In this episode of “The Innovation Conversation,” former Amazon executive Tom Furphy, now the CEO of Consumer Equity Partners, and the Morning News Beat’s Kevin Coupe explore the impact of Walmart’s Luminate data on retailer-manufacturer collaboration. Luminate enables the sharing of detailed, yet anonymous, customer information with suppliers. They discuss the significance of filtering and harmonizing data to turn it into a strategic asset, emphasizing the competitive advantage it provides to major players like Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, and potentially Albertsons. The conversation highlights the imperative for other retailers to leverage technology in order to establish closer connections with shoppers in the dynamic, technology-driven retail landscape.
Decoding AI for CPGs: A Path to Category Management Success
Hosted by the Category Management Association
Curious about integrating AI into your category management practices? Join us for this panel discussion with retail industry veterans and former category and sales leaders at Coca-Cola, Walmart and Nike as they discuss AI adoption in the CPG world.
Our panelists will explore critical topics such as generative AI, strategic starting points on your AI journey, and the nuances of outsourcing AI solutions. Equip yourself with the knowledge to thrive in an AI-driven marketplace and stay ahead of the curve.
Identify the best opportunities for AI integration in your category management practices
What to look for in an AI partner and how to identify AI white washing
Receive expert guidance on where and how to initiate your AI journey, tailored specifically for CPG companies.
Benefits and challenges of outsourcing AI talent.
Explore the potential of generative AI for CPGs
Get actionable steps and practical advice on how to execute an AI project, both with partners and gain alignment and support internally. Gain clarity and confidence in embracing AI to outpace your competitors in the dynamic CPG landscape.
Capri Brixey, EVP, Strategy Consulting at Insite AI
Kristine Joji, EVP, Strategy Consulting at Insite AI
Marsha Shapiro, SVP of Client Solutions at Insite AI
Decoding Walmart Luminate: Leveraging Predictive Analytics for Success
Anything new takes some getting used to, and a new data engine is no different — especially one as robust as Walmart Luminate.
In March, Walmart will officially transition consumer goods partners into its tiered Walmart Luminate data platform, and supplier partners will need to adjust to this next-generation program. As I wrote earlier, Walmart Luminate is truly game-changing, providing an unprecedented look into the shopping behaviors of more than 140 million households, plus never-before-shared online pickup and delivery data. With Walmart Luminate, brands have access to a level of reporting to grow their businesses in ways they never could before.
Of course, managing and understanding data as complex and revolutionary as what’s inside Walmart Luminate takes time to grasp. AI and predictive analytics can support brands by harmonizing the data and turning findings into actionable outcomes.
Here’s a look at how predictive analytics and our CPG-tailored AI expertise can assist brands using Walmart Luminate.
Supporting brands using Walmart Luminate
Walmart began rolling out Walmart Luminate to brands this fall, providing some CPGs a trial in how they might to use the data, particularly the Charter version of the program (see below summary of the data plans).
Walmart Luminate Charter is the paid tier. It gives brands complete access to shopper behavior data from millions of households, including loyalty data and custom reports on brand-switching behaviors. The full package also debuts behavioral insights on pickup and delivery, and shares robust scoring and recommendations from the Supplier Quality Excellence Program (SQEP). As part of SQEP, all Walmart suppliers are scored based on the condition of packages, pallets and products shipped to their distribution centers, for example. Charter delivers in-depth metrics on how the supplier is performing in those areas. It also has historical data and custom reporting capabilities that’s not available in the basic versions.
Brands that pay for the full service receive an exhaustive and extraordinary set of data that can seem overwhelming at first. For that reason, some CPGs will need assistance sorting it out. Insite AI’s services range from data integration and harmonization all the way to predictive analytics and scenario modeling meant to support each supplier given where you are on your individual AI journey.
Here are four ways predictive analytics and our team of engineers can help simplify the data and get more out of it:
Linking Walmart Luminate to other data-management programs.
Some CPGs may want to integrate Walmart Luminate into other data tools that they’re already comfortable working with, and our engineers can help connect the solutions. For example, a brand may want to continue using Power BI, the data visualization platform from Microsoft, but not know how to integrate Walmart Luminate into the solution. Our team can export the data and insights from Walmart Luminate and link it to a program like Power BI. Brands can get the most out of Walmart Luminate without needing to upend their data analysis habits.
