UNFI Insights Powered by Crisp Empowers Suppliers to Make Better Data-Driven Decisions
December 3, 2024 3 minute read
Across industries, organizations are hungry for data. CPGs and retailer distributors are no exception. Data has become an essential currency in helping not only our business, but those of our partners, run more smoothly and efficiently.
Yet the challenge facing many organizations isn’t simply generating data. Most companies have more information than they know what to do with. The challenge is effectively accessing, analyzing, and applying that data to make better decisions.
The UNFI Insights™ platform powered by Crisp (“UNFI Insights”) is helping UNFI suppliers solve that challenge.
The open data platform provides UNFI suppliers with the most comprehensive and cohesive sales, inventory, and deduction data across both natural and conventional channels. The platform launched during the summer of 2023, provides value-added insights directly through the myUNFI.com supplier portal to thousands of suppliers.
“We know our suppliers are constantly asking themselves ‘which flavors and products are trending? How can we stay relevant as a brand?’” said Meagan Kessel, Vice President, Supplier Services at UNFI. “UNFI Insights gives suppliers that data faster and more easily with actionable metrics. It lets companies spend more time running their business and less time analyzing data.”
The platform delivers a wide range of data in customizable views. But the team says the most impactful data falls into three categories:
Sales Data – Every supplier wants to know what’s selling – and what’s not. UNFI Insights provides a “Monday morning snapshot” that helps suppliers make strategic decisions around products, including ramping up promotions or reallocating resources. Suppliers can also dive into granular product, region, and store-level metrics, and save and share this custom filtering.
Inventory Data – The platform offers data and insights around inventory by product and distribution center, including items that are nearing their expiration date. It’s a critical tool to help suppliers minimize waste and shrink while also optimizing sales.
Category Data – One key differentiator of UNFI Insights is its ability to give suppliers a glimpse into broader category data. Suppliers want to know how they’re performing within their dedicated categories, and they want to know about opportunities to reach more customers or drive innovation. The platform strikes the balance of sharing impactful, anonymized category information without compromising proprietary data from any single supplier.
UNFI Insights further differentiates itself by delivering data that can easily be analyzed and put into action by any team at any organization.
“The platform is built on an intuitive dashboard that’s straightforward and easy to use,” said Barry Bradley, Head of Supply Chain at Crisp. “Suppliers don’t have to waste time and money pulling down reporting. It’s an all-in-one solution for our smaller suppliers, and it integrates seamlessly with larger tools and proprietary platforms many bigger CPGs use.”
Today, nearly 4,000 UNFI suppliers rely on UNFI Insights. UNFI and Crisp are working to close the gap with suppliers not currently enrolled in UNFI Insights and support further adoption via robust training sessions and implementation support.