The Salesforce playbook for retail and consumer goods.
Retail and consumer goods sit at the intersection of physical inventory, digital channels, and shopper data. The winners have unified DTC, wholesale, and retailer data into one customer profile, automated trade promotion and account planning, and built AI-augmented merchandising on top of clean sell-through data.
- 13 chapters
- 5 Salesforce products in depth
- 14-point readiness checklist
- 9,983 words
What's inside.
Written by our Salesforce consultants for retail and consumer goods. Read it start to finish or go straight to the chapter you need.
Salesforce in retail and consumer goods: where it pays off
6 patterns that work, and the stack we typically deploy.
The challenges Salesforce has to solve
The 6 problems a design has to solve, plus 4 methods we use on them.
Which Salesforce products fit, and how
Salesforce Service Cloud, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce Data 360 (Data Cloud), Salesforce Sales Cloud, Salesforce Field Service: use cases, data model and buyer questions for each.
How to implement it
Who needs to be in the room, what the first release includes, and the questions to settle before kickoff.
Moving from your current system
What moves from your current system, how to plan it, and the decisions to make early.
The systems to connect
10 systems to connect and what flows between them.
Regulation and compliance
6 rules and obligations the design has to account for.
Readiness checklist
14 decisions to make before you sign a statement of work.
What to measure
6 metrics to baseline before the build, with a worksheet.
After go-live: support and health checks
What ongoing support covers and when to run a health check.
If a project has stalled
How stalled projects get back on track, and how to get more from the org you have.
Where the industry is concentrated, and local guides
local guides for 29 metros.
Next steps
Free assessments and how to reach a consultant.
From the readiness checklist.
Three of the 14 decisions the playbook asks you to make before you sign a statement of work. The full checklist, with the rest of the playbook, is in the PDF.
Get the full playbook →- Plan for volume earlyLarge numbers of consumer profiles, orders and store records affect storage costs, performance and reporting. Decide which data lives in Salesforce, which stays in Data 360 (formerly Data Cloud) or a warehouse, and how history is archived. Retrofitting the architecture after launch is expensive and disruptive.
- Respect consumer privacy lawState privacy laws and marketing rules govern consent, access requests and data sharing. Build preference management and data subject request handling into the design, and keep payment card data out of Salesforce to avoid widening PCI DSS scope. Specific duties vary by state, so counsel signs off on the approach.
- Protect peak selling seasonsHoliday and launch periods are no time for system changes. Agree a change freeze calendar with the business, schedule releases and training outside it, and make sure the support model is ready for peak volume. A shaky rollout during peak damages both sales and customer trust.
The Salesforce products it covers.
Each product chapter covers use cases, how the data is modeled and the questions buyers ask. Shorter versions are on our site.
- Salesforce Service Cloud for Retail and Consumer GoodsService Cloud lets retailers and consumer brands answer shoppers with the order, the product and the loyalty profile already on screen.
- Salesforce Marketing Cloud for Retail and Consumer GoodsMarketing Cloud lets retailers and consumer brands send messages triggered by real shopping behavior rather than a fixed promotional calendar.
- Salesforce Data 360 for Retail and Consumer GoodsData 360 (formerly Data Cloud) brings together shopper data that retailers and consumer brands collect in separate systems: point-of-sale transactions, ecommerce orders, loyalty activity, email engagement, service history and website behavior.
- Salesforce Sales Cloud for Retail and Consumer GoodsIn retail and consumer goods, Sales Cloud serves the wholesale side of the business: brands selling to retail chains, distributors, specialty stores and foodservice operators.
- Salesforce Field Service for Retail and Consumer GoodsField Service helps retailers and consumer goods companies manage work that happens outside the distribution center.
Who wrote it.
Abstrakt Solutions is a Salesforce Select partner based in St. Louis, with 108 Salesforce certifications, 7 Salesforce accreditations and a 4.95 out of 5 rating from 92 reviews on Salesforce AgentExchange (formerly AppExchange).
The playbook draws on the guidance we publish for retail and consumer goods.
