Conquer big-box omnichannel with an all-inclusive data strategy

Transforming your supplier operation into a data-driven, omnichannel powerhouse is the secret to thriving with major retailers today. 

Fulfilling direct-to-consumer (D2C) orders through a platform like Shopify is one thing. Selling on Amazon and designating inventory for easy fulfillment out of their warehouses (FBA) is another. And for years, supplying brick-and-mortar retailers like Best Buy, Kroger, Target, and Walmart with products has required a completely different operational approach.

Yet as major retailers have increasingly embraced e-commerce, supported by substantial investments in digital infrastructure, the lines between these once distinct consumer shopping experiences are becoming blurred. Now, when shoppers search for the products they need online, they are presented with a range of purchasing options, including pickup and delivery from brick-and-mortar locations nearby. So far, these retailer investments in omnichannel infrastructure have proven highly effective, with Walmart and Kroger both seeing continuous double-digit online sales growth.

Managing performance across these channels for a streamlined omnichannel operation might seem like a demanding transformation, but with a comprehensive, all-in-one data strategy, businesses can seamlessly adapt to this new retail paradigm. With automated data that are cleaned, centralized, and made actionable for real-time decision-making, your business can thrive in this modern retail landscape. 

Learn how integrating in-store and online data from big-box retail accounts – now featuring specialized feeds to enhance omnichannel presence – alongside digital-native channels like Shopify, Amazon, and Instacart, into a single source of truth can empower your team to conquer all things omnichannel.

Retail demands today

In retail, accurate forecasting and proactive supply chain efforts are crucial for maintaining well-stocked shelves to meet in-store shopper demand. Today, however, the act of adding products to the cart has evolved, with Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Best Buy now fulfilling orders through e-commerce channels, including their websites and mobile apps. 

Initially, this digital data was mixed with in-store sales data when made available to suppliers. But now, suppliers can break down and analyze online sales data at a highly granular level. This shift is exemplified by leading retailers’ introductions of new vendor portals with unprecedented volumes of data – defined by their omnichannel data management capabilities.

If you’re a big-box retail supplier, then you know that on-time, in-full (OTIF) delivery rates remain critical performance benchmarks for suppliers to adhere to, and have likely heard that nil-picks are emerging as a way to evaluate omnichannel performance. Additionally, metrics like digital transactability, or PEAT (Published, Eligible, Available, Transactable), offer insights into a product’s readiness for e-commerce, ensuring products are fully prepared for digital sales channels.

When consumers select pick-up or delivery for the products they buy, retailers expect that these items will be accessible in stores or in the warehouse for packing and fulfillment. Nil-picks occur when products ordered for pickup or delivery are not available or identifiable when the order is packed.

This disrupts the seamless shopping experience consumers expect and retailers strive to deliver, and can signal issues such as out-of-stocks or voids. Ensuring consistent product availability at the individual store level is increasingly necessary to meet all potential order scenarios.

This means that maintaining a robust, omnichannel-inclusive supply chain, supported by metrics like PEAT and real-time reporting, is essential for continued business success and growth opportunities with leading retailers.

The pace of D2C

Direct-to-consumer (D2C) order management is all about speed and precision. Unlike traditional retail channels, where inventory flows through a series of intermediaries, D2C allows brands to connect directly with their shoppers. This brings the advantage of owning the customer relationship, enabling brands to collect and leverage first-party data for personalizing experiences, fostering loyalty, and optimizing future sales.

Yet the pace of D2C can be demanding. Companies must manage high volumes of orders, process returns efficiently, and meet customer expectations for quick delivery times. Data plays a critical role here; by integrating real-time data from platforms like Shopify, businesses can automate inventory management, forecast demand accurately, and optimize order fulfillment processes. This ensures that warehouse stock levels are maintained, orders are fulfilled promptly, and customer satisfaction remains high.

While Amazon gives the impression of a D2C model, recall that you usually receive Amazon-branded packages that combine various products and brands into a single order. This is because savvy suppliers leverage the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) model to have products ready at the Amazon distribution center level for fast delivery (via Prime). Still, a digitally native channel, Amazon provides a wealth of real-time order data that brands can continuously analyze to manage inventory, better understand their markets, and optimize strategies.

Distribution insights

Understanding your distribution channels is key to optimizing your e-commerce strategy. For suppliers in distribution with UNFI, UNFI Insights offers a comprehensive breakdown of distribution channels, providing valuable e-commerce insights for brands that partner with retailers like Thrive Market and Whole Foods. Recall that Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, where the products can also be sold for delivery (via Amazon Fresh), further blurring the lines between online and offline retail.

Through UNFI Insights, brands can gain visibility into the performance of their e-commerce channels, identify which distribution centers they sell best from, and access other clean metrics to understand market performance. By analyzing distributor e-commerce data, brands can make informed decisions about inventory allocation, pricing strategies, focused marketing efforts, and more.

The Instacart opportunity

Instacart is more than just a grocery delivery service – it’s a powerful platform for CPG brands to expand their reach and optimize their presence across multiple retailers. Advertising on Instacart offers access to a wealth of consumer shopping data, allowing brands to tailor their strategies to meet consumer demand.

Instacart’s platform provides detailed insights into native ad impressions, keyword rankings, and shopper behavior, giving brands the tools they need to fine-tune their paid campaigns – for example by bidding on top keywords used to find their products – while deepening their understanding of path to purchase.

Instacart can be viewed as an integral part of a brand’s broader retail strategy. Products that appear on an Instacart storefront, such as at Raley’s (a Kroger store), are often listed as available based on real-time inventory levels provided by retailers – the same data that suppliers themselves are equipped with.

By leveraging Instacart alongside other retail placements, and making data-driven decisions to optimize product availability, brands can ensure a consistent omnichannel presence, capturing as many potential customers as possible. It’s how MUSH solved nationwide out-of-stock issues and doubled sales velocity for some products, leading to being crowned Instacart’s #1 fastest-growing brand in 2023.

Tips to become omnipresent and grow your brand

In today’s retail landscape, achieving omnipresence across all channels is crucial for brand growth. Here are actionable tips to leverage data-driven strategies across sales, supply chain, marketing, and category management:

Single source of data truth

To conquer big-box omnichannel, brands must unify their data into a single source of truth. This involves ingesting data from various channels – whether from Amazon, Shopify, or brick-and-mortar retail partners – into a centralized data repository. In doing so, brands can ensure that all teams are working from the same information, leading to more informed decision-making and better alignment across the organization.

For example, Ritual leverages Crisp retail data along with Amazon and D2C data in their Snowflake instance to create a unified view of their omnichannel business. This approach has saved them up to $240,000 by reducing in-house data infrastructure build and automation costs.

Similarly, Sunday uses Snowflake and Crisp data as the “brain” of their operations, aggregating massive datasets in one place. This enables their data science team to apply machine learning techniques to uncover hidden patterns and correlations in the data, with the inclusion of weather data revealing seasonal patterns across all shopping channels. 

By centralizing your omnichannel data, you create a future-proof foundation for an agile supply chain and advanced analytics. This unified approach allows you to leverage machine learning models, AI-driven natural language querying, and other data-driven initiatives that can propel your brand to new heights at every shopping touchpoint. With a single source of data truth, you’re equipped to make smarter decisions, optimize operations, and deliver seamless experiences across all channels in the complex world of modern retail.