How a Cosmetic giant’s

solving Merchandising

challenges is impacting

its entire supply chain

as game changer.

Shahnaz Husain

HQ: Delhi, India

The Shahnaz Husain Group is an Indian manufacturer of herbal cosmetics. A brand which

operates in more than 175 countries, exports its herbal treatments to more than 400 beauty

centers worldwide and has over 375 products for beauty and health care.

Shahnaz Husain is the founder, chairperson and managing director of The Shahnaz Husain

Group in India. She has received international acclaim for pioneering the Herbal beauty care

movement and taking the Indian herbal heritage of Ayurveda worldwide. In 2006, she was

awarded the prestigious Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of

India for her contribution to the fields of trade and industry.

Overview

Being one of the Top 10 Leading Cosmetics Brand in India, Shahnaz Husain wants to take

business to the next level. Field execution is going Digital. In vogue with the trend – seeks to

harness the power of AI and Automation to increase not only its business but also its market

share.

Goal

Automation of Sales Field Force which leads to Increased Efficiency and Business Growth.

Unlike FMCG, Cosmetics Industry has its own beauty of challenges. In order to solution better

– one needs to understand better, thus begin the journey.

We went into the field to study closely and identify all

data points which influence the desired outcome.

Starting from the Suppliers going via the Sales Team till

the Consumers. Last but not the least, the cross

functional teams in the Org.

SUPPLIER CUSTOMER

Discovery

Sales Operations cover 3 distinct layers a) Primary b) Secondary and c) Merchandising.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To imitate someone is to pay the person a genuine

compliment. But in this case, because Products Imitations in the market have direct impact to

Cosmetic business, Brand and trust - this needs to be prevented at all cost.

Nearly 300 different Products in portfolio, which can be combined for personalization.

1+ hours per day of Field Time consumed in non-selling/administrative tasks by leads/managers

is a concern.

If x no.of people cover Primary and Secondary, then close to 7x are involved in Merchandising.

Product and Consumer handling leads to High Touch point with end consumers.

Leveraging on Merchandising becomes key to achieving Organization’s desired goal.

Above discovery led to Merchandising becoming priority, hence the Challenge:

How to make it easy for promoters/merchandisers to Merchandise and influence Consumer’s Buying Decisions.

The Solution

IMPLEMENTED IMPACT RESULT

Tertiary Sales

This enabled promoters to log their

Promoters turned more accountable to
Month-over-Month(MOM)

Sale numbers and revenue. self as their efforts became easily

Tertiary Sales grew by 3.2%.

recognised now.

Product Catalogue

Product Images, USPs/Customer

Not only Promoters confidence but also
200+ Customers shared their name,

handling Training Content made

Consumer’s trust in the brand and phone no.s with their Promoters.

available on a click. quality of relationship with their

Consumer <->Brand Direct Connect

promoter Increased. established.

Attendance / EOD marking @

Disciplining in store time without time
Improved Promoter’s in-store time.

Retailer Location consuming manual effort by Leads.

Leads/Managers gained ~20% time in

field by avoiding non-productive/admin

tasks.

Retailer Stock Handling Automatic Stock update.

Real Time Stock count/value at

Automated Ease of maintaining Stock count when

Retailer maintained all time ->

line items are close to 300+.

Time Saved -> Preventing Stock

Product duplication being monitored by

Outs -> Secondary Sales grew by

checking Secondary In vs Tertiary Out.

3.2%.

Secondary Sales Having covered all Data points in the

Beginning to drive business via

field, Pulse of Secondary business

KRAs/KPIs.

available real time.