Why Advantage Chose Vision Group as Their Reliable Partner

Overview

Advantage Solutions works with leading consumer goods manufacturers and retailers, providing expertise in space planning and assortment analytics. Their team supports global brands including Unilever, Henkel, Church & Dwight, Pepsi, and Molson Coors.

Stephanie Benson, Director of Space Planning & Assortment Analytics, leads a distributed team that manages planogram development and assortment analysis across the U.S. Her department is designed to handle the cyclical peaks of category reviews, bringing in surge capacity without sacrificing quality.

The Challenge

By 2018, Advantage’s space planning group was expanding rapidly. But their vendor at the time, Syndigo (formerly Gladson), created more headaches than solutions:

• Inaccurate and misclassified product images
• Poor customer support with constant turnover
• Slow, clunky tools that frustrated planners
• Low data match rates across libraries

Stephanie summed up the frustration:

“We were always finding items that were misclassified. It was a mess.”

To keep up with the pace of client demand, Advantage needed a reliable partner that could deliver high-quality product images and accurate dimensional data, at scale.

The Solution

Advantage turned to Vision Group. The decision was driven by three factors:

1. Accuracy and quality:
   A 94–95% match rate on UPCs compared to ~90% with their previous vendor.
2. Ease of Use:
   Omnipix and AirsConnex provided a clean interface and faster updates.
3. Service that Scales:
   Vision Group pre-populated hard drives for 30–40 planogram users nationwide, ensuring the rollout was seamless.

Stephanie highlighted the difference:

“The quality of the images and data we get from Vision Group is so much better than what we had before. It made switching a no-brainer.

Vision Group is easily a 10 out of 10. Jason and Rich have just been phenomenal to work with.”

Results

Since switching, Advantage has:

• Increased Speed to Market:
  The team can turn around urgent planograms quickly, even for unusual categories like pet accessories.
• Scaled Confidently:
  A growing team of 30–40 planners now works from the same accurate, centralized image library.
• Built Client Trust:
  Advantage has confidently supported major manufacturers like Unilever with reliable planogram outputs.
• Referred Vision Group to Others:
  Stephanie frequently recommends Vision Group to peers, and has pushed introductions with Unilever to expand the partnership further.

One example stands out: when Advantage needed images for a small pet accessories client on short notice, Vision Group stepped in immediately.

“They were able to ship all the products in, get them imaged right away, and help us turn the planograms around very quickly.”

Why Vision Group

For Stephanie and her team, the differentiator wasn’t just the technology, it was the partnership.

“If they can do anything at all for us, they’ll jump through hoops to help.”

Vision Group’s combination of accuracy, speed, and hands-on customer service has turned what was once a pain point into a strength.