PepperCube to launch retail store audit
View(s):PepperCube Consultants (PCC), the premier market research and consulting firm, announced this week that it has purchased the Sri Lanka retail outlet census and exclusive rights to use the retail census from Nielsen Sri Lanka.
PepperCube is now preparing to recommence the island-wide Retail Store Audit (RSA) from March. This will ensure a seamless transition for many local and global organisations which depend on the RSA information for decision making.
Commenting on the move, Atheek Marikar, Managing Director/CEO of PepperCube said: “Sri Lanka’s retail space is not new to us. Every month we have been tracking over 35,000 retail outlets across the country for many clients with our Pepper-eX service for the last 10 years. We provide them with retail tracking and insights including availability, visibility, merchandising and shopper experience using cutting edge technology to capture and report data and insights. Therefore, moving to RSA is a natural extension as we have the expertise and infrastructure to provide high-end retail measurement services to clients”.
The first round of RSA fieldwork will start in February and reporting will commence from March. PepperCube has already set up the infrastructure for the major task ahead of them. Besides technology and hardware, PepperCube has already brought in experienced talent for field operations, analytics and client servicing. PepperCube’s senior management has over 20 years experience in managing retail measurement both in Sri Lanka and overseas which will be instrumental in the rollout of the new Retail Store Audit.
Mr. Marikar said they were thankful to Nielsen for offering this opportunity to purchase the census data, which is the foundation of the RSA. For clients, the seamless continuation would mean they will not be losing the trends and suffering from data blackouts during a very important time in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market. ‘
According to Udayana Seneviratna, Executive Director of PepperCube, all ground level preparations have been completed to start the RSA. Commenting on the current situation, he said, “We have a large field team equipped with latest hand-held technology who are spread across the country with expertise in retail tracking. We will expand our existing field team further with this additional scope of work. We will continue to take all precautions during this pandemic so that we could continue our fieldwork uninterrupted”.
PepperCube will engage Dwight Watson, a British Consultant who will work closely with the PepperCube team and the clients to provide best RSA service experience. Mr. Watson was the Managing Director of Nielsen Sri Lanka before moving on to South Africa, America and Switzerland holding leadership positions in the RSA space.
Speaking about the future of the RSA in Sri Lanka, Mr. Marikar said, “We purchased the existing retail census from Nielsen so we could provide a seamless transition to clients moving across. However, we will embark on the task of conducting an island wide retail census in mid 2021. That way we will have updated population information to further improve the RSA in 2022. We estimate the retail outlet population to be over 270,000 across the island. We know this a mammoth exercise by any means, but we consider it necessary to provide the most accurate picture in 2022 reflecting the changes in the retail space post COVID-19.”