Imagine taking a 12-month road trip around Australia, hooking up the caravan and heading into the great outdoors.

No doubt you would have done a great deal of planning and preparation from the time the idea popped into your head until you backed out of the driveway and headed off.
• Which direction will you travel?
• How much do you estimate this adventure is going to cost?
• What are the destinations that you want to visit?
• How long are you going to take to get to each destination?
• What will you do if something goes wrong?

Pretty basic stuff and it would be a brave soul who would just jump in their car and motor off into the distance without at least contemplating these types of questions.

Applying the same principle to the world of fast-moving-consumer goods, it would be brazen to try and maintain the health of existing brands or go-to-market with new products without fully understanding all the moving pieces and developing a detailed strategy underpinned by data and insight.

No-where is this more important than in the ultra-competitive world of high velocity sales channels like supermarkets, liquor stores, pharmacies or do-it-yourself outlets.

The ability to collect, collate and analyse primary and secondary data and turn this stream of information into actionable insight lays out a strategic roadmap that is vital in today’s environment where economic uncertainty is top of mind for households.

The prevailing environment challenges household budgets and is driving change to traditional shopping behaviours.
Staying abreast of changing shopping and consumption behaviour is paramount to protecting market share and seizing opportunities as they become evident.

Consumer and data analysis has become increasingly important in driving deeper customer understanding and engagement. By analysing data on shopper behaviour, preferences, and demographics, valuable insights can be gained that allow more informed decisions about products, marketing strategies, and operations.

Uncovering trends and patterns in shopper behaviour form the bedrock of tailored marketing and sales strategies to better meet the needs and preferences of shoppers, which will ultimately lead to higher sales and greater customer loyalty.

Data analysis will also identify areas of product or service improvement. By sourcing and analysing feedback from customers, businesses will gain insights into what features or benefits are most important to their customers and what areas of their product or service may need improvement.

For retailers and suppliers data mining and analysis provide a platform for better decision-making that permeates through the supply chain from ideation to “the last mile”.

This is where actionable insight derived from an accurate and robust data set is the most powerful.

There is an almost inexhaustible list of topics that retailers and suppliers seek to understand.
These can broadly be grouped into three buckets – Tactical, Environmental and Operational.

Tactical analysis is the process of studying and evaluating the strategies, tactics, and decision-making of a team or individual in a competitive setting. It involves breaking down the market or category into its component parts, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and devising plans to exploit or neutralise them.
Tactical analysis can also be applied to examine the actions and behaviours of an organisation or individual in order to gain insight into their goals, motivations, and methods, and to develop effective strategies to achieve desired outcomes.
Overall, tactical analysis aims to enhance performance and gain a competitive advantage by identifying opportunities, minimising risks, and making informed decisions based on a thorough understanding of the situation.

Environmental analysis refers to the process of examining the internal and external factors that can affect a supplier’s performance and operations. It involves identifying and assessing the various forces in the business environment that may impact the supplier’s ability to achieve its goals and objectives.
Internal factors include a supplier’s strengths, weaknesses, resources, and capabilities, while external factors encompass the broader economic, social, political, technological, and competitive forces that can influence the supplier’s success.
Environmental analysis is a crucial part of the strategic planning process, as it provides insights and data to help organisations make informed decisions about their future direction and allocate their resources effectively. It enables suppliers to identify potential opportunities and threats in the environment and develop strategies to capitalise on the former while mitigating the latter.
Overall, environmental analysis helps organisations to stay informed and responsive to changes in their business environment, and to adapt their strategies and operations accordingly to remain competitive and successful.

Operational analysis involves focusing on continuous improvement, efficiency, and quality in all aspects of a supplier’s operations. It is a mindset that emphasises the pursuit of excellence in all processes, systems, and practices, with the ultimate goal of achieving superior performance, productivity, and profitability.
Operational insight facilitates the deployment of a range of management practices and tools. This approach involves the identification and elimination of waste, the streamlining of processes, the optimisation of resources, and the enhancement of customer value.
Operational excellence, through actionable insight, delivers a culture of continuous learning and improvement, where employees are empowered to identify and implement changes to improve the supplier’s performance. By fostering a culture of operational excellence, suppliers can improve their competitiveness, reduce costs, enhance their products and services, and create value for their customers.
Overall, operational data interrogation and actionable insight drives a holistic approach to managing an organisation that seeks to achieve the highest possible levels of quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. It requires a commitment to ongoing improvement and a focus on long-term sustainability rather than short-term gains.

Prioritising which type of analysis to focus on will ebb and flow depending on the scope of the project, timing and desired outcome.

Investment in fully understanding shopper motivations, claimed and actual behaviour delivers on the planning and preparation from the time of product conception to landing on the store shelf and across the full product life cycle.

Brand teams do not work in isolation so from a business-to-consumer perspective, trusted partners skilled in opportunity and risk identification are central to ensuring that products are in the right stores, in the right location at the right time.

In conclusion, availability of clean, robust data, the ability to convert the data into actionable insights over the duration of a brand’s life cycle mitigates risk, lays out a clear course of action and ultimately determines a brand’s success.

So, it really makes sense to ensure that a data driven, data led approach is applied from ideation to execution.