Dija, Gorillaz, Cajoo. These companies are newly founded European startups that have raised tens of millions of dollars (Gorillas had raised around 330M$ just 10 months after it was established) on the promise of delivering groceries in 10 to 15 minutes within their catchment areas.

Part of the challenge lies in finding the best locations for their warehouses

What’s their secret? The answer is as simple as the roll out is complex: these companies decided to set-up dark stores (converted supermarkets or former supermarket spaces converted into e-commerce warehouses offering no physical retail experience) throughout cities in order to bring…

When it comes to acquiring new points of consumption (POC), one of the many challenges that sales departments in the commercial drink industry face is making the best of their time and only visiting the POCs with the most potential.

Today, let’s focus on the challenges that a company will likely experience when introducing a new fizzy drink specifically for sale in bars and restaurants.

The company would like to run a simultaneous launch campaign in 5 geographies throughout Europe on a specific date: the first day of a European football competition. Their fresh and lite new drink is exactly…

Our client wanted to roll out a new global product line with the aim of maximizing market penetration, customer reach and sales conversion. Their strategy was to target a mix of retail stores and points of sale but they were still left with the question of where best to sell their product. Thanks to our technology we were able to help them answer this question and execute their strategy.

Because their product line was new, they designed an approach whereby flagship stores would showcase their new product for prospective clients in order to educate them and smaller shops would take…

What if it where made easy by data?

The topic of this article is undoubtedly at the source of many an expansion managers’ trials and tribulations: how to accurately decide on the best location for the opening of a new shop.

In and of itself expansion is great news: your company is in great shape and wants to expand its network of shops. What more could you want?

Let’s face it, behind this great news lies an even greater challenge. …

It must be one of the oldest dreams in the retail industry: knowing precisely what the foot traffic in front of a prospective shop location is made of.

For a long time now, the same questions have always arisen: are we sure our target market walks by the shop on a regular basis? Are we guaranteed to have foot traffic during our opening hours? How will these things change during holiday periods? How should we manage our stock to match the foot traffic?

Answering these questions precisely has never been possible, and decisions tended to be made using rules of…

You may have already come across mobile ATM machines in supermarkets, airports etc. A few players share this limited market.

Their business is relatively simple: clients taking out cash pay an additional commission, which then pays the operator of the ATM. The latter incurs two principal costs: the rent of location occupied by the ATM and the costs associated with maintenance and restocking.

The fundamental problem to be solved is this: how does one identify the location that will guarantee the largest amount of foot traffic?

For a long time now, research into potential such locations has been limited to…

By Guy Routledge

1. Oknoplast, a giant of the window and door manufacturing world, has had its sights set on Spain for a while, but has changed its expansion strategy at the last minute. Instead of building up its own sales network in the country, it has grabbed the bull by the horns and acquired Ampuero Industrial Group, the second biggest window manufacturer in Spain. It certainly isn’t wasting any time, and this is the first time the company has entered a new market through the acquisition of a company present there. …

By Guy Routledge

1. With the increasing focus on renewable sources of energy, those that provide them will be more in demand than ever before, and Hansesun is well aware of this. That’s why Vorarlberg’s largest provider of solar panels has founded companies in Switzerland and Germany together with local, well-established partners, and will do the same in Liechtenstein very soon. It has already installed 1000 systems, enough to supply 3000 single-family homes for a year, and aims to become the market leader within a 50–70 kilometre radius of each branch. A tough ask, but with every conversation about climate change…