The benefits of data-sharing for retailers

What happens when retailers invest in scalable and collaborative data infrastructure? Efficiency soars, suppliers thrive, and revenue opportunities flourish. 

The way retailers and suppliers interact with data has transformed dramatically. Gone are the days of static reports and manual data pulls – today, real-time, collaborative data ecosystems are driving supply chain efficiency, revenue growth, and retail media success. Digitally native reporting solutions offered by platforms like Shopify and Amazon have pushed traditional retailers to adapt to a data-first era, with significant investments in data infrastructure shifting the focus from legacy portal solutions to streamlined systems that extract and integrate clean, actionable insights. The idea is for retailers to implement scalable, customizable reporting systems that provide both retailers and suppliers with flexible, real-time insights – enabling informed growth down to the category, region, store, and even individual product level.

This interconnected data ecosystem lays the foundation for collaborative commerce. By increasing the accessibility and usability of retail data for suppliers, retailers themselves gain greater transparency into operations, account performance, and evolving consumer shopping behaviors. At the same time, these systems strengthen retailer ownership of first-party data intelligence, enhancing the success of revenue-generating retail media programs.

Supply in sync

Retailers manage thousands of suppliers who collectively define the in-store and online experience. Meanwhile, brands are under constant pressure to deliver across retail accounts, capitalizing on all placement opportunities, and safeguarding their shelf space.
Performance benchmarks like on-time in-full (OTIF) and out-of-stock percentage (OOS%) can make retailers’ expectations of their supplier partners clear. However, only by providing reliable reporting on these metrics can retailers reallocate inventory if necessary, and keep distribution centers (DCs) stocked to meet regional demand.

Real-time and readily ingestible data play a crucial role in synchronizing supply chains and enabling suppliers to meet retailers’ expectations. By providing timely and actionable insights, retailers can empower their suppliers to make informed decisions and respond quickly to market demands.

Performance benchmarks like on-time in-full (OTIF) and out-of-stock percentage (OOS%) can make retailers’ expectations of their supplier partners clear. However, only by providing reliable reporting on these metrics can retailers reallocate inventory if necessary, and keep distribution centers (DCs) stocked to meet regional demand.

Performance breakthroughs

Streamlined reporting made available by KeHE and Whole Foods helped Instacart’s #1 fastest-growing brand of 2023, MUSH, to resolve long-standing out-of-stocks (OOS) and boost fill-rate averages to over 90%, improving inventory flow for both distributor and retailer. Similarly, UNFI Insights powered by Crisp, a breakthrough reporting tool, has enabled rocketship-growth brands like Chosen Foods to grow total UNFI sales 35% year-over-year while virtually eliminating waste through an integrated spoilage risk detection tool. Nestlé USA, an early adopter of the tool, streamlined real-time, granular reporting across 1,500 SKUs in its $300M UNFI business segment, allowing the Nestlé USA team supporting UNFI to focus on driving sales growth activities rather than data management. 

Wins like Mars’ Nature’s Bakery achieving triple-digit growth at regional chains like The Fresh Market and 80% YOY sales growth at Thrive Market further illustrate the shared benefits of effective data-sharing practices.

Nestlé USA, early adopter of UNFI Insights powered by Crisp, streamlined real-time, granular reporting across 1,500 SKUs in its $300M UNFI business segment, allowing the Nestlé USA team supporting UNFI to focus on driving sales growth activities rather than data management. 

Win resources

In addition to helping suppliers keep their retailer’s shelves stocked and sales strong, retail data insights can drive organizational buy-in for increased supplier resources to drive retailer-targeted growth. Brands with visibility into performance metrics can more easily identify media spend opportunities and allocate budgets to retailer-specific marketing programs. With retail media spend expected to account for almost a quarter of all U.S. ad spend by 2028, retailers enabling these campaigns through transparent data-sharing practices stand to gain significant, sustainable revenue.

This approach offers untapped opportunities for retailers beyond the big-box giants to differentiate themselves – particularly as cost-conscious consumers grow less attached to longstanding brand loyalties.

Grow with data

Collaborative data-sharing helps retailers and suppliers achieve shared growth targets, driving incremental sales and operational success. It also increases the availability and value of proprietary first-party data – putting consumer insights, category performance, and more, into the hands of retailers instead of extending a reliance on third-party syndicated market reports. 

While syndicated market reports provide valuable category-wide trends, they often lag in timeliness and granularity, with latency of four or more weeks. This delay means opportunities to act on critical inventory or promotional shifts may have passed. In contrast, daily point-of-sale (POS) data offers immediate, actionable insights that enable swift responses to market changes.

Finally, for retailers aiming to capitalize on AI-driven efficiency and automation solutions, clean and structured data is critical. Investing in robust data-sharing systems today ensures they’ll be well-positioned to scale and evolve within the continuously expanding retail technology landscape of tomorrow.

Interested in discussing your retail data-sharing capabilities? Contact Crisp for more.

For retailers aiming to capitalize on AI-driven efficiency and automation solutions, clean and structured data is critical. Investing in robust data-sharing systems today ensures they’ll be well-positioned to scale and evolve within the continuously expanding retail technology landscape of tomorrow.