If a consumer’s preferred product is not available on-shelf, there’s a high possibility they will make choose an alternative. So, for FMCG brands, being out-of-stock is bad news. Here, TELUS Consumer Goods’ global sales director Mark Hamilton-Bowker outlines the challenge and some key solutions.
Manufacturers have lost significant revenue simply because they couldn’t react fast enough to problems on-shelf.
When a particular product isn’t visible at the moment a shopper makes their purchase decision, brand loyalty becomes irrelevant. Now, TELUS Consumer Goods’ 2026 Food & Beverage Study of 3,000 global consumers reveals the scale of this challenge: 45% of consumers will switch to a different brand when their desired product is out of stock.
For brands operating in the UK, the stakes are even higher. A staggering 60% of UK consumers decide on brands at the shelf, which is the highest rate globally. They also display the highest rate of brand switching. If a product isn’t on the shelf, perfectly priced and properly displayed, brands can be sure that their competitors will gladly take that sale.
The forces driving shelf-level switching
Understanding why consumers switch is just as important as knowing that they do. Right now, three powerful forces are overhauling the FMCG landscape: economic pressure, price war fatigue, and loyalty erosion.
When a shopper finds their usual product out of stock, they evaluate the alternatives based on a highly specific set of regional priorities:
● The pursuit of value and size: Price is the number one consideration; however, 38% of consumers rank pack size as a top three factor in decision-making. Value perceptions are heavily driven by pack size.
● The sustainability premium: Sustainable packaging is a key brand switching driver; in fact, 40% are willing to switch for it, and 45% are willing to pay more for it.
● The Gen Z impulse: Gen Z are in-store deciders who make impulsive choices. They are flavour-first disruptors who are willing to spend up to £7 on a new food, drink, or snack product without a sale.
For field sales teams, this data is a roadmap.
It means that ensuring shelf compliance isn’t just about stocking boxes, it’s about making sure that a brand’s right-sized packs are prominent, the messaging is visible, and the limited-time flavours are front and centre to capture impulsive switchers.
Moving beyond manual shelf audits
Yet this isn’t just a shelf presence problem, it’s a speed problem. Traditional retail execution software relies on manual audits, and data that is frequently days out of date.
While field representatives count products by hand, customers are making purchase decisions in seconds. The most effective solutions bridge this gap by combining artificial intelligence (AI) with real-time visibility, identifying problems and enabling teams to fix them before sales are lost.
Achieve real-time shelf visibility with image recognition technology
Image recognition, built directly into TELUS Retail Execution, changes how field teams capture and act on shelf-level data. Instead of manual counting, representatives simply photograph the shelves. AI-powered analysis then generates accurate compliance reports in minutes.
This technology identifies critical opportunities where revenue is often left on the table:
● Out-of-stocks: Immediate visibility into missing products enables reps to resolve issues quickly, capturing the 45% of shoppers ready to jump ship.
● Planogram compliance gaps: Real-time shelf layout analysis identifies misplacements that reduce your brand’s visibility. This ensures premium placement for the pack sizes and sustainable packaging that shoppers actively look for.
● Pricing errors: Instant price verification catches mistakes that erode margins and damage retailer relationships.
● Promotional execution failures: Automated display tracking ensures promotional materials, signage, and displays for sales and trials are in place to grab the attention of in-store deciders.
With a data-driven approach, your team can be far more strategic. Field representatives can address specific, actionable issues while they are still in the store, rather than discovering problems days later through delayed reports.
Drive results with AI-powered insights
AI takes shelf-level visibility to the next level by processing image data to generate immediate recommendations. By analysing photos in real-time, the system identifies exactly what needs fixing and prioritises actions based on their impact on the product’s bottom line.
Consider a typical store visit: a field representative photographs the nut butter section and the system immediately flags that a premium SKU is out of stock, the promotional end cap display highlighting a new flavour is missing, and pricing is incorrect on the shelf tag. The system prioritises the out-of-stock situation first, then guides the rep through resolving all three issues before they even leave the store.
This level of intelligence enables sales teams to:
● Cut audit times: Photo analysis replaces manual counting, freeing time for selling activities.
● Fix issues on the spot: Real-time analysis means problems get resolved during the store visit, not days later.
● Verify brand differentiation: Using real-time execution monitoring enables key insights into a product’s in-store performance and confirms that POS materials highlighting its key attributes are present and positioned correctly.
● Work offline: Always-on intelligence ensures field reps complete store visits efficiently, even in regions with variable connectivity.
Transform retail execution with TELUS Image recognition
The retail landscape continues to evolve, making real-time execution capabilities increasingly important. In-store execution is critical in the UK. Manufacturers who invest in comprehensive retail execution solutions today position themselves to protect revenue, defend their brand equity, and capture the growth opportunities that others miss.
About the author
Mark Hamilton-Bowker, Global Sales Director at TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods, is dedicated to helping brands across EMEA to optimise their retail execution strategy. To see firsthand how TELUS Retail Execution can transform your operations and drive sales results, book a demo: telus.com/agcg/contact.
