Align retailer POS and syndicated data.  Answer questions like:

• How does my share at the retailer compare to national/market share?
• What items are underperforming at the retailer based on comparable chain, national or regional sales?
• What items are growing in other markets that represent a good growth opportunity with the retailer?
• How does the pricing at the retailer compare with price points in comparable markets?

Meet increasingly stringent shipment SLAs by looking across the combined supplier-retailer supply chain. Answer questions like:

• What is total fill rate to each retail trading partner?
• What is my pipeline inventory at store and DC?
• Where does my scheduled PO arrival data exceed the required arrival data (MABD)?
• What are Equivalent cases actually shipped?  Planned to ship?
• What is the Ship Fill Rate%?
• What are the Shipments and Purchase Orders that have differences in Scheduled Shipment Arrival date and Purchase Order Arrival Date?

Have more successful new item rollouts by building informed plans and tracking performance across stores, warehouses, and retailers.  Answer questions like:

• What are item launch requirements based on ‘like’ item(s) performance?
• What items are cannibalized based on new items launched?
• What is performance of new items during rollout?
• What are the potential lost sales due to delayed distribution?
• What stores have not received new item inventory?
• What is the speed to shelf of my new items once they reach the retailer DC?

Determine real promotion baselines and lift percentages, and understand the true impact of your promotions.  Answer questions like:

• How have previous promotions performed and what inventory is required for future promotions?
• What is the lift that a Product Class/Brand/etc. gets from a promotion?
• Did we achieve the promotional sell thru objective?
• What is the 'halo' effect of related/compatible items during price change/promotion?
• During promotion what items contribute?  What items are poor performers?
• What is the ‘hangover’ effect post-promotion?
• What is the optimal promotion mix based on demographics or other causal variables?

Determine optimimum pricing tiers and pricing impacts at any level of detail, from the chain all the way down to the individual store. Answer questions like:

• How has the average price of a product varied over time?
• Which stores are selling products below the total market?
• What price points do consumers buy at within different product families?
• What is the change in sales of one item based on the price change of like or competitive products?
• How have price changes affected a product’s share of Total Sales?
• What stores are not compliant with price changes?
• What item(s)/store(s) do I have excessive Markdowns?

Understand broad and deep sales trends. Answer questions like:

• How has the sales performance of my items changed year over year?
• What are my sales by category/item/region/store?
• What Products are showing an increase in Sales due to increased density/coverage/new store openings – across Retailers?
• What Products are showing a drop in Comp Sales compared to previous year – across Retailers?
• Are there additional opportunities among my high sales and margin items?
• What are the top 10 items in terms of unit sales/$sales/profit?

Resolve problems with distribution and execution.  Answer questions like:

• Where are my top items not selling?
• What distribution voids exist on my top items?
• What is the current distribution of my items?
• Are my items reaching as many stores as they should be?
• What products are selling well globally but not locally?
• When has a display not moved from backroom to sales floor?

Track down phantom inventory and predict out of stocks.  Answer questions like:

• Where do I have an out of stock due to phantom inventory?
• What consistently-selling products are having potential out-of-stock problems?
• What products suffered a significant decline in sales last week and what was their instock percentage?
• Which stores have products that suffered a significant drop in sales last week and what was their instock percentage?
• What items are projected to have inventory shortages?
• What is root cause of store and DC out of stock conditions?

Understand everything about the categories you manage. Answer questions like:

• How does a product’s sales growth contribute to the total category sales growth?
• How are sales, share, and growth varying for products and stores over any time period?
• What were the top sellers by category over the past 4 weeks?
• How are the current planograms performing Unit Sales?  Dollar Sales?  Profit?
• What are sales by store cluster?  By banner?
• What assortment opportunities exist across store clusters?
• What is performance of planogram by demographic?

Control reclaim and shrink rates as well as inventory levels within the retailer's own distribution network.  Answer questions like:

• What are the DOS/WOS (days/weeks of supply) at my stores?
• In which stores/DC's do I have aged inventory?
• What were my 'core' OOS items yesterday/last week and what are the potential ones currently?
• What item(s)/store(s) are top contributors to reclaim?
• What item(s)/store(s) are top contributors to shrink?
• How many cases of product need to be forced into stores to correct PI issues?