Consumer products companies are forever engaged in improving customer loyalty, customer service, and delivery process efficiency. Given the intense competition among brands, companies with a few strong brands have a vital interest in having direct interaction with their customers, such as retailers, restaurants, and consumers.

Many food and beverage companies are using direct store delivery processes to sell and distribute goods directly to the customer's store, bypassing the retailer's warehouses. To optimize this process, a large number of organizations that are running a significant a portion of their business on direct store delivery processes are using mobile technology to keep track of their global delivery operations and to improve customer relationships.

In addition, these companies are enabling:

• Tour planning – Allow the pre-seller to drive revenue and delivery efficiency based on all relevant information around the customer and shipments to execute.
• Tour execution – Deliver all shipments at optimum costs, and leverage additional sales opportunities through direct point-of-sale access.
• Tour settlement – Enable accurate and cost-efficient settlement of a high number of complex transactions at the point of sale.

Powered by SAP NetWeaver, SAP's direct store delivery solution is tailored for the consumer products industry. It enables a closed-loop process by integrating mobile technology with enterprise resource planning operations included in the SAP ERP application. You then have an end-to-end process that integrates sales, logistics operations, and mobile workforce – as well as backend and mobile applications. For example, your drivers and field sales force can quickly respond to customers' needs for new and revised orders, while reducing material losses.

Companies that have integrated direct store delivery processes are better able to:

• Reduce stock-outs
• Improve recognition and response to market changes
• Ensure accurate store-door invoice pricing
• Align sales and distribution via integrated scheduling
• Lower distribution costs through efficient visit control
• Increase route productivity and efficiency, leading to faster product availability and higher profit margins

The result? Improved market intimacy, and a foundation for growth in a cost-driven environment.

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