Unitas has become the first wholesaler or wholesale buying group to sign up to SmartView Convenience (SVC), a market read for independent convenience stores launched in mid-2023 by TWC Group in partnership with I-TG Group.
Already used by suppliers, SVC provides what is claimed to be the most representative EPOS market read covering independent retail and wholesaler-supplied symbol stores in Britain. The read comprises a sample of more than 5,000 stores, which have been picked to represent the total GB market of 30,000 independent convenience retail and wholesaler-supplied symbol stores.
By subscribing to SVC, Unitas will have the ability to use the market read to support functions such as marketing, trading and core range planning. TWC noted that SVC’s drill-down function will allow Unitas to understand performance by category, sub-category, supplier, brand, down to SKU level.
Cheryl Hope, Trading Director at Unitas, commented: “There has never been a reflective market read for the part of the market we serve, and historically, this has made ranging, performance benchmarking and strategic planning challenging.
“SmartView Convenience will help us develop bespoke category growth plans for our members and their stores and will identify the ‘must-stock’ SKUs based on what is actually selling in independent c-stores. We will also be able to identify high growth products and emerging trends.”
Tom Fender, Development Director at TWC, added: “TWC is already Unitas’s data partners for shipments data (both retail and foodservice), and we’re delighted to now welcome them aboard as SmartView Convenience (SVC) clients. Feedback we have received from existing SmartView Convenience clients has been outstanding, and we are confident that Unitas will benefit greatly from this much needed, long overdue market read.
“We wholeheartedly believe our truly representative market read is a must-have solution for this part of the market. The mults have been awash with data for years – our sector hasn’t had nearly the same quality of market data to aid decision-making for wholesalers and their suppliers. Too often we see suppliers presenting range recommendations based on data which doesn’t reflect the independent convenience sector, and we want to help everyone produce truly appropriate category plans”.
NAM Implications:
- A key advantage of drill-down access to SKU demand can be greater precision in forecasting…
- …meaning less buffer stock is required i.e. reduced cost of stockholding, especially in times of high interest rates.
- But this new service can be much more in terms of access to data comparable with that of the mults.
- Worth a serious look…
