Your Retail Data is Talking—But Are You Listening?
- Jon Allen
- Jul 24
- 2 min read
You don’t need a crystal ball to understand your retail future—you just need to pay attention to what your data is already telling you.
Every retail supplier gets reports. Case movement. Out-of-stock alerts. Store-by-store performance. Maybe even retailer scorecards. But far too often, these reports collect dust—sitting unopened or under-analyzed until it’s too late to act.
Retail Data Isn’t the Problem—Interpretation Is
A recent McKinsey study found that consumer goods companies that regularly use analytics in decision-making outperform their peers by 85% in sales growth. But most small to mid-sized brands don’t have a dedicated analyst to help them find the story in the numbers.
Let’s break it down with a fictional example.
Picture this: “Harvest Bites,” a better-for-you snack brand, launches in 500 stores. The initial sales look solid—until week 4, when velocity starts to dip. The brand team assumes it’s just seasonality. But a closer look would reveal 22% of stores are out of stock for more than 3 days at a time. Worse, the items that are in stock are in the wrong location—some in produce, others in deli. Without visibility into the data, they miss the chance to correct it—and lose the buyer’s support.
What Should You Be Listening For?
Here are a few things your retail data might be telling you:
Stores where your item isn’t moving (indicates OOS, poor placement, or the wrong promo support)
Retailers where chargebacks are trending up (a compliance or operations issue)
Product substitutions or voids (could signal planogram errors)
Unusual spikes in returns or markdowns (pricing or quality concerns)
How to Turn Reports Into Revenue
Segment Your Data by Store or Region: Look for patterns. Don’t rely on averages.
Overlay Promotions with Sales Spikes: Did your promo really work—or were you riding a seasonal trend?
Use Retailer Dashboards (Syndigo, Retail Link, 84.51°): They’re full of gold—but you need to dig.
Flag Problems Early: Your buyer doesn’t want excuses. They want solutions.
The Bottom Line
If you’re not mining your sales data for insight, you’re leaving money—and shelf space—on the table. Want help turning raw reports into strategy? That’s where we shine.
