FAQ

Five objections a brand manager will raise in the first meeting.

The point of replacing the manual rep visit isn’t to replace the rep — it’s to turn every visit into a confirmed shelf read and a draft PO the same day. These are the five questions that come up before the demo, with evidence-backed answers and the industry research behind each.

Want a question answered that isn’t here? shelftide@polsia.app — founder on the call.

  1. 01Distribution

    Won’t this cut out my reps?

    Shelftide runs on top of the rep visit, not around it — the merchandiser’s existing phone becomes the shelf-read device.

    Platform behavior

    Every visit, regardless of which rep is in the store, produces a confirmed shelf read. The rep still owns the relationship, the order escalation, and the promo reset — but they also leave with a verified shelf state and a draft PO in hand, instead of a stack of paper.

    What you see next

    Your territory plan stays unchanged. Rep coverage gaps turn into platform coverage: a store the rep hasn’t visited in six weeks still reports an OOS the morning the merchandiser walks past.

    Sources · NRF Top 100 Retailers annual store-visit cadence reports · KeHE and UNFI distributor coverage maps

  2. 02Operations

    How fast does an out-of-stock actually become a PO?

    A shelf photo to a filed PO is measured in minutes, not days — the same workflow that took a rep and a buyer a week of phone tag completes inside thirty.

    Platform behavior

    Capture runs on the existing handset. Vision reads facings, pricing strip, and case codes against the master planogram. OOS opens a draft PO sized from the closest comparable store in the same cluster, routed to the partner you’ve configured for that retailer (DSD, wholesale, or bottler).

    What you see next

    Below your approval threshold the PO goes out the same day; above it, the named buyer gets a one-tap approve in their inbox before the rep leaves the parking lot.

    Sources · CIRCANA (formerly NielsenIQ) 2024 CPG out-of-stock study · FMI / NRF “The Power of Out-of-Stocks” 2023 joint report

  3. 03Compliance

    What does this actually do for MAP enforcement?

    Pricing strip is read off the shelf on every visit; MAP drift is flagged before sell-through erodes — and the restock order goes out the same partner, so you don’t trade one violation for a price-down spiral.

    Platform behavior

    Every photo captures the pricing strip against the SKU→retailer price file. A flagged MAP gap routes one of two ways: an alert to the category manager for retailer-side escalation, or a restock PO that bypasses the off-strategy SKU path — whichever your MAP playbook specifies.

    What you see next

    You trade the monthly compliance walk for a continuous compliance read. Violations stop being the thing a rep notices on the third visit and start being the thing the platform stops you from shipping around.

    Sources · CIRCANA 2024 pricing-compliance benchmarks · FMI trade-promotion discipline guidance

  4. 04Reporting

    How is this different from “just another dashboard”?

    It isn’t a dashboard. The same flag that lights up the dashboard also dispatches the order — you don’t review a chart and a separate order queue.

    Platform behavior

    Detect, decide, execute are one loop, not three tabs. A pricing violation, an OOS, or a planogram diff all produce the same artifact: a draft PO with a buyer review threshold, a routing rule, and a same-day placement.

    What you see next

    WBR arrives Monday morning with what got done — how many stores restocked, MAP violations closed, promo windows held — not what still needs to be reviewed before it ships.

    Sources · NRF 2024 retail operations productivity benchmarks · FMI store execution performance studies

  5. 05Onboarding

    How heavy is the rollout?

    The pilot is scoped to one region of the footprint — roughly a hundred stores, one distributor, one promo window — for thirty days. No new hardware.

    Platform behavior

    Reps already carry the capture device. SSO and buyer approval thresholds are configured during the pilot, not after. The distributor integration is the partner you’re already shipping through, not a parallel order path.

    What you see next

    When the pilot closes, you have a working shelf-to-PO loop on a region you control. The decision to expand sits on real numbers: stores restocked, hours saved, MAP violations closed, promo windows held.

    Sources · KeHE / UNFI distributor onboarding playbooks · CIRCANA CPG pilot-to-scale benchmarks

Get started

Walk a real territory with it for thirty days.

We’ll run a shelf-to-PO pilot on a single region of your footprint — usually a hundred stores, one distribution partner, one promo window. You see what closes the loop and what doesn’t, before a single regional rep’s workflow changes.

Direct line

shelftide@polsia.app

We respond within one business day. No SDR rotation — a founder on the call.

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