Page 14 - Logistics News - September - October 2021

O P I N ION

Right data critical to

clean ‘line of sight’

By Andrew Dawson, MD at MACmobile

The right data is critical to clean ‘line of sight’ into the entire supply chain.

‘ ine of sight’ in the supply chain has taken run on a cash basis, making it easy to bypass these
Many spaza customers are unbanked and retailers
on a new meaning in the age of artificial
Lintelligence (AI) and machine learning devices. In addition, they may not wish for their true
(ML). Rather than simply tracking stock movements revenue to be identifiable, or they may not want the
and using this data to attempt to influence the end manufacturer or wholesaler to see their pricing and
consumer to buy a product, there is now massive stock movements. This then obscures ‘line of sight’,
investment in trying to ‘own’ the retailer from a since the data is incomplete and potentially inaccurate.
data perspective. The focus has shifted to tracking The view into the ecosystem is noisy and the insight
everything retailers sell and who they sell to, preferably into the end of the supply chain is not necessarily a
in real time. However, while this may work at a formal true reflection. Decisions made based on this data
retail level, in the main market there are challenges therefore cannot be trusted at face value.
that often obscure ‘line of sight’ due to missing data.
Addressing this ‘missing link’ and obtaining the right The missing element
data from throughout the supply chain is key in While trust in point-of-sale data may improve as
gaining clear ‘line of sight’ and realising the true value retailers gain confidence and reassurance around
proposition of data. the technology, currently this is not the ideal way of
obtaining clear ‘line of sight’. Instead, it needs to be
The South African challenge reinforced at a distributor and wholesaler level. At this
Understanding stock movements at a retail level as level, it is possible to gain insight into stock holding,
well as the behaviour of retailers is valuable data. rate of sale and ‘sales in’ numbers for the various
However, the only real way of achieving this currently retailers, including the informal sector. Through
is through specialist point-of-sale devices, and this is
invoicing and delivery data, a comprehensive and clean
L O GI S T I CS NEWS is the human factor – in the main (informal) market, trade can be obtained.
where the market focus currently lies. The problem
version of stock numbers moving into main market
spaza shop owners tend to be selective of what they
Efforts to obtain the missing element of ‘line
run through these point-of-sale devices, for a number
of sight’ into the main market needs to take on a
of reasons.

12 SEP T E MB E R/O CT O B E R 2021 www .l o g ist i csn e w s .c o .z a