in a direct (negative) effect on the company’s bottom line. However, auditing the field can be expensive and time-consuming if done with internal teams.
Solutions
Wiser sent its crowd of mystery shoppers into convenience stores across Australia and identified 400-plus branded fridges, which were photographed and reported back to the beverage bottler company in a record time.
Issues with fridge availability, visibility, or equipment maintenance were also flagged to the field team, so they could get in contact with their retail partners to identify the remainder of the fridges not visible to shoppers or that needed fixing (e.g. fridge at the back of the stores, out of order).
PRODUCTS USED:
The RTD brand was glad to prevent a huge impact on their financial results and collected in-store data at an unprecedented speed which wouldn’t be possible if they used their internal teams.
Results
Thanks to the Wiser data, the client was able to document the fridges and avoid writing off more than 400 assets from its balance sheet.
With a fridge valued at approximately $2,500 AUD before amortization, the brand was glad to prevent a huge impact on their financial results and collected the data at an unprecedented speed which wouldn’t be possible if they used their internal teams.
For most businesses, fixed assets represent a significant capital investment and it is extremely critical that the accounting be applied correctly. By leveraging the power of crowdsourcing, asset mapping can be done in a much quicker and cost-effective way.
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