Digital firm TWC and Unitas Wholesale have highlighted the growing success of the new Unitas Data Service. As of 1 December, membership coverage has moved from 21 members to 25 with an additional £250m of member sales bringing the total read to £1.35bn.
Launched nine months ago, the service has seen key suppliers signing up to the service, including JTI, PepsiCo, Treasury Wine Estates, KP Snacks and Mondelez. The platform now provides suppliers with insight on over 30,000 SKU’s.
Darren Goldney, Managing Director at Unitas, said: “Clearly 2020 has been a challenging year for the whole industry, however, one where data has been an imperative in understanding fast-moving trends and changing consumer behaviours which have impacted our members and the supply chain, enabling them to respond quickly to either drive opportunity or mitigate risk.
“And we appreciate that our data service has represented an investment for suppliers, however, one that has paid significant dividends this year in keeping ahead of market turbulence, especially bearing in mind that we have seen far less ‘feet on the street’ over the last few months.
Kenny Mcgee, Business Manager at Treasury Wine Estates explained why they signed up to the data service. “The Unitas Data Service revealed one of its key strengths during the varying stages of lockdown when business exploded. The weekly data updates gave me an immediate and valued view of what’s happening from a category, brand, member and supplier perspective (lower case). For those who are working from home or remotely, the data is invaluable in identifying depot sales and distributions gaps”.
Andy Staley, Business Account Manager at KP Snacks, added: “The Unitas Data Service is user-friendly, quick, works across numerous devices and helps to identify the right insight on which to base future decisions, strategies and targeted campaigns on. The data also gives real nuggets on which we can create strong compelling sells to take to the trade to maximise category sales for both ourselves and our customers”.
Other suppliers who have recently signed up to the service include Boost Drinks, Kraft Heinz, Danone and Heineken UK.
Tanya Pepin, CEO of TWC commented: “At last, data is being recognised as the lifeblood of the industry – understanding trends and market influences (fast!), has never been more important to keep ahead of opportunity and potential upsell.”