College Hill Agencies Ltd

What College Hill Agencies Ltd does

College Hill Agencies Ltd (CHA) is a privately held, New Zealand-owned full-service sales agency headquartered in Auckland that has specialized in the grocery and supermarket channel since its founding in 1988. The company represents consumer packaged goods brands across ambient grocery and chilled/frozen departments within the major NZ supermarket banners — Foodstuffs (North and South Island), Woolworths New Zealand, The Warehouse Group, and Chemist Warehouse — through 15 Senior Territory Managers plus management and merchandising staff distributed across all major NZ regions.

The company's core offering is conventional sales agency work: in-store sales representation, key account management at supermarket head offices, merchandising, shelf management, supply chain support, new product launch execution, and campaign delivery. Its principal technological differentiation is Shelf SCNR, a proprietary machine learning computer vision service that analyzes thousands of shelf images to produce share-of-shelf metrics, planogram compliance heat maps, on-shelf availability integration with scan sales data, and competitive benchmarking by banner, region, cluster, and store. A second sub-brand, EDGE College Hill (launched July 2017), provides dedicated representation specifically for chilled and frozen categories.

Revenue is generated through two streams: commission-based sales agency/ brokerage fees from represented brand principals for in-store execution and key account management, and recurring subscription revenue from the Shelf SCNR analytics service. GTM is sales-led and relationship-driven, with no public pricing, no digital marketing channels, and no disclosed funding rounds. The company is 100% Kiwi owned with a small shareholder group led by Managing Director Richard Clulee, who succeeded founder-acquirer Brian Phillimore in September 2024 after a decade as General Manager.

Name

College Hill Agencies Ltd

Legal name

College Hill Agencies Ltd

Website

https://cha.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

College Hill Agencies Ltd is a privately held New Zealand sales agency, founded in 1988, that represents consumer packaged goods brands across ambient, chilled, and frozen supermarket departments through 15 territory managers and a proprietary ML-based shelf analytics service called Shelf SCNR.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Auckland

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Sales Agency/Brokerage Services: Commission-based representation services for brands in New Zealand supermarkets. Services include in-store sales, key account management, merchandising, supply chain management, and product launch support.
2. Shelf SCNR Technology Service: Proprietary shelf analysis service providing metrics and insights for in-store execution transparency using machine learning image analysis

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

College Hill Agencies is a New Zealand-owned full-service sales agency that represents consumer packaged goods brands in New Zealand supermarkets. The company delivers in-store sales representation, key account management, merchandising, supply chain support, new product launches, and shelf management across ambient, chilled, and frozen grocery departments. Its proprietary Shelf SCNR service uses machine learning image analysis to provide share-of-shelf, planogram compliance, on-shelf availability, and competitive metrics to brand owners.

Product overview

College Hill Agencies Ltd operates as a full-service sales agency specializing in the New Zealand supermarket industry since 1988. The company offers a unified portfolio of services comprising: (1) Shelf SCNR - a proprietary AI-powered shelf analytics service using computer vision and machine learning to analyze shelf images and provide share-of-shelf, planogram compliance, and competitor metrics; (2) EDGE College Hill - a specialized sub-brand focused on chilled and frozen department representation launched July 2017; (3) General Sales Agency Services covering in-store sales, key account management, strategy, merchandising, supply chain management, and campaign execution; and (4) CHA Portal - a secure internal staff access system. The Shelf SCNR technology platform represents the company's key technological differentiation, while EDGE provides specialized cold-chain category expertise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Shelf SCNR: A game changing proprietary service that provides key business decision makers with an unparalleled view of in-store execution using machine learning algorithm to analyze images of brands on shelf.

Products and services

• Shelf SCNR Proprietary shelf analytics service that uses a machine learning algorithm to analyze thousands of images of brands on shelf, delivering share-of-shelf metrics, planogram compliance heat mapping, on-shelf availability data, and competitive store analysis for CPG brand owners selling in New Zealand supermarkets.
• EDGE College Hill Specialized chilled and frozen department sales representation service offering dedicated representatives for perishable product brands, with access to the broader College Hill Agencies team for additional support.
• Grocery Sales Agency Services Full-service grocery sales agency capabilities including in-store sales representation, key account management, brand strategy, merchandising, supply chain management, new product launch support, campaign execution, and customized reporting across ambient and chilled/frozen supermarket departments in New Zealand.

Quantifiable outcome

• 12.3% portfolio growth vs 6.2% industry average and 1.3% generic market growth over two-year period (Aztec data benchmark)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Regional players

• SalesForce (NZ field marketing): NZ-based field sales, merchandising, and mystery shopping services provider working with FMCG brands in supermarket and convenience channels. Direct regional competitor to CHA with overlapping service portfolio in NZ.
• Strikeforce New Zealand: NZ-based field sales and merchandising agency providing in-store execution, merchandising, and sales representation to CPG clients across supermarket and hardware channels. Direct regional competitor to CHA in the NZ market with overlapping services.

Broad incumbents

• Daymon Worldwide: Global private-label and brand management services company operating across retail categories including grocery. Comparable business model as a sales agency serving CPG clients, with broader international footprint than CHA.
• WIS International (now part of Advantage Solutions): Retail merchandising and inventory services provider, now part of Advantage Solutions, serving CPG clients with in-store execution and merchandising support. Comparable to CHA's general sales agency and merchandising offerings.
• Crossmark: Global retail services agency offering headquarter sales, in-store execution, and merchandising for CPG manufacturers. Operates in grocery and convenience channels with a comparable service portfolio to CHA including field sales, category management, and retail insights.
• Acosta Sales & Marketing: North American sales agency providing retail sales, marketing, and merchandising services to CPG clients across grocery, mass, and convenience channels. Same fundamental business model as CHA — commission-based CPG representation in supermarkets — with comparable services in trade marketing and category management.
• Advantage Solutions: Large US-based sales and marketing agency providing headquarter sales, retail merchandising, and in-store execution services to CPG brands across grocery, drug, and mass channels. Directly comparable business model to CHA's core agency offering, but at massive scale and global footprint.

Emerging players

• AFS Technologies: Retail execution and trade promotion software provider offering planogram compliance, shelf analytics, and merchandising solutions for CPG brands and retailers. Competes with CHA's Shelf SCNR on the technology dimension and could potentially expand into field sales services.

Others

• Pigeonly (now Planview): Planogram automation and shelf-management software vendor serving CPG and retail clients. Adjacent competitor to CHA's planogram compliance heat mapping feature within Shelf SCNR.

Direct peers

• Trax (formerly Trax Retail): Singapore-headquartered computer vision and analytics company providing shelf-image recognition, share-of-shelf measurement, and in-store execution insights to CPG brands and retailers globally. Closest direct competitor to CHA's Shelf SCNR product, with substantially greater scale and funding.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/college-hill-agencies-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about College Hill Agencies Ltd