In France, managers of petrol station Total have been equipped with camera phones to send pictures proving that Danone products sold in the station shops are shelved according to the merchandising norms imposed by the dairy (and water and biscuits, etc) producer: particular products have to be displayed at eye-level in a certain way, for example.

Managers must send several times a day an MMS showing the shelves. A call centre examines the photo. If the location of the product does not respect the contract, an employee contacts the manager of the petrol station in order to correct the “mistake”.

The MMS solution is much faster and less expensive than sending an inspector to patrol the stations.

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