Welcome to another informative episode of the Data Gurus Podcast! Sima is excited to have Veena Giridhar Gopal, the Co-founder, and CEO of Salesbeat, joining her on the show today!

Salesbeat started in March 2019, and when Covid hit early in 2020, Veena and her partner pivoted the business.

About Salesbeat

Salesbeat has software that processes many different data points, including sales data from supermarkets and external data points, like weather forecasts, to predict how much a supermarket will sell any product for a specific period in the future. The purpose is to eliminate sales losses due to under or overstocking.

Overstocking 

Overstocking has become a big issue since Covid because people have changed how they live. So supermarkets are buying the wrong stocks.

Too much stock

Veena has worked for companies in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry since 2007, so she knows the area well. She has also been in FMCG sales. So she knew that when Covid happened in March 2020, and people started buying things and stockpiling, it would cause a blip in historical sales numbers the following year. Supermarkets would then place their orders based on those numbers and end up with too much stock.

Big losses

A problem already existed due to climate change, so beverage companies and personal care companies would not know how much stock to order for some weather conditions, like heat waves. The industry lost up to 30% of its total revenue annually because nobody tracked the lost sales.

Recent studies

Recent studies show that lost sales increased due to supply chain issues.

What they do at Salesbeat

On a live basis, Salesbeat looks at how much stock is in the warehouse and whether orders get done regularly. They calculate in theory if orders get issued when they run out of stock. They also look for reasons if they have not placed the orders or made the sales.

Factors considered in the Salesbeat model

In the Salesbeat pitch, they say that they look at both micro and macro factors.

Macro factors

Macro factors include things like demographics. 

Certain items do very well on promotions in middle or lower class areas, whereas they could cause money losses in affluent areas. The same thing applies to people from different backgrounds or ethnic groups. Salesbeat looks at those factors and others to advise supermarkets on what and how much to stock.

Micro factors

The micro factors they look at include social media. Although influencers increase sales, when regular people rave about a product, and it goes viral, there is even more of an uplift in sales.

Weather patterns

Weather patterns have been unusual recently. That can upset retailers purchasing decisions. To fix it, Salesbeat looks at daily weather forecasts for the next few weeks and makes predictions based on that.

Supermarkets 

Supermarkets need the service provided by Salesbeat a lot more than brands do. So they now offer their service to supermarkets.

Two different views

Salesbeat provides two views: They have an automated system for sending orders to supermarket suppliers, and they also offer brands a view of similar data but in a different format. They tell brands which orders to expect from a supermarket at any point so they can plan their inventories properly.

An early adopter program

They are busy setting up an early adopter program for major supermarkets to try their solution out.

How Salesbeat differs from other supply chain solutions

Other supply chain solutions differ from that of Salesbeat in that they do not take the daily weather forecasts or social media into account. Also, other supply chain solutions do their forecasts at a national account level rather than looking at specific stores.

Online shopping

Veena has noticed that e-commerce sales increase when the weather is cold and rainy. People also tend to do bigger shops when they know their purchases will get delivered.

The future

Salesbeat currently focuses on the retail launch...