PROMOECUADOR

Challenge

• Promotions del Ecuador PROMOECUADOR S.A. (PROMOECUADOR) spotted a new market opportunity in the trade marketing business to help companies monitor, assess and track promotional activities in retail stores. But to enter into this line of business, they needed to be competitive and offer a differentiated service.
• Typically, trade marketing agents collected information on promotional campaigns and merchandising at retail stores and recorded it using paper and pencil, and photos of product exhibits were taken with a digital camera. Then, they had to travel back to the office to enter data manually for processing and analysis, creating a high risk of errors. Clients had to wait several days or even weeks to receive a report.
• Databases containing directions and other information about retail stores were often inaccurate and outdated.
• Supervisors weren’t able to track their field agents’ locations and progress on their assignments, and agents would spend significant time looking for store locations, which slowed down their productivity.

Solution

• PROMOECUADOR deployed Geo Dynamic Mobile, an application from BlackBerry® Alliance Member Location World. The application, designed for use with a BlackBerry smartphone, is a customized mobile solution for trade marketing that integrates GPS capabilities. They also use the BlackBerry smartphone’s built-in camera to take pictures of the location and product display.

Results

• Enhanced productivity of field agents
• Increased sales
• Efficient access to data collected, which results in better service to customers
• Ability to conduct timely and geographical analysis