VST Becomes Vazen

London company VST (Virtual Store Trials) has changed its name to Vazen, reflecting the extension of its offering beyond the original scope. The firm says the biggest change came as recently as this year, with improvements in the reliability and security of AI applied to highly curated retail data tables.

VST was established in 2017 with the aim of applying modern software techniques to store trials to benefit FMCG retailers, CPG brands and shoppers. Its offer includes virtual shelf and pack testing, planogram visualization and planogram data analytics for shopper insights and category management teams. CEO and founder Nick Theodore says that gradually the requests of client partners have led to the development of systems to Ingest planogram data and shopper behavioural data 'at an industrial scale' from retailers and CPGs, totalling millions of rows of mostly unstructured data, every week.

According to Theodore, the most recent advancements in AI constitute 'the biggest step forward I've seen in my time in the industry... tech-enablement for teams at its absolute pinnacle.' He adds: '
AI became good enough to reason reliably over curated retail data. Point a model at a messy feed and you get confident nonsense. Point one at nine years of structured, row-level-verifiable data and you get analysis your team would usually wait weeks for, delivered in minutes... It feels like the right time for a new name.'

Team, ownership, partners and methods will all remain the same as the name changes, while product names - Coplan, Studio, Testing and the new Asl Vazen - change to reflect the company rebrand.

Web site now at www.vazen.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.