Pensa Hires CPG Veteran Mollie DeBrie to Fulfill Increasing Demand for Advanced Retail Shelf Intelligence

By STS News Desk On Aug 19, 2021

Pensa Granted Patent for AI That Can Identify On-Shelf Retail Products at Scale While Maintaining High Data Accuracy

Stockouts are costing CPG brands more than ever amidst ongoing supply chain disruptions, shifting consumer preferences and ecommerce competition

Pensa Systems, a leading innovator in the automated use of computer vision and artificial intelligence for retail in-store data and analytics, today announced the appointment of a senior revenue leader who will help the company fulfill increasing demand from major brand manufacturers. As Vice President of Sales, Mollie DeBrie will lead sales and go-to-market for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies and will rapidly expand Pensa’s CPG sales force.

CPG brands and retailers alike are looking for the best answer to the nearly two trillion dollar problem of stockouts. At any given time, roughly one in 10 products – one in five for certain product categories – is missing from the shelf. This is driving brand and retailer demand for Pensa’s accurate and comprehensive real-time shelf data and analytics.

DeBrie is a veteran of Kraft Foods and Hormel, as well as market research leaders Numerator (InfoScout), IRI and Sense360. She has decades of experience helping brands increase shopper penetration, accelerate profitable revenue growth and increase market share.

“The Pensa system is uniquely effective at detecting stockouts and bringing the shelf online in the new omni-channel world, and that’s driving up demand for our syndicated shelf data,” said Pensa President and CEO Richard Schwartz. “That’s why I am so excited to bring aboard Mollie, an industry veteran with deep experience and expertise in helping CPG brands solve their biggest challenges.”

Pensa is a patented, cloud-based automated perception solution that utilizes AI and computer vision to deliver accurate real-time shelf data and analytics. Syndicating the data makes it available for CPG brands and their retailer partners to continuously monitor performance of the actual store shelf to maximize revenue and improve customer satisfaction without expensive custom or long-lead-time efforts. Pensa’s continuous shelf data capture is device-independent and includes mobile devices and autonomous drones.

Over the past year, Pensa has seen significant growth as evidenced by expanded relationships with customers such as Johnson & Johnson, General Mills and Circle K; and its raise of $11 million in Series A venture capital funding, led by ATX Venture Partners with the addition of corporate investor Circle K Ventures, part of Alimentation Couche-Tard. Pensa’s footprint has also recently expanded across multiple retail formats and regions, including leading grocery, drugstore and convenience channels.

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