How to spot voids and protect ...
November 8, 2021
The Swoon team uses fresh insights in the Crisp platform to anticipate demand levels and get sugar-free lemonade on the right shelves – ensuring success as their Barbie collaboration hits retailers nationwide this summer.
Swoon’s zero-sugar, entirely-satisfying canned teas and lemonades are flying off the shelves in major retailers nationwide – and with summer (and a timely Barbie brand collaboration) underway, things are just warming up.
We spoke with Rachel Meyers, Vice President of Finance and Operations at Swoon, to learn more about how the brand has used Crisp’s retail data platform to establish themselves as a data-driven organization, and help launch their latest iconic summer partnership.
True to their mission of bringing sugar-free classics to the masses, Swoon has kicked off an exciting licensing agreement with Mattel’s Barbie. The iconic Barbie brand will now adorn Swoon’s Pink Lemonade cans, lining shelves nationwide in August – even including an industry-first spot in the toy aisle at some locations.
Along the way, Swoon will be using Crisp’s inventory, sales and velocity dashboards to ensure the campaign reaches every door they were promised, while monitoring the campaign’s performance in the coming months. For example, the team has already utilized the platform to ensure full delivery of Barbie-pink promotional shippers to 150 Roundy’s through KeHE, and Giant Foods stores through UNFI.
Leveraging the sales dashboards, Swoon saw a 35% increase in sales velocity in May at a leading natural supermarket chain after initially launching the Barbie lemonade. And year-over-year, sales of the pink lemonade product is up 110% with the retailer, with other flavors also enjoying a healthy sales increase.
This success – easy to see with Crisp – can be attributed to a combination of effective inventory management, impactful brand marketing, and the introduction of the iconic promotion.
Not only does this early success provide the team with valuable insights for projecting higher sales throughout the summer, but by tracking this data, Swoon can proactively engage with their retail partners to encourage increased order volumes for the SKU – ensuring that no opportunity is left on the table.
The Barbie Pink Lemonade also echoes Swoon’s commitment to making a difference. By pledging 10% of net sales to The Dream Project, Swoon is championing a cause that aligns with one of the Barbie brand’s core missions – to give girls the resources and support they need to chase their dreams and embody the belief that they can be anything.
With the help of Crisp, Swoon is skillfully surfing the Barbie-pink wave, and poised to make a splash across retailer shelves across the country – ensuring every fan has access to a can of their refreshing take on a classic summer beverage.
Not only does this early success provide the team with valuable insights for projecting higher sales throughout the summer, but by tracking this data, Swoon can proactively engage with their retail partners to encourage increased order volumes for the SKU – ensuring that no opportunity is left on the table.
A refreshing solution for muddled visibility
Before the launch of this season’s Barbie collaboration, Swoon was using Crisp to streamline operations and build a solid foundation with distributor partners to make the initiative possible.
Rachel Meyers joined as Swoon’s first Director of Finance in 2020. As she began to grow into her current role as VP of Finance and Operations, Rachel took over accounting processes and delved into business analytics in a way that the team previously didn’t have the time or resources to do. As she explored how insights could help the company make more strategic decisions, she encountered a lack of visibility into what she calls the “second half of the supply chain”: order fulfillment to distributors and retailers to ensure that Swoon’s beverages were reaching customers on shelves.
The process of tracking inventory across various retailers, ranging from national accounts like Target and Whole Foods to independent retailers through distributors like UNFI, proved a complex task. Wrangling siloed vendor portal reports from each retailer tacked hours onto this process.
Rachel described the painstaking exercise of going through separate emailed reports from different partners to identify out-of-stock items that needed replenishing.
“I would go through reports and filter them down by customer name, then have to wait until the next week to compare the data and take action,” she recalls.
A year ago, when Swoon discovered Crisp and received a demo of the platform, it became clear that having aggregated inventory data in one place would be immensely valuable.
While VP of Sales and Business Development, Whitney Hemy, was excited to analyze daily store-level sales data to drive her team’s efforts, Rachel recognized that Crisp’s inventory and fill-rate reports would be crucial in optimizing distribution across accounts and maximizing revenue from the products.
