Spark, powered by Salient, hit a milestone last week as the first round of retail reports was delivered to participating stores.
The reports come from the AFS Spark Analytics platform, an innovative tool that promises to revolutionize the way AFS’ retail members, vendor partners and the wholesaler itself perceive, analyze and leverage data, ushering in a new era of informed decision-making and improved collaboration.
The AFS Spark Analytics platform opens doors for its members and partners by offering a comprehensive view of product shipment data from AFS to participating store locations, along with real-time item movement at retail stores. This, in turn, allows for a detailed and swift evaluation of promotions, product performance, distribution voids and lost placements, offering a new level of granularity and precision.
The reports sent last week consist of three report types:
- Top Opportunities—these items sell well in other locations and are either missing from the store or not performing at the same level.
- Slow Movers—these items are not selling through inventory very quickly and may need to be checked to see why.
- Event Sell-Through—this report shows how much product was purchased, when it was brought into the store, when it sold and what the sell-through rate was by item. These will be provided in advance of seasonal and major events to help with ordering.
These reports were designed to help provide insight that may help with operational efficiency and event order planning.
“We’re thrilled about the rollout of these Spark reports and are grateful for all those who helped get us to this point including the Spark Retail Advisory Committee,” said Mindy Rich, vice president of analytics. “Empowering our independent grocers with insightful data will help them make better, more informed strategic decisions to drive their business.”