Q&A Blog Interview: Santiago Posada, VP Sales and CS
Tell us about yourself and your journey at Premise.
My career has been a tapestry of growth and evolution for over two decades. At Nielsen, I spent 15 years dedicated to the commercial facet of their business. I honed my skills in fostering key customer relationships and steering analytical teams toward success. Notably, my tenure included a pivotal collaboration with Coca-Cola. After that, I seized an opportunity with Rappi and then transitioned to Meiko, which was later acquired by Premise in 2022.
I joined Meiko because it offered groundbreaking technology in this industry. The ability to identify actionable and granular insights in traditional trade and the scalability to extend that to new cities and countries inspired me to be part of their growth journey.
At Premise, my responsibilities expanded to spearhead global sales initiatives for commercial solutions, including the Execution Intelligence Trackers and Rolling Retail Census. This role presents an exciting opportunity to engage with diverse teams with talent and expertise.
Share your observations of the biggest challenges for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers in growing in traditional trade/emerging markets.
FMCG manufacturers’ primary challenge is effectively executing route-to-market strategies. Innovative approaches and significant investment are required to optimize distribution costs across diverse channels, especially in Latin America and other emerging markets.
Manufacturers must ensure product availability at points of sale, which requires meticulous attention to the differences between each store. Our technology and market research empower our customers to identify opportunities and segment stores based on category potential. Traditionally, the manufacturers lack visibility to store-level information, or the data they receive is outdated. Rolling Retail Census provides rapid and comprehensive insights from product categories down to the SKU level. The brands can capture valuable insights into local retailers’ executions and have actionable, store-level data to improve performance.
What do you see as the next trends in emerging markets in the next three to five years?
The forthcoming trend for brands is to enhance distribution efficiency, whether they operate through direct distribution outlets or collaborate with wholesalers. The brands need to adopt technology that helps them reduce costs per trip by streamlining distribution routes. However, this is very challenging in emerging markets because the manufacturers often do not have up-to-date store information—they don’t know where the just-opened mom-and-pop stores are or whether the products are available in these stores.
This is where Premise comes in. We have granular, actionable data, such as new store locations, emerging neighborhoods, category trends, and store-level SKU insights. With this information, the sales teams can efficiently and effectively understand where and how they partner with the shop owners to execute retail strategies.
What do you believe sets Premise apart from others in the space?
Things change a lot and fast in neighborhoods—there’s always a new store opening or an existing shop going out of business. Imagine your sales teams have eyes and ears in the field and can provide you with the most up-to-date information. That’s what Premise offers our customers. Our Contributors literally walk more than 900 kilometers a day in total in the main cities of Colombia and Mexico. This continuous census methodology enables our customers to identify opportunities to improve their executions, therefore increasing sales. Imagine if your team could be notified about a newly opened gym in an emerging neighborhood and use that information to expand the distribution of sports drink products.