How Pernod Ricard Improved In-Store Execution by 40% with Wiser

Background

Pernod Ricard, a global leader in the spirits and wine industry, partnered with Wiser to optimize the execution of their in-store promotional activities. With a diverse portfolio of premium brands and seasonal campaigns, ensuring compliance and maximizing visibility during key periods were critical to driving sales and maintaining a competitive edge.

To achieve this, Pernod Ricard leverages Wiser’s crowdsourced mystery shoppers to gain real-time insights into in-store execution and collaborate with retail partners to take data-driven actions. For example, during a Jameson Premix campaign, shoppers assessed store compliance by reporting on the presence of key promotional elements, including counter units with stubby coolers as gifts with purchase, as well as wobblers and posters. These insights helped ensure promotional consistency and maximize campaign performance.

Challenge

In an increasingly competitive retail landscape, off-located activations (branded end caps, checkout displays, etc.) play a crucial role in influencing purchasing decisions. These strategically placed displays capture shoppers’ attention, drive impulse purchases, and help brands stand out in crowded store environments. However, monitoring these effectively presents significant challenges, as Pernod Ricard discovered during their efforts to ensure consistent execution across hundreds of retail locations. Some key challenges:

• Inconsistent Execution Compliance: Key promotional displays were not consistently implemented in stores, resulting in missed sales opportunities and diminished brand visibility during critical campaigns. Non-compliance also led to poor returns on investment.
• Lack of Real-Time Visibility: Without real-time insights into in-store execution, Pernod Ricard struggled to identify non-compliant stores and take timely corrective actions during the promotional period. This lack of visibility at the point of sale limited their ability to respond effectively and maximize campaign performance.
• Resource Inefficiencies: Auditing multiple locations with internal teams proved both costly and time-intensive, often resulting in gaps in compliance data during critical campaigns. For example, during the Jameson Premix promotion, many participating stores were in remote locations (e.g., Kangaroo Island, Barmera, Port Augusta, Magnetic Island), making field team visits logistically challenging and prohibitively expensive.

To address these challenges, Pernod Ricard needed a solution that could deliver reliable, real-time insights into in-store execution and enable timely corrective actions to maximize the success of their promotional activities.

Solution

Wiser’s Retail Intelligence empowered Pernod Ricard with tools and data to enhance their promotional execution and drive measurable results:

• Crowdsourced Audits: Wiser deployed its network of mystery shoppers to thousands of retail locations, capturing real-time data on display compliance, shelf positioning, and promotional execution, to deliver comprehensive insights to Pernod Ricard
• Actionable Data at Scale: Shoppers provided detailed photos and in-store insights, enabling Pernod Ricard to assess compliance quickly and identify gaps that required immediate action.
• Optimized Resource Allocation: By leveraging Wiser’s crowdsourcing capabilities, Pernod Ricard reduced the need for internal audits, saving time and resources while ensuring greater efficiency.
• Dynamic Reporting: Wiser’s platform offered dynamic reporting and analytics, allowing Pernod Ricard to track compliance trends across locations, communicate findings to field teams, and ensure corrective actions were implemented swiftly and proactively.

“Wiser gave us a powerful insight into our in-store compliance that we were able to leverage. Without this real-time visibility, we could not have made changes in time to impact the success of the promotion”

Richard Dumas

Head of Shopper Marketing

Results

Pernod Ricard leveraged Wiser’s Retail Intelligence to enhance execution efficiency, resolve compliance challenges, and drive the success of their promotions. The results were both measurable and impactful:

• 60% Non-Compliance Identified: During the Jameson Premix promotion, shoppers conducted real-time compliance audits across participating stores, revealing that 60% were non-compliant, with at least one promotional component missing. The audits also uncovered additional challenges, including product availability issues and ranging gaps. Notably, 35% of stores were found to lack the stubby cooler display unit at the counter, or worse, had the space occupied by competitors’ products. These insights enabled Pernod Ricard to address execution gaps effectively and reclaim valuable promotional space, ensuring the campaign’s success.
• 40% Increase in Execution Efficiency: By acting on real-time, actionable data, Pernod Ricard streamlined their compliance processes, improving the speed and accuracy of their execution by 40%. With Wiser’s insights, the team was able to reallocate resources effectively, using a mix of targeted field visits and phone calls to address non-compliance, minimizing time and effort while maximizing impact.
• 100% Store Coverage: Wiser’s extensive crowdsourcing network ensured that every participating store was audited, providing complete visibility into in-store compliance and enabling corrective actions across thousands of locations.
• Enhanced Campaign ROI: Improved compliance and timely interventions enabled Pernod Ricard to maximize the effectiveness of their promotional displays, boosting sales during a critical seasonal campaign. Moreover, by reducing travel time and optimizing field team actions, they achieved a significant improvement in ROI, focusing efforts where they would drive the greatest uplift with minimal resource expenditure.

Through Wiser’s actionable insights and comprehensive coverage, Pernod Ricard not only improved promotional execution but also enhanced sales performance, optimized resource allocation, and set a benchmark for efficiency during high-stakes campaigns.

Conclusion

Pernod Ricard’s collaboration with Wiser highlights the transformative impact of data-driven execution in enhancing in-store performance. By leveraging real-time insights and actionable data, the brand achieved significant improvements in promotional compliance, reduced inefficiencies, and delivered strong, measurable results.

This partnership set a new standard for in-store excellence, demonstrating the importance of empowering field teams with tools that enhance their effectiveness. By adopting a multi-contact approach, Pernod Ricard combined Wiser’s crowdsourced network with strategic field visits and targeted phone calls from their account team. This integrated strategy allowed them to address compliance gaps with precision, optimize resource allocation, and maximize the impact of their promotional efforts.