CHICAGO -- A corps of leading convenience chains and independent operators are heralding what could become one of the most dynamic technological initiatives in the channel.
In an industry frequently frustrated by a lack of detailed data and customized promotions, companies that include 7-Eleven, Circle K, Sunoco and many others have signed on to fuel the latest tracking services being rolled out this week by market information and insights specialists IRI.
Before the advent of this service, data has been collected manually and [image-nocss] captured on maybe up to 35 categories, IRI president and CEO Scott Klein told CSP Daily News in an exclusive interview. As a result of AllScan, every single item sold in the c-store will be captured.
Over time, he continued, we expect this to have an impact on how convenience and gas retailers price, how they set their shelves, how they promote different products. We see this improving their margins and their profits.
With an investment in the many millions of dollars, IRI is launching a service specifically geared for the c-store industry called AllScan Convenience Store Tracking, the first service that captures granular scanner-based POS data across the entire channel. The service is being fueled by POS information from more than 11,000 c-stores, ranging from many of the 10 largest chains to a representative block of independents. The service will deliver weekly results from 54 syndicated markets across the country.
If I'm a participating retailer, said Kevin O'Malley, IRI senior vice president of U.S. product management, I can now see data on a weekly basis, which is particularly critical for holiday periods and promotions. And I'm not just seeing my own data, but I'm also seeing what's happening in my market and across the country on a weekly basis.
As part of the project, IRI has worked to install scanning POS systems at independent retail sites to help smaller operators participate. To obtain a true reflection of what is happening in c-store channel, both Klein and O'Malley emphasized, it was critical to have significant participation from smaller chains and single-store operators.
We saw a need to get an appropriate balance of chains and independents, Klein said, noting that much of today's industry figures are based on manual calculations, adjustments and assumptions. Much of the information being used today is very imprecise, not necessarily very accurate. This is granularevery single item gets scanned, every single category is accounted for.
For consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers, the AllScan tracking service will allow them to better assess in-store promotions, movement of new productions on a market-by-market basis and how to maximize in-store planograms and product adjacencies.
For retailers, Klein said, the upside is huge. Individual retailers can look at the market and see what things are moving and where there are opportunities. It might be a brand or a package size or a local product that they don't have in their store that they should.
Added O'Malley, They'll be able to adjust their product assortments more quickly and adjust their prices. Before, they might have been able to do this on a monthly basis. This lets them do it at a weekly level.
The service is available now.
[See related story in this issue of CSP Daily News.]
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.