Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, world leader in 3D design software, 3D Digital Mock Up and 
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced that General Mills France, a subsidiary of General Mills, one of the world’s leading food companies, is deploying the “Perfect Shelf” industry solution experience to engage in new merchandising strategies for its Häagen-Dazs premium brand of ice cream. In a product category driven by impulse purchases, “Perfect Shelf” enables General Mills France to better collaborate with retailers, enhance the consumer shopping experience and accelerate brand growth.
General Mills France looked to inject innovation into the retail ice cream category by offering a differentiated and expanded Häagen-Dazs product line. In March 2015, the company launched new ice cream stick bars in five flavors, developed following two years of consumer feedback, and wanted a powerful category management solution to support the project.
Few shoppers plan to buy ice cream before reaching the store. Out of 120 product categories, ice cream is the 27th most impulsive purchase[1], and around 75 percent of category sales occur during the summer. As a result, market growth relies heavily on product innovation—more than 80 new products are introduced on store shelves each year. In addition to new flavors and formats, brands and retailers must consider strategic store aisle placement, shelving and product visibility to inspire consumer purchases.
Based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, “Perfect Shelf” helps General Mills France demonstrate category merchandising expertise to retailers by recommending shelving scenarios, based on shopper research, that enhance its brand and increase the retailer’s category revenue.
Leveraging advanced, cloud-based 3D modeling and visualization applications, General Mills France collaborates with mass-market retailers to provide realistic views of store aisles including shelves, fixtures, products, lighting and promotional materials, along with an immersive shopping experience from a consumer perspective. In this 3DEXPERIENCE universe, changes and approvals of assortment, product positioning, signage and promotional displays are made in real time, facilitating how they collaborate.
“We selected ‘Perfect Shelf’ to help us shape a new vision for the ice cream category and achieve shelving-related growth solutions for our clients,” said Stanislas de Maleissye, Director, Category Trade Management, General Mills France. “This collaborative solution brings a new and innovative dimension to category management; we’ve only just begun to use ‘Perfect Shelf.’ Tomorrow, this solution will show its full potential, from product marketing design to its positioning at the core of retailers’ merchandising strategies.”
“Dassault Systèmes’ ‘Perfect Shelf’ industry solution experience was designed to help leading consumer packaged goods companies better collaborate with their customers, and deploy winning merchandising strategies faster,” said Philippe Loeb, Vice President, Consumer Packaged Goods & Retail Industry, Dassault Systèmes. “With the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud, the shopping experience design process is more collaborative and takes place significantly faster, with greater extent and flexibility and at lower cost.”
For more information on Dassault Systèmes’ industry solution experiences for consumer packaged goods and retail: http://www.3ds.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods-retail/
