Data-Driven Merchandising: Turning Shelf Insights into Sales Growth

By Mahimm Gupta, Founder and CEO of PPMS Field Marketing: In the bustling aisles of Indian stores, where millions of shoppers make split-second decisions daily, the real battle for consumer loyalty unfolds. For over 25 years, I’ve witnessed firsthand how merchandising, the art and science of presenting products at the point of sale, can make or break a brand’s performance.

Various studies project the FMCG market to grow from the current ~$245B to ~$775B by 2030. This will translate to about a 1.7 times unit and 3 times value growth.

Taking various scenarios of QCom/Ecom growth – assuming limited categories to all category’s inflection, the overall size of GT and MT will still be very significant.

From my study of various markets that have seen retail evolution, it is my belief that the closed format GT will be a fringe format limited to the low income economic ecosystems and the balance will evolve to a self-service format.

This means that what will remain in physical retail will be very significant from a value per store perspective and the fight for space and visibility dominance will be quite severe.

MT will become the space for experience and premiums, self-service TT will be value formats and the Qcom/Ecom will be for top-ups, impulse and ‘forgotten missions’. The importance of merchandising will thus be stronger than ever.

From Manual Checks to Real-Time Intelligence

Research by Nielsen indicates that failure to execute properly in-store can translate into an approximate sales loss of 8 to 12 percent, which could result in a substantial loss of revenue at a time when organised retail penetration is expected to increase from 12 percent today to 22-25 percent by 2030. In fact, just improving OSA can result in up to a 25% sales growth.

What we’ve learned at PPMS is that the key to closing these gaps lies in harnessing real-time data from the field. By capturing and analysing store insights, brands can move from reactive fixes to proactive strategies that directly boost same-store sales.

India’s retail ecosystem is producing a vast amount of data; based on the monthly activity of PPMS, with over 1.5mil store visits made at 170,000+ locations in over 1200+ towns and communities, it is clear this is no ordinary activity – our teams are not only performing comprehensive on-site validations, but are also utilizing our inhouse technology, FRAMeIQ to deliver back information bottoms up, on how each store is delivering on its KPI and what actions can result in improving OSA, SOS, Promo-compliance and asset placements. In many cases, the images are audited manually and through IR, to validate outcomes and bring validated depth to the data.

Each geo-tagged data point from a merchandiser’s device provides granular details: OSA, planogram compliance, share-of-shelf measurements, and predictive analytics. This isn’t data for data’s sake; it’s intelligence that turns a single snapshot from every store into actionable steps that help brands improve sales, store after store.

Proven Impact on Same-Store Growth

A notable illustration stems from our partnership with a prominent client. Post the engagement, it was identified that the right must-sell units were poorly distributed leading to massive OOS in top outlets.

Deploying a trained team, enabled with our FRAMe reporting tool, we were able to empower the sales team to quickly sell-in the right SKUs in the right stores and raise sales by over 50% within a 6-month timeframe.  

The longer-term outcome of this one single customer experience was an improvement in shelf placement, additional visibility and placement opportunities and expansion of coverage for merchandising to a far larger geography and store count with an over 25% sales growth

While this is one incidence, our engagements tell us that combining professional merchandising with technology can deliver 18-25% higher same-store growth and consistent push back on competitive activities to preserve strength in the category and channel.

The power of data-driven merchandising stems from its ability to make the invisible visible. POPAI’s 2024 research shows 76% of purchase decisions happen in-store, driven by things like product placement and visibility. Still, without solid data, brands are essentially guessing.

At PPMS, our FRAMeIQ module goes further by using deep data analytics to create audit summaries and predictive compliance scores.

Building an In-House Edge

Developing this capacity necessitated building in-house technology capabilities ahead of the curve. PPMS deployed technology as early as 2008.

Housed within a subsidiary, Fieldlytics, our team has worked to build an entirely proprietary digital ecosystem for our company. HRMS and Training, Payroll, Field Operations, Finance and Retailer DBT all use our home-grown platform, and as such, we can eliminate all dependencies that could potentially hinder our ability to provide customers with rapid response times, maintain secure systems, and achieve full compliance.

It allows us to customize FRAMe for diverse channels; from general trade playbooks focused on high-frequency visits to modern trade strategies emphasizing retail integrations where data is shared with clients live.

While data provides the foundation, the people-first mentality is equally important. Our workforce of over 15,000 employees includes a diverse workforce that has a women workforce of over 40%. Career opportunities for our teams are measured in terms of how many of our people have grown internally. In numbers that stands at almost 70% plus of all tiered roles coming from within the organization.

The Road Ahead

With the confluence of data from all streams merging, signals from the information can be intertwined to create predictive solutions for sell-in, drive better assortment in stores, plan journeys for merchandisers and salesmen to improve instore execution, predict availability, stocking and promotions for hyperlocal events, etc.

For brands navigating India’s changing retail landscape, the message is clear. Invest in platforms that convert shelf insights into measurable growth. At PPMS, we’ve seen this drive consistent 18-25% same-store uplifts for clients.

As we pioneer the next wave, from mobile reporting in 2008 to AI audits in 2026, the opportunity is immense. By embracing data-driven merchandising, we don’t just stock shelves; we build resilient, high-performing retail ecosystems that thrive amid change.

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