If you’ve ever worked with consumer packaged goods (CPG) data, you know that the right insights can drive key business decisions. But what makes data truly valuable? The secret ingredient is attributes. Here at SPINS, attributes are our special sauce—they help us break down and categorize the endless variety of products in the CPG market, making it easier for brands, retailers, and analysts to track trends, identify growth opportunities, and ultimately make smarter, data-driven decisions.
So, what exactly is an attribute, and why does it matter? Let’s dive into the world of attributes and explore how they help us create a clearer, more actionable view of the CPG landscape.
Understanding Attributes
At its core, an attribute is a specific characteristic or feature of a product that makes it identifiable, trackable, and comparable within the vast CPG data ecosystem. These characteristics can cover a wide range of product traits, including:
- Product Type: Is it a snack, a beverage, or a household cleaner?
- Ingredients: Does it contain gluten? Is it organic? Is it vegan?
- Packaging: Is it in a recyclable container? Is it bulk or individually packaged?
- Price: How is the product priced compared to others in the same category?
- Health Benefits: Is it low-calorie, high-protein, or keto-friendly?
- Branding: What brand does it belong to, and how does that brand position itself in the market?
The breadth and depth of attributes can be nearly limitless, covering everything from a product’s marketing message to how it fits within a specific consumer lifestyle. Attributes are not just buzzwords—they’re the building blocks that allow you to make sense of a cluttered, dynamic marketplace.
How We Code Attributes at SPINS
Here at SPINS, we have a robust, systematic approach to coding attributes that ensure consistency, accuracy, and precision. Our attribution and data science teams work tirelessly to ensure that every product in our database is categorized with care, using industry-standard classification systems and advanced data algorithms.
Once we’ve developed the attributes, we code them across relevant categories, creating a structured, searchable system. This makes it easy to look at an attribute’s performance not just within a single subcategory but across the multiple departments like Grocery, Refrigerated, Vitamins & Supplements, Body Care, and Produce.
How Attributes Save You Time
Attributes might seem like a small part of the data puzzle, but they’re the key to unlocking insights quickly. By breaking down a product’s key features, we can quickly identify trends, gaps in the market, or areas for improvement. Here are just a few ways that attributes save time and streamline your data analysis:
- Simplify Trend Tracking: Instead of wading through tons of raw product data, you can filter by specific attributes to see how different trends (e.g., plant-based, organic, or functional) are performing across categories or regions. Want to know how plant-based snacks are trending on the West Coast? Just filter for that attribute and geography, and voilà, you have your answer!
- Identify Product Gaps: If you’re looking to launch a new product, attributes can help you identify gaps in the market. If there’s a growing demand for gluten-free snacks but not enough variety in a particular subcategory, you’ll know exactly where to focus your efforts.
- Segmentation and Targeting: Attributes allow you to segment the market based on specific characteristics, such as health benefits, ingredients, or packaging types. This makes it easier to target the right consumer base and personalize your marketing efforts. Instead of relying on broad assumptions, you have precise data to back up your decisions.
- Competitive Benchmarking: By analyzing the attributes of competitive products, you can gain insights into what your competitors are doing right or wrong. Are there key attributes they’re not addressing that could give you an edge in the market? Attributes make it easy to compare and contrast across the competitive landscape.
- Accelerate Reporting: Instead of manually going through spreadsheets or conducting time-consuming analyses, you can leverage attributes to automate and speed up your reporting process. Whether you’re tracking performance by region, product category, or health trend, attributes allow you to generate reports on the fly, saving you hours of work.
A Single Source of Truth
Finally, one of the best things about using SPINS attributes is that the data is the same for all parties involved. When a retailer double checks your attribute numbers, they will match. That cohesion is what makes SPINS data trustworthy and widely used by retailers, brokers, distributors, brands, investors and more.
When you’ve got the right attributes in place, analyzing trends becomes easy-peasy. You can drill down into specifics, compare product performance, and spot emerging patterns with ease. Attributes act as the lens through which you can view the larger picture, whether you’re tracking category growth, evaluating new market opportunities, or assessing consumer behavior shifts.
At SPINS, we believe that attributes are the key to smarter, faster, and more actionable insights. They’re not just a nice-to-have—they’re foundational to how we help CPG brands and retailers stay ahead of the curve.
So, the next time you’re analyzing trends, think about the attributes that are driving those trends forward. Whether you’re digging into new health-conscious behaviors or exploring the next big functional ingredient (berberine?), attributes make it possible to unlock the insights you need, fast.
Want to learn more about how attributes can help you analyze trends and make data-driven decisions? Let’s chat!