The New Age of Foodservice Data: Datassential Guest Blog
We’re thrilled to announce that Mark DiDomenico, Director of Client Solutions at Datassential, is a featured speaker for Smoke Jumpers XVI. Mark has been following trends in the foodservice industry for over 25 years. He loves working with clients to harmonize data for the purpose of analyzing profitability and white-space targeting initiatives. Mark will bring his expertise to the October session, as we continue to dive into big data initiatives and support attendees with actionable insights and solutions as they explore opportunities to address business priorities.
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The New Age of Foodservice Data
By Mark DiDomenico
Data in the foodservice industry is a hot topic. No longer do foodservice manufacturers complain about not having enough data. Indeed, manufacturers are now inundated with information from multiple sources, both internal and external. Certainly, many have made great strides in turning the information from each individual source into strategic and tactical insights. Data sharing has illuminated operator transaction data for the manufacturer like never before.
We can now understand operator purchase patterns, rebates and billbacks, as well as marketing and promotion activities down to the location level for most accounts. While these insights are significant and valuable on their own, there is untapped potential available by aggregating these sources into one analysis in order to build a greater understanding of our operator customer base.
Combining multiple sources of operator data can reveal valuable insights regarding purchase patterns by operator segment, as well as usage of various marketing and merchandising tools and strategies. For instance, a manufacturer might receive billback data from their distributor partner. They may also have data from rebate or loyalty programs that reward their customers based on case purchases across multiple categories. By themselves, these data sets can reveal a great deal.
Even better, aggregating these sources can start to build a comprehensive, 360 degree view. With a combined view, the manufacturer can visualize a profile of their “ideal” customer based on segment, number of categories purchased and volume. This will lead to more focused efforts against these customers.
Data integration is not easy. Again, manufacturers have access to a great deal of data. However, most sources are in different formats and structures. Manufacturers may receive automated data transfers, but they might also receive data via hard copy or PDF, making the task of aggregation extremely difficult and time consuming.
Datassential has recently developed the tools and processes to help manufacturers analyze data from multiple sources, internal and external, in order to categorize or tier their customers and identify product and brand opportunities. Utilizing their Firefly database, Datassential can match, clean and append operator data into a standard format with all of the necessary data to help manufacturers identify their ideal customer profile. In addition, Datassential can mine the Firefly database to identify all of the other operator NON-customers that fit the profile, and generate higher opportunity, lead lists.
The new age of foodservice data is upon us. Are you prepared to dig in?
