How forward-looking data can prevent a second wave of empty shelves

NEW YORK, Oct. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- When it came to meeting consumer demand in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, Retailers and CPG companies were caught flat-footed. Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, canned goods—even pasta—were all too hard to find at the most crucial of times. But thanks to tech innovations in demand planning, grocery shelves may not be so empty during the second wave of food-stockpiling that is already upon us.

This fall, production appears to be meeting demand. Centricity provides Retailers and CPG companies with forward-looking, actionable consumer insights before there's a signal in the market. With our data solutions, Centricity users can respond to what's coming, proactively stocking their shelves, rather than scrambling to meet sudden spikes in demand.

How Centricity predicted the second stockpiling wave

Centricity's ability to measure pre-purchase consumer intent was highlighted recently by Bloomberg and Good Morning America. On Wednesday morning, GMA reported:

"According to [Centricity], right now, demand for baking goods is up 3,400% from this time a year ago."

ABC News Correspondent Will Reeve also cited Centricity CEO Mike Brackett's report that:

"[Centricity] is also seeing spikes in searches for items you can prepare early and keep ahead of the upcoming holidays, so they don't have to go into the crowded stores on the big day."

Until now, companies have struggled to understand true consumer sentiment, relying entirely on syndicated data, which prioritizes past sales numbers and consumer surveys. In short, companies have relied on old data to predict new trends.

The competitive advantage of forward-looking data

Centricity solves this problem by focusing on forward-looking consumer interactions across the web, analyzing over 2.5 billion data points of raw internet traffic every day. Our platform empowers companies to understand granular consumer demand on a county-by-county level, tracking what consumers want, how much they want it, and where they're looking to buy it.

Through our proprietary technology, Centricity has cracked the code of pre-purchase consumer intent, giving our users the ability to see market disruptors coming before they arise. Our users are the first to know what their customers are searching for—and the first to stock their shelves.

"What happened last spring at the outset of the pandemic didn't necessarily need to happen," Centricity CEO Mike Brackett says. "What this really shows is the age of the incumbent data providers in this space. Companies like Nielsen and IRI only provide old sales data, which as the pandemic has proved, is a bad way to make forward-looking decisions."

"Long fueled by Amazon and now by the pandemic, the retail market has changed forever, demanding a more customer-centric approach to merchandising, assortment planning, and forecasting/demand planning."

SOURCE Centricity, Inc.