This May, CPG and Retail Service leaders from around the world convened at the top of Boston’s Prudential Tower to discuss all things Image Recognition (IR) at our “Elevate Your Vision” roundtable.
It was a fantastic opportunity for our community to connect in person and talk about this exciting technology—how it’s being used in retail execution, the impact it’s having, and where it’s headed. Major themes included productized use cases for IR, aspects of the technology that are becoming “the new standard,” and ROI for IR.
Repsly CEO Mat Brogie kicked the day off with an overview of the state of AI image recognition and advice on how CPG brands and marketers can—and should—make it a part of their strategy to be more agile. IR specifically for retail execution is rapidly coming of age. The cost of image processing and the effort it takes to train IR on new SKUs are plummeting, while the data extracted from images gets more accurate all the time.
But there’s still a lot of noise out there, Brogie cautioned, and things are moving fast. He reiterated Repsly’s commitment to helping our customers separate the hype from the reality and identify low risk IR opportunities that will yield big returns. Watch the 15-minute keynote to learn about those opportunities, plus our four keys to successful IR implementation.
Next, after a breakout session, attendees gathered for a panel moderated by Repsly’s CRO, Cait Wil - featuring leaders from two companies already using Repsly’s IR tool. Fernando Yanamoto of Novamex and Sara Clarkson of MarketSupport pulled back the curtain on how they’re using Repsly’s IR tool to optimize share of shelf, improve planogram compliance, manage inventory assets, and guide rep’s actions in store.
In one of the highlights of the day, Katherine Fawcett, Director of Product, gave a real-time live demo of Repsly’s IR tool. Attendees saw how it can be used to find on-shelf availability gaps, count facings for their own SKUs and competitor SKUs, verify product placement, and track share of shelf. There was also a sneak peek of our IR roadmap, and the features and functions we plan to roll out in the future. As always, our focus is offering our customers proven IR tools that can make a real impact on their bottom line.
Fawcett emphasized the “why” behind Repsly’s development of IR capabilities. While there are a variety of other features and improvements that our team is working on, we’re excited about IR not because we want to hop on the AI bandwagon - but because it presents a unique opportunity to help our customers solve some of their most pressing and complex problems.
After Fawcett’s enlightening presentation, attendees also got a preview of what’s ahead from our IR vendor partners, Parallel Dots and Infilect. At our “Hear from the Experts” panel, they shared case studies, a little history, and a look at how IR is evolving, as well as how CPG brands will be able to get even more out of its applications for retail execution.
To conclude the day after another breakout session and closing remarks, everyone gathered for a buzzy happy hour overlooking the Boston skyline—the perfect image to close out the day. Our team left feeling energized and inspired about how Repsly can help our customers tap the potential of IR. Based on the feedback we’ve gotten so far, attendees did too.
Curious to learn more about Image Recognition? Read more here. Or, even better, schedule a demo to see it for yourself.