The Power of Collaborative Data Sharing for Retailers

By Are Traasdahl, Chief Executive Officer, Crisp

Retailers manage thousands of suppliers who collectively define the in-store and on-line experience. Meanwhile, brands are under constant pressure to deliver across retail accounts, capitalizing on all placement opportunities, and safeguarding their shelf space.

Performance benchmarks like on-time in-full (OTIF) and out-of-stock percentage (OOS%) can make retailers' expectations of their supplier partners clear. However, only by providing reliable reporting on these metrics can retailers reallocate inventory if necessary, and keep distribution centers (DCs) stocked to meet regional demand.

Real-time and readily ingestible data play a crucial role in synchronizing supply chains and enabling suppliers to meet retailers' expectations. By providing timely and actionable insights, retailers can empower their suppliers to make informed decisions and respond quickly to market demands.

Streamlined reporting made available by KeHE and Whole Foods helped Instacart’s #1 fastest-growing brand of 2023, MUSH,to resolve long-standing out-of-stocks (OOS) and boost fill-rate averages to over 90%, improving inventory flow for both distributor and retailer.. Similarly, UNFI Insights powered by Crisp, a breakthrough reporting tool, has enabled rocketship-growth brands like Chosen Foods to grow total UNFI sales 35% year-over-year while virtually eliminating waste through an integrated spoilage risk detection tool. Nestlé USA, an early adopter of the tool, streamlined real-time, granular reporting across 1,500 SKUs in its $300M UNFI business segment, allowing the Nestlé USA team supporting UNFI to focus on driving sales growth activities rather than data management.

Wins like Mars’ Nature’s Bakery achieving triple-digit growth at regional chains like The Fresh Market and 80% YOY sales growth at Thrive Market further illustrate the shared benefits of effective data-sharing practices.

In addition to helping suppliers keep their retailer’s shelves stocked and sales strong, retail data insights can drive organizational buy-in for increased supplier resources to drive retailer-targeted growth.. Brands with visibility into performance metrics can more easily identify media spend opportunities and allocate budgets to retailer-specific marketing programs. With retail media spend expected to account for almost a quarter of all U.S. ad spend by 2028, retailers enabling these campaigns through transparent data-sharing practices stand to gain significant, sustainable revenue.

This approach offers untapped opportunities for retailers beyond the big-box giants to differentiate themselves – particularly as cost-conscious consumers grow less attached to longstanding brand loyalties.

Collaborative data-sharing helps retailers and suppliers achieve shared growth targets, driving incremental sales and operational success. It also increases the availability and value of proprietary first-party data – putting consumer insights, category performance, and more, into the hands of retailers instead of extending a reliance on third-party syndicated market reports.

While syndicated market reports provide valuable category-wide trends, they often lag in timeliness and granularity, with latency of four or more weeks. This delay means opportunities to act on critical inventory or promotional shifts may have passed. In contrast, daily point-of-sale (POS) data offers immediate, actionable insights that enable swift responses to market changes.

Finally, for retailers aiming to capitalize on AI-driven efficiency and automation solutions, clean and structured data is critical. Investing in robust data-sharing systems today ensures they’ll be well-positioned to scale and evolve within the continuously expanding retail technology landscape of tomorrow.