Retail data strategies to achieve zero-waste operations

How brands can eliminate food waste – and beyond that, reduce costs and maximize ROI with an integrated data strategy.

Globally, one-third of all food produced goes to waste, lost somewhere along the supply chain due to inefficiencies and mismanaged inventory. While food waste is a significant issue, the problem extends far beyond perishables – apparel, electronics, and hard goods industries also contend with overproduction and unsold inventory that drain resources and cut into profitability.

Across consumer goods organizations, waste takes many forms: spoilage, costly markdowns and deductions, resource-intensive manual processes, and advertising costs lost to mistargeted media. In the past, these losses were considered a cost of doing business, but in today’s complex and competitive retail environment, brands can no longer afford to ignore the inefficiencies.

By achieving a real-time, data-driven view of inventory and omnichannel sales performance, brands can begin optimizing processes and making daily informed decisions to crucially eliminate waste at its source and boost top-line profitability. 

Across organizations, waste takes many forms: spoilage, costly markdowns and deductions, resource-intensive manual processes, and advertising costs lost to mistargeted media. In the past, these losses were considered a cost of doing business, but in today’s complex and competitive retail environment, brands can no longer afford to ignore the inefficiencies.

1. Save time and money by automating reporting

Manually pulling data from retail portals, spreadsheets, and disconnected systems wastes time, delays insights, and leaves room for errors. Analysts spend countless hours consolidating reports, only for the insights to arrive too late to drive impactful action. Despite these inefficiencies, some brands will continue relying on manual reporting due to the perceived cost and complexity of automation. Others attempt to build in-house data pipelines, only to find themselves trapped in a cycle of constant maintenance, escalating costs, and resource drain.

Instead of wrangling data, teams can access clean, structured, real-time insights with data platforms like Crisp, and ensure reliable data ingestion from retailers and distributors, seamlessly integrating sales and inventory insights into existing BI and cloud tools.

Beyond time savings, automating retail data offers a clear cost advantage: building an in-house data pipeline costs an estimated $100K per data source, with annual maintenance exceeding $500K.

Furthermore, the visibility a streamlined data solution provides is just the beginning and informs daily decision-making to reduce waste at scale.

2. Minimize markdowns and maximize sales

Clean, timely data visibility is the driving force behind precision demand planning for omnichannel retail today. Knowing in which regions and on what channels sales are robust – or lagging – enables manufacturers to proactively adjust inventory levels and sales strategies, maximizing the value of products produced, and boosting top-line sales.

For example, PopSockets achieved a unified view of retail and online sales across thousands of SKUs, allowing them to pinpoint sales trends, optimize inventory allocation, and ultimately enhance profitability for each and every product. 

Similarly, ZURU Group, creators of Mini Brands and other popular trend-driven toys, significantly reduced markdowns by 50% employing real-time data-informed decision-making, even while launching new products in as little as 3 months. 

ZURU Group, creators of Mini Brands and other popular trend-driven toys, significantly reduced markdowns by 50% employing real-time data-informed decision-making, even while launching new products in as little as 3 months. 

3. Move towards zero food waste with daily insights

The journey toward minimizing waste across the CPG supply chain requires a fundamental shift in how businesses leverage data. Optimizing product movement – ensuring products are available where demand exists and diverting them from areas of oversupply – is paramount to meeting consumer needs while minimizing waste.

This principle is central to the work being done with brands like Chosen Foods, manufacturers of a rapidly growing line of avocado oil products. Chosen Foods has effectively eliminated waste within their UNFI distribution supply chain by leveraging granular insights in the UNFI Insights data platform powered by Crisp for retailers such as Giant Foods, Harris Teeter, Stop & Shop, Thrive Market, and more. Developed in partnership with the largest natural foods distributor, the tool features a spoilage dashboard that calculates weeks on hand and weeks to expiration across distribution centers, which allows Chosen Foods to proactively manage their inventory allocations and achieve zero expected waste in the module. 

Most recently, the UNFI Insights platform has expanded to include UNFI Fresh suppliers, encompassing produce, meat, dairy, and other perishable goods and offering unprecedented visibility into these most sensitive distribution lines. Additionally, Crisp’s strategic acquisitions of Shelf Engine, a Seattle-based AI technology pioneer specializing in demand forecasting and automated ordering for perishable goods, along with UK-based ClearBox Analytics – which extends visibility into food service supply chains – further enhance a mission-driven approach. The developments enhance Crisp’s capabilities to forecast orders with unmatched accuracy, reduce excess inventory, and provide actionable insights across global retail and food service channels.

The expanded visibility across these products and more being developed like them empower brands to move towards a zero-waste future. 

Crisp’s strategic acquisitions of Shelf Engine, a Seattle-based AI technology pioneer specializing in demand forecasting and automated ordering for perishable goods, along with UK-based ClearBox Analytics – which extends visibility into food service supply chains – further enhance a mission-driven approach. 

4. Optimize advertising dollars with smarter media campaigns

John Wanamaker, department store magnate and marketing pioneer, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.”  

Fast forward one hundred years, and while the challenge remains, the tools to address it have evolved. Real-time data platforms like Crisp deliver live, store-level sales and inventory data to media teams daily, so that campaign managers for consumer goods companies can confidently allocate their budgets to maximize in-store sales. Targeting advertisements based on inventory availability and granular sales trends yields a far higher return on advertising spend (ROAS) than the traditional ‘spray-and-pray’ approach.  

For example, soda brand poppi, in partnership with Tinuiti, leveraged shelf-level product data to inform and analyze their digital marketing campaigns, with industry-first results revealing an 80% boost for in-store poppi purchases in areas targeted by TikTok campaigns –  demonstrating the powerful connection between digital advertising and brick-and-mortar sales.

Similarly, another popular beverage brand, Brew Dr. Kombucha leverages heat maps of retail distribution to ensure Instacart promotions align with inventory availability, increasing ad efficiency and boosting retail sales through the delivery platform. 

Brands are no longer guessing which half of their ad budget is working, as they can see it, measure it, and maximize it in real-time with structured retail data intelligence.

Targeting advertisements based on inventory availability and granular sales trends yields a far higher return on advertising spend (ROAS) than the traditional ‘spray-and-pray’ approach.  

Learn more about reducing waste and boosting top-line business success by contacting Crisp today.