Examples of 'incomplete' reasons

It can happen that your mission will be sent back to you with a status 'incomplete'. This can be due to a number of reasons. Some of these are listed below. To get an even better understanding of these reasons we've added some detailed examples in this article for you to prevent getting an 'incomplete' mission.

Some of the most common reasons for ‘incomplete’:

• Blurry/angled photos - making us unable to judge the items
• Incorrect displays - make sure to check the type of display we’re looking for
• Insufficient ‘absence’ photos - making us unable to verify the absence of items
• Incorrect use of the shelfscanner - making us unable to process the photos
• Missing requested items/prices - making us unable to verify presence & prices
• Visited the incorrect store - always make sure to check the written address in the mission and follow any instructions on which store to conduct the mission in. Before visiting the shop, make sure to check for opening hours online.

Blurry/angled photos

In most mission we'll ask you to provide photos of shelves, products, price tags, receipts etc. To be able to judge these items, it's important that they are clearly and fully visible and that we can read the required details. If a photo is too blurry it often makes us unable to judge what needs to be judged and this will result in us having to send the report back to you.

Incorrect displays

In certain missions we ask you to locate items on certain display types or we ask you to capture certain display types. In the mission we always provide instructions around these displays, often with examples so it's easier to know what to look for.

When it comes to displays it's important to know:

* Different types of displays (always look at the example image/look up the display type online if needed)

* Are we looking for specific products or brands of displays? (for example, we're only looking for displays with juices - this means we don't take into account displays with ANY other drinks)

Gondola end:

Branded and unbranded displays:

Insufficient absence photos

When an item is absent, it is usually required to provide absence pictures, so we can judge the item is indeed absent. These pictures must be sufficient enough to judge this - meaning they should provide a clear overview of an area where the item is likely to be. When the absence pictures provided are insufficient, we have to send back as incomplete so we can get a better idea.

For example: 

In the image below we're looking for the presence of an accessory which should normally be present inside of the car. In this photo we can see a car, but we can't judge if the item is absent on the inside.

In the below example we're looking for Secondary Displays in the Vegetable & fruit section. Though these photos are clear, we can't get a good enough overview of the entire area as both photos show a very similar view. We need to see most corners of the area to have a full overview

Incorrect use of shelfscanner

Photo quality is particularly important in shelfscanner missions as we need to have a full view of the shelf from left to right and top to bottom. Without this full view our systems are unable to calculate certain metrics. Shelfscanner photos can be invalidated/sent back as incomplete for a wide range of photo quality reasons like: cropped/cut off shelf, angled photos, bad lighting (under exposed or over exposed), blurriness, irrelevant products and taking photos from right to left (instead of left to right)

Cropped shelf

From the picture we can see that the bottom half of the shelf is missing and has been cut off by the Eye when capturing. It's important that shelves aren't cut off and we can see all shelves, top to bottom.

Angled photos

We can accept a slight angle, though in some cases the angle makes us unable to judge which products are on the shelf + our image recognition will have difficult 'reading' the image. The below example shows an example of this.

Bad lighting

If a photo is over- or underexposed, this makes us unable to judge which product it is.

Taking photos from right to left

It's very important you use the shelfscanner as intended and always take photo from LEFT to RIGHT, otherwise we have to reject your photos.

Missing requested items/prices

In many of our missions we ask you to check for the presence of specific products (SKUs) and take a close up photo of these items, so that we can judge its presence, the price and if they are on promotion.

If you fail to find the product on the shelf yourself and so you did not provide a close up photo, this means we can often only verify the presence from your overview photos (these are often requested). Overview photos rarely give us the ability to clearly read the price, quantity or any other product details.

We understand that it's sometimes hard to find products on shelves, sometimes it's a 'practice makes perfect'. We try to adjust and move around as much as we can in your report, but sometimes it's simply not enough :(