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Wild is a plastic-free natural deodorant brand containing no nasty aluminium, parabens and sulphates. Starting out as a D2C business in 2020, just a year later Wild joined Sainsbury’s Future Brands and began its expansion into retail. Within a year distribution had grown to over 1,700 stores around the UK.
Commercial Manager Alexandra Summers takes us through how Wild is using elm to help simplify complicated retail data services and unlock new customers.
COMPLICATED RETAIL DATA SERVICES
Unlocking the retail space often comes with its challenges, including trying to make sense of the complex data services that retailers offer. Similar to other retail focused brands, Wild struggled with understanding how to digest the data and use it to improve ROS across their UK stores.
“With a lean team already, we could never find the time to use data to our advantage. Sifting through the data was time consuming and complicated.”
FINDING VALUE IN RETAIL DATA
Using the elm dashboard the Wild team can access simplified data in one central location. Instead of spending hours aimlessly scrolling through spreadsheets, the team can spend valuable time analysing data that can actually help business growth.
“As a team, we were quite fragmented with our approach to data. We often used different spreadsheets and spent a lot of time trying to find value in our data. With elm the whole team can easily access sales figures and can track specific store data over a 12 week period. The platform makes it digestible and simple to turn data into actions”.
“For example, with any stores that are underperforming, the team can delve into the data and find a better understanding of how to solve a drop in sales. There was a particular occasion where we noticed that a product wasn’t doing as well in some of the Sainsbury’s stores, so we were quickly able to work with our buyer to swap it out for a new colour and scent”.
STAYING ON TOP OF AVAILABILITY
“Without a field sales team it’s quite difficult to stay on top of availability and make sure that every store is optimised. I really like to use the product availability feature on elm as it means that I can quickly contact retailers when supply is running low. I could see that on one occasion we only had 75% availability in store, but by using this function I was able to reduce our lost sales”.
A DATA DRIVEN APPROACH
Challenger brands disrupt the FMCG space with innovative, game-changing products. But in order to succeed you need more than just an innovative product and a strong brand mission. To gain and maintain a listing you need to prove your value with hard data.
“By using elm, Wild can have instant access to every key metric we might need when putting together a pitch for buyers. Most challenger brands have a great message, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. When working with mass market retailers, a data driven approach is far more successful than anything else.
When it comes down to it, to be successful with buyers you need to back up your brand with hard metrics to demonstrate what incrementality you have. Having elm allows us to do just that.”
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