CrowdSystems Company Profile

Background

Overview:
CrowdSystems, established in 2012, specializes in retail analytics and consumer research through crowdsourcing methodologies. The company leverages a network of active consumers and advanced IT solutions to enhance the efficiency of retail and communication activities for its partners.

Mission and Vision:
CrowdSystems aims to provide real-time data collection and analytics, enabling clients to make swift, informed decisions that optimize marketing and sales investments.

Industry Significance:
By integrating crowdsourced data collection with sophisticated analytics, CrowdSystems offers a unique approach to retail audits and consumer research, setting a new standard in the industry.

Key Strategic Focus

Core Objectives:

Retail Audit: Providing immediate visibility of trade activities on a national scale, allowing clients to collect and consolidate field data rapidly and share results with stakeholders for prompt corrective actions.

Consumer Research: Utilizing a panel of smartphone users to gather feedback during product or service interactions, confirmed through visual and audio data.

Specialization Areas:

Merchandising: Monitoring distribution, product layout, shelf share, pricing, and competitors' activities.

Point of Sale Materials (POSM): Assessing availability, usage, and equipment checks.

Below the Line (BTL) Activities: Evaluating promotional starts, uniform compliance, brief knowledge, and promotional activity results.

Above the Line (ATL) Activities: Overseeing outdoor, in-store, and metro ad placements.

Key Technologies:

TopMission App: A smartphone application enabling local consumers to collect information, which is then analyzed through an online analytics platform.

Primary Markets:

Retail Chains: Monitoring distribution, product stock, product layout, special offers, and price tags.

Promotional Personnel: Overseeing promotional starts, uniform compliance, brief knowledge, and promotional activity results.

Financials and Funding

Funding History:

Seed Round (December 2013): Raised $300,000.

Series A (May 2014): Secured $1 million led by InVenture Partners.

Utilization of Capital:

The funds have been allocated to further develop the platform and broaden the range of tools for data mining.

Technological Platform and Innovation

Proprietary Technologies:

TopMission App: Enables real-time data collection from consumers, facilitating rapid analysis and decision-making.

Scientific Methodologies:

Crowdsourcing: Utilizing a network of consumers to gather field data, ensuring diverse and extensive data collection.

Advanced Analytics Platform: Allows for immediate analysis of collected data, supporting swift corrective actions.

Leadership Team

Dmitry Bezyzvestnykh: Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer.

Nikolay Grachev: Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer.

Competitor Profile

Market Insights and Dynamics:

The crowd management software market is experiencing growth driven by increasing demand for enhanced safety measures, operational efficiency at large-scale events, and technological advancements enabling smarter crowd control solutions.

Competitor Analysis:

Twentify: A venture capital-backed company based in Istanbul, Turkey, specializing in crowdsourced data collection.

Field Agent: A venture capital-backed company located in Fayetteville, AR, focusing on mobile audits and research.

ThirdChannel: A private equity-backed company in Denver, CO, offering retail intelligence solutions.

Strategic Collaborations and Partnerships

CrowdSystems collaborates with a community of active consumers and employs up-to-date IT solutions to assist partners in increasing efficiency in their retail and communication activities.

Operational Insights

Competitive Advantages:

National Coverage: Direct contact with consumers in over 1,500 locations and a comprehensive database of outlets.

Speed: Real-time data submission and prompt correction of identified issues via SMS and email alerts.

Data Quality: Automated data consolidation into online analytics, validated by photographs, GPS coordinates, and timestamps, with multi-level data moderation.

Analytics: Online access to analytics without the need for software installation, offering advanced analysis by survey results, geography, and respondent profiles, with integration into customers' BI systems and a hierarchy of access rights.

Strategic Opportunities and Future Directions

CrowdSystems plans to expand its services to non-chain retail outlets by encouraging small shop vendors to use its ShopConnect application, which allows for ordering out-of-stock items and provides recommendations on product placement. The company aims to increase the number of participating stores from 2,000 to 400,000. Additionally, CrowdSystems is focusing on increasing the number of studies for existing FMCG clients and plans to actively expand into Europe, with current operations in Poland expected to account for 8–10% of revenue by the end of 2017.