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The barcode is a ubiquitous part of everyday life. According to GS1 the ‘beep’ of a barcode being scanned at a checkout occurs over 6 billion times every day!

Surprisingly, the barcode was invented way back in 1952 by Morman Woodland and Bernard Silver. Their invention was based on Morse code that was extrapolated to thick and thin bars. However, it took another twenty years for the barcode to find a commercial use.

The first ever use of a barcode in retail, which occurred in 1974, was when Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio used a scanner to scan the UPC barcode on a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum. It wasn’t long before barcodes became the standard in automated supermarket checkout systems, and the rest, as they say, is history. Today UPC barcodes are pre printed on almost all items other than fresh produce.

With slowing sales translating into bloated inventories, there is a ripple effect moving up the supply chain, with the breaks being applied to replenishment plans.
So, what to do when your Retail Buyer says, ‘I’m sorry, but circumstances have changed. I no longer have the budget to purchase what I had planned. I’m cutting back your OTB’!

In the age of digital disruption, the retail industry is undergoing a profound data-focused transformation and those brands that fail to adapt risk being left in the dust. Amidst this dynamic landscape, a groundbreaking retail data analytics program has emerged, reshaping how consumer brands perceive and interact with their point-of-sale data. Four strategic pillars form the foundation of this revolution, propelling brands into uncharted territories of success.

Consumer brands face an uphill battle when it comes to acquiring point-of-sale data from retailer portals, API’s, or syndicated feeds. The account management team lacks the engineering acumen required to create their own data pipelines, let alone have access to proper analytics tools.

According to the US Department of Commerce foot traffic data, monthly retail visits were lower in Q1 2023 than in Q1 2022. That is not surprising in the least given the rise in interest rates and general cost of living pressures. Yet recent personal experience of visiting shopping centres in both Canada and the US would appear to indicate that crowds and volume of foot traffic are healthy. The ‘frustration in trying to find a parking spot at the weekend’ index shows no sign of abating!

In the krunchbox sponsored “2023 Retail Trends & Disruptions” report published in December 2022, inflation and recession were hot topics. When the surveys were being circulated we were in the early stages of what has become a long series of regular interest rate rises, which are still going on at the time of writing. It doesn’t take a Professor of Economics to observe that rising inflation coupled with increasing interest rates increase the cost of borrowing and make it harder for consumers to obtain credit. As a result, purchasing power declines which leads to lower retail spending.

Have you ever noticed that 80% of your results come from just 20% of your efforts? Welcome to Pareto’s Law, where a small portion of your actions can yield the most significant impact. Understanding this rule will transform how you approach retail analytics and allow your brand to stand out with needle-moving suggestions backed with data.

We are often asked by suppliers, what determines which products get ranged in which stores and how can we influence the decision?

In reality, the decision on which products get ranged, or stocked, in which stores is typically based on a combination of factors that vary depending on the retailer’s business strategy, customer demographics, and market dynamics.

Sell-through is important because it measures the rate at which a company is selling its inventory, which is a key metric for assessing the performance of a business. It indicates the percentage of inventory that has been sold within a given period of time, usually expressed in terms of weeks, months, or quarters.

Planning inventory for a national retail chain can be a thankless task. You will always be wrong! If you don’t have enough inventory on shelf, the customer cannot buy what they want. If you’re lucky they might buy a substitute product in the same store.