3 Examples of How Brands Are Using Data in the New Normal

Even in the middle of today’s unpredictable and challenging reality, brands continue to push forward, enhance their approaches, and really hone in on where their opportunities lie. As we’ve been out talking to our brand clients, learning how they’re weathering the new normal, we’ve been amazed to hear how strategic and resilient they continue to be.

We’re seeing brands make strides by breaking down data silos and utilizing BI tools to get data into the hands of everyone on their team, which they’re empowered to do using SPINS technology partner, DAAP. The top decisionmakers at these businesses understand that the key to maintaining focus and streamlining efforts is having the data to make informed decisions.

Based on our conversations with brand clients, here are 3 ways successful businesses are making the most of their SPINS data:

A number of organizations are accessing store-level data through SPINS and putting it in the hands of their sales and broker teams. For example, an organic dairy company started with SPINS in the fall because they wanted to better understand the retail distribution of their existing lines. They were also about to launch a new, higher-end line. The management team knew they needed data insights to successfully navigate and identify the right retail locations for this new product line. While all the data they needed was available in SPINS products, they wanted to only share specific data points with their 44 brokers. Therefore, they needed a way to present only the relevant data points to these broker partners who could then share this information with retail partners and prospects.

The dairy company added the DAAP tool to its SPINS package and was able to easily share the necessary data points to make the brokers more successful. Within 6 months, this dairy company has seen a 64% increase in distribution. They credit having the data in the brokers’ hands with this growth.

A publicly traded SPINS client that focused on natural and organic products across many categories had a sizable salesforce. As a SPINS client for over 10 years and having an extensive product line, the brand used store-level data to identify voids and other distribution opportunities at the corporate level. In discussions with this client, the SPINS account manager identified the opportunity to put individual store data into the hands of the sales and broker teams. The brand’s team loved this idea, realizing how putting the right data in the hands of the sales team could quickly lead to increased sales. This data would empower both teams sales and broker and streamline processes.

SPINS brought in partner DAAP to create separate dashboards for the respective sales and broker teams, allowing for unique views to each of the individual salespeople and brokers. They were able to only view the data for their clients and their store locations. That information was extensive and empowered them to have detailed and knowledgeable conversations with retail partners. Sales increased by 18% within a few months of getting this data into the salesforce’s hands.

Many of our fast-growing SPINS clients are finding that, while data is important, it’s overwhelming to get a full 360 view of what’s happening. These brands (usually in their first 3-5 years of operations) have expanding product lines and categories with revenue often exceeding anywhere from $100 million to $200 million—and growing.  They’ve invested in BI tools that have enabled them to make strong strides in accessing data to understand the growth they’re seeing and to make this data actionable. But now they have a good problem: too much data. With so much data coming from disparate sources, they don’t have the ability to house and merge (or harmonize) it. When clients tell us this, we know that SPINS partner DAAP is the right solution.

DAAP’s specialty is bringing together disparate data sources into one data lake, harmonizing the data, and feeding it back into your BI tool of choice. DAAP is the best choice because they have existing feeds from SPINS and other top CPG third-party data sources, simplifying the process of bringing everything together.

Once organizations, such as this dairy company and the natural and organic brand, are using SPINS and DAAP for their data source and resource, their data is synthesized and fed into BI tools. Now, they can see their business in a more holistic way. With the full picture of their business, each of these clients has been able to identify new areas of focus, discover new product and flavor opportunities, and select products that were overdue for retirement. The results speak for themselves: These clients attribute reductions in their operating costs and increases in sales to their use of SPINS and DAAP.

With more sources in your ecosystem, we help you do more with data. Here’s how we get you there.