SmartView Convenience: frequently asked questions

• How do I access the data?
  SmartView Convenience data is accessed via our popular and easy-to-use SmartView reporting platform, which has been designed for the busy sales colleague ‘on the go’ – it works on any device, it’s very visual and easy to use. ‘NAM Dash’ comprises pre-formatted reports which answer commonly used views of the data, whilst ‘Query Builder’ is a free-form query tool to allow you to analyse data in any way you choose. The latter includes ‘query history’ which lists previous analyses you have run, so that you can easily refresh them. There is also a function to update reports and have them emailed direct to your inbox each month.
• Which measures are available?
  SmartView Convenience includes the following measures: value sales; retail unit sales; and store count – our measure of unique distribution 
• Can the data be organised in line with the way that my organisation defines the market?
  SmartView Convenience is a syndicated service and we work to standard industry hierarchies but we can bring together different categories to reflect your view of the market, so for example combining ambient coffee (instant, ground, pods etc) with ready to drink “iced coffee” drinks. We do our best to ensure that the data reflects how you see the market and work with all clients to make sure the right SKUs are in the right categories/ sub categories – this is all part of the onboarding process when you sign up.
• Has the data been cleaned and organised into a hierarchy?
  Yes! We have a whole team of cleansers dedicated to SmartView Convenience – they classify new products and deal any anomalies as they come through. Bear in mind that the standard of retailer descriptions for this part of the market is generally very poor so this team works hard to identify products. 
• How many colleagues can have licences?
  Access to the data is unlimited across your organisation once you subscribe to SmartView Convenience.
• Will TWC train our team on the platform / how to access the data they need?
  Yes, unlimited training is provided – and is free of charge.
• Will we be able to look at the data by region?
  Yes, this is already built into the reporting function.  The data can be reported by the following regions: London, South East, Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber, North East, North West, Wales and Scotland (see below).

• How about reporting by postcode?
  YES this is possible too. We can now offer StoreView – our store level data solution, allowing users to measure ROI on local activities or create ‘test’ and ‘control’ groups of stores.
• How about by retail fascia?
  Yes, you can see data split out for the following fascias: Booker Premier & Londis; Nisa; Bestway’s Costcutter and Best One; Unitas fascias (combined); as well as a total for all of the unaffiliated independent stores. 
• Which time periods are available?
  Data can be analysed by single week / 4 weeks / 13 weeks / 52 weeks / year to date (YTD) and MAT (moving annual totals). Data is refreshed on the platform every 4 weeks and you will be notified each time it is updated. Currently the data is updated at a lag of 2-3 weeks but we are working hard to reduce this.
• Should SmartView Convenience replace buying shipments data from wholesalers?
  No, SmartView Convenience is complementary to your existing shipments data provision. SmartView convenience is designed to give you a helicopter view of key trends in the independent convenience store sector. Shipments data provides the detailed data to develop wholesaler-specific plans and strategies based on the opportunities identified from it. You can see the difference in the two data sources by clicking on the link below:

• Is there analytical support available?
  Yes – TWC Consulting offers analytical support to help you with any of your route to market data sources. If you don’t have the time or resource to mine the data, speak to us about how we can help extract the insight for you.
• Are you able to identify price marked packs in the data?
  No, currently we are not able to split out PMPs from standard packs, meaning you can only analyse down to the parent product level. This is to ensure data integrity due to the poor descriptions we receive meaning we can are not able to cleanse the data to this level of detail currently, although being able to do so remains on our wish list. 
• Can I export the data from the dashboard?
  Yes, you can export any report into excel, CSV, PDF, screen shot etc
• Can I integrate other third party data, e.g. weather data?
  Yes, we can custom build/integrate third party data, including free weather data from Mateo.com
• Can I conduct additional research to help to understand what is driving performance?
  Yes, absolutely – we can conduct consumer, retailer, or wholesaler research on your behalf to help you understand the WHY behind what you are seeing in the market read data from SmartView Convenience.