Optimizing Field Sales Operations: A Case Study of SODIS and Nomadia

• Equipment & Machinery
• Retail

• Sales & Marketing

• Personnel Tracking & Monitoring
• Vehicle Telematics

SODIS, a subsidiary of the McCormick Group and a major field marketing player, was facing challenges in managing and optimizing the routes of its 150 field sales promoters who cover the whole of France. The promoters were organized into 20 regional teams and made more than 120,000 store visits a year, covering a distance of around 5 million kilometers. The company was seeking to optimize these routes to reduce mileage and time spent on the road, thereby increasing efficiency, productivity, and working comfort. Additionally, SODIS needed accurate and relevant data to respond efficiently to the objectives of the Ducros and Vahiné brands and offer their customers the best quality service. The call schedules were initially generated from the sales staff’s experience of the ground, but SODIS wanted to automate route planning and obtain a comprehensive analysis of the information on field sales promotion staff movements.

SODIS is a subsidiary of the McCormick Group, a world leader in flavors. Established in 1984, SODIS is a major field marketing player specialized in managing and optimizing shelf space for the Ducros and Vahiné brands. The company’s aim is to promote these brands’ new products and to make it easy for shoppers to find the spices, peppers and other baking ingredient products they need in more than 4,500 stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets throughout France. The company has around 280 employees, with 150 field sales staff covering the whole of France, making around 120,000 in-store visits per year.

SODIS turned to Nomadia and deployed TourSolver, a software solution that automates and optimizes route plan management. This tool, piloted from the company’s geomarketing cell, enabled SODIS to define optimized call plans. In certain regions, productivity gains of up to 15% in journey time and 20% lower mileage were achieved. A few months after implementing TourSolver, SODIS decided to complement the solution with the advanced Territory Manager sectoring solution. This provided an overall view of the call sectors and standardized headcount allocation by region. The additional analysis also made it possible to define route organization on a larger scale and better balance field employee workload in the various sectors. Encouraged by its success, SODIS now wants to extract greater benefit from geomarketing tools to optimize its day-to-day activities.

• The implementation of TourSolver and Territory Manager solutions by Nomadia has significantly improved the operational efficiency of SODIS. The solutions have not only optimized the routes of the field sales promoters, reducing their travel time and mileage, but also improved their working conditions. The solutions have also provided SODIS with accurate and relevant data, enabling it to respond efficiently to the objectives of the Ducros and Vahiné brands and offer their customers the best quality service. Furthermore, the solutions have enabled SODIS to better define the locations where future employees will be recruited and schedule field routes to replace employees when they are on vacation.

• Productivity gains of up to 15% in journey time
• 20% lower mileage
• Standardized headcount allocation by region