Infosys launches sales platform TradeEdge

Infosys today announced the launch of TradeEdge, an insights-driven sales platform that would provide visibility to global brands across the demand chain – from distributors to consumers.

The cloud-based platform will help brands accurately sense and fulfil consumer demand while significantly improving sales and operational performance, Infosys chairman N R Narayana Murthy told reporters in Bangalore today.

''TradeEdge provides brands one of the most affordable ways to expand reach in the emerging markets.''

He said, the new platform would have a range of innovative features that would empower brands to enhance collaboration by allowing companies and distributors to exchange accurate and timely information regarding sales, inventory and products.

It would also expand reach by onboarding distributors rapidly in weeks as against months, via a cloud-based ERP system, while rolling out best practices across markets within hours.

"For global brands, the next billion consumers will come from the emerging markets. To accelerate profitable growth, brands need to know these markets better, reach customers faster and do so at lower costs," Infosys vice-president and global head - products, platforms and solution, Sanjay Purohit said.

TradeEdge, according to the company:

• Will help improve product placement and maximize return on promotions through visual merchandising by providing insights into 'share of shelf ' at a fraction of audit costs;
• Reduce wastage and returns of temperature-sensitive products with an innovative solution that monitors the temperature and location of cooling units;
• Enable unserved retailers to order and pay for products in a cost-effective manner using basic mobile phones;
• Reduce ordering costs by up to 80 per cent with suggested orders that provide recommendations based on historical data and forecasts; and
• Minimise selling costs by helping the distributor sales force to prioritize store visits based on value, accelerate order acquisition, and increase store coverage by up to 15 per cent.

Designed from the ground up for the emerging markets, Infosys TradeEdge has been helping 10 global brands gain visibility into sales opportunities worth over $20 billion in more than 70 countries, Murthy said.

Quoting Procter and Gamble vice president of global business services Andy Walter, Murthy pointed out that visibility into distributor demand was a key driver to accelerate growth in the emerging markets. P&G and Infosys co-created Distributor Connect, an end-to-end solution that helped connect with P&G distributors and facilitated easy exchange of information, he added.