Transforming 3M Trade Marketing
The Client
3M —a Fortune 500 titan (#175 in 2025) with annual revenues of approximately US$ 24.6 billion— is a global leader in applied science and technology. Its extensive portfolio of over 60,000 products—ranging from Post-it® Notes to industrial and safety solutions—drives its presence across multiple industries.
A core pillar of its growth strategy lies in excellence at the point of sale: ensuring maximum visibility, availability, and flawless execution across thousands of hardware stores and distributors—turning R&D into tangible, sustainable revenue.
The Challenge
Before digitization, field activities were manual and fragmented:
- Representatives relied on paper forms and external cameras.
- Routes were not optimized, wasting time and fuel.
- Surveys changed every campaign, forcing labor-intensive data processing.
- Photos of shelves and POP materials lacked traceability.
- Share-of-shelf KPIs took weeks to compile.
3M needed an offline-capable mobile solution that combined intelligent routing, photographic evidence, and real-time reporting—fully integrated with its corporate CRM.
The Solution
Tech stack used:
We built a tablet-first application covering the end-to-end trade-marketing cycle: planning, visit, data capture, and analytics.
Key Benefits
- Optimized routes: supervisors load predefined circuits; reps can also create "on-the-go" routes with efficiency suggestions—cutting travel time and fuel.
- Comprehensive visit logging:
- Automatic check-in/out and visit duration.
- Structured comments.
- Compressed photos (POP, shelves, competition, out-of-stocks) with offline sync.
- Dynamic surveys managed in the backend, exportable to CSV/Excel and visualized in Power BI.
- Interactive catalog & orders: real-time prices and stock; reps place orders directly from the product view.
- Full synchronization: custom API pushes data to 3M's CRM the moment connectivity is available.
See it in action
Impact
Testimonials
The difference is dramatic!
Promoters arrive with an optimized route, capture photos and surveys in minutes, and data is instantly available at headquarters. We cut fuel costs, eliminated paper, and—most importantly—know exactly how our brands and competitors perform on every shelf. This solution didn't just improve the process, it redefined it.
Key Differentiators
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Dynamic Campaign Engine:
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Offline-first architecture:
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End-to-end visibility:
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AI-ready backbone:
Ready to see it in action?
Or do you have a specific challenge in your sales practice or institution?
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