With Crisp, the process became more user-friendly, enabling Rachel’s team to pull inventory reports weekly and identify areas where stock is running low.
“We use Crisp all the time for this,” she continues, “previously, we couldn’t manipulate the data to make it actionable, but with Crisp, it already is.”
Leveraging data to stir up success
Rachel uses Crisp’s KeHE inventory and fill-rate dashboards to oversee inventory management across distribution centers and through to retailers. Her team pulls weekly reports to identify low inventory levels by DC, and collaborates with the sales team to ask for new – or larger – purchase orders through the distributors where needed. Then, they monitor fill rates for individual retailers, working closely with KeHE to ensure successful execution at the store level.
Swoon’s enhanced supply chain efficiency has impressed their retail partners, with KeHE acknowledging that the brand experiences lower out-of-stock rates compared to other partners.
Since implementing Crisp, the team has achieved an impressive 12% increase in average fill rate to stores.
“We are definitely selling more because we’re consistently in stock,” Rachel highlights, referring to the company’s year-over-year sales increases. “But more than that, we’re building positive, trusting relationships that benefit the business.”
By effectively managing out-of-stock situations and maintaining high on-time ship rates, Swoon has demonstrated that what benefits their brand also strengthens the overall partnership.
“This level of relationship definitely translates into tangible business gains,” Rachel remarks, acknowledging the improved responsiveness of their distributor partners.
In addition to maximizing sales within existing accounts, the team is also using data to navigate buyer conversations and unlock expansion opportunities. For example, in the last year, Swoon successfully introduced three additional SKUs into 160 Giant Foods locations through UNFI, and can track the success of the rollout using their Crisp dashboards.
“We are definitely selling more because we’re consistently in stock,” Rachel highlights, referring to the company’s year-over-year sales increases. “But more than that, we’re building positive, trusting relationships that benefit the business.”
Rachel Meyers, VP of Finance and Operations at Swoon
Keeping it fresh
Swoon’s ability to manage short-dated products has also played a role in driving their top-line revenue growth. By utilizing Crisp to track at-risk inventory, the team can proactively avoid losses caused by expiration and subsequent chargebacks – which can add up to a substantial impact.
“The way Crisp presents at-risk inventory is easy to understand,” Rachel explains. “It helps us identify distribution centers with shorter-dated cases on hand, allowing us to implement temporary price reductions and move through the product instead of losing it and facing chargebacks.”
Given her role as VP of Finance and Operations, Rachel understands that each case of Swoon represents significant sales. By optimizing inventory flow and ensuring stocked shelves across various sales channels, she can maximize the potential of Swoon’s valuable products, while ensuring every point of distribution serves as an opportunity to promote the brand’s mission.
“Each can of Swoon that somebody chooses is around 40 grams of sugar removed from their diet,” she declares. “So the more cans in hand, the better we’re doing at succeeding in our mission to reduce sugar intake at large.”
“The way Crisp presents at-risk inventory is easy to understand,” Rachel explains. “It helps us identify distribution centers with shorter-dated cases on hand, allowing us to implement temporary price reductions and move through the product instead of losing it and facing chargebacks.”
Rachel Meyers, VP of Finance and Operations at Swoon
About Swoon
Growing up as a type-one diabetic can be challenging when you can’t enjoy the same treats and drinks as others – but for Swoon co-founders Jen and Cristina, this challenge became a catalyst for something extraordinary. In 2017, they embarked on a journey to create a beverage company with a simple yet powerful mission: to eliminate sugar from society while keeping life sweet.
Swoon initially began as a line of cocktail mixers, but the founders realized that in order to accomplish their mission of reducing sugar consumption, they’d need to take a broader approach. They wanted to provide people with zero-sugar beverage options that could be enjoyed every day without compromising on taste or quality.
Fast forward to today, and the brand’s dedication is paying off.
To experience Swoon’s innovative beverages for yourself, keep an eye out for the Barbie pink lemonade and other offerings at Target, Whole Foods, or a retailer near you this summer.