Harmonizing Walmart Luminate insights with additional data sources.
Walmart Luminate provides unprecedented access to customer segmentation data and e-commerce insights, but brands still want to leverage findings from other sources such as third-party panel data, programs like 84.51, macroeconomic data and other external sources. Insite AI’s AI modeling can take the data and harmonize it into one single version of the truth. No matter the source, it’s all big data that feeds into the AI, and our solution harmonizes the information and delivers insights in a format that’s meaningful and easy to understand.
Recommending strategic actions based on the Walmart Luminate insights.
With Large Language Models (LLMS) steeped in retail knowledge, our CPG-focused AI-powered solutions and services can help explain the data. Predictive analytics and AI models can take Walmart Luminate data, create accurate forecasts on a product’s demand and explain why sales may spike or decline in the coming months. Perhaps a rise in gas prices will increase online sales of a product? AI can add a layer of “explainability” to the robust Walmart Luminate data stream. By uncovering the in-depth meaning behind the insights, you can see the trajectory of your business and discover talking points for sales and merchant teams to help drive the business forward.
Enterprise solutions tools that solve business needs within revenue growth management, assortment planning/modular planning, macro/micro space optimization, pricing, pack architecture, forecasting and strategic business planning. By leveraging AI/ML powered solutions, brands can set and visualize multiple goals and obtain proactive and prescriptive recommendations with data explainability. These solutions are embedded within your cloud so your data never leaves the safety of your environment. Let’s say you are wanting to run TPAs (Temporary Price Adjustments) across a few brands or items to see if it will generate a lift in volume and revenue and if that lift will be maintained if you decide to make that your new retail. Our enterprise pricing tool integrates Luminate data alongside other internal and external disparate data sources and utilizes our price elasticities model, using forecasted vs historical data, generating the ideal retail price points to drive the goals of increased volume and revenue.
Walmart Luminate will be a force in 2024 as brands take advantage of the data to learn more about their shoppers and product performance online and in stores. Leveraging AI and predictive analytics, consumer goods companies can harmonize the data and get insights explained.
Whether it’s bringing expertise to sync Walmart Luminate to other internal data solutions or tailoring predictive analytics models to meet backend technical needs, we can craft custom solutions that meet a brand’s specific business goals.
Food Navigator: Insite AI Harmonizes Retail Data Into Actionable Solutions for Brands
Insite AI leverages artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to identify actionable recommendations for brands from data insights, like those provided by Walmart’s recently upgraded Luminate data platform, which tracks the behaviors of its 180 million weekly shoppers and provides suppliers with insights into their business, including customer behavior, product performance and category trends, Kristine Joji, EVP strategy consulting, Insite AI told Food Navigator-USA.
Kristine is a highly accomplished retail executive and former VP of Merchandising at Walmart. Kristine led strategic initiatives that resulted in substantial revenue growth for the company across Grocery and prior to that Personal Care. Widely recognized as a visionary leader, she played a pivotal role in optimizing Walmart’s merchandising with large CPGs.
Unlocking the Full Potential of Walmart Luminate through AI
Walmart Luminate highlights what’s happened inside the store and online like never before. Insite AI emphasizes what to do next with the data.
Walmart Luminate is a game-changing data platform that shines a light into a deep, dark data void, where no CPG has had visibility before. The platform delivers shopper insights, product performance and channel data such as pickup and delivery orders across 140 million households — weekly.
The platform is revolutionizing how brands use data to reach their consumers, but Insite AI can help unlock even more potential within the data. For example, Walmart Luminate highlights what’s happened inside the store and online like never before. Insite AI emphasizes what to do next with the data. Insite AI’s machine learning and AI models provide a forward-looking tactical layer on top of the Walmart data. Brands can see how a change in pricing, promotions or pack sizes will alter their course in the marketplace.
Walmart Luminate delivers the data. We help you put it in motion.
Walmart Luminate and Insite AI at work
Having spent nearly 20 years of my career at Walmart, most recently as the VP of merchandising in dry grocery, as well as working within bakery, personal care and other categories, I have been fortunate to see Walmart pilot and cultivate the Walmart Luminate program.
I also have a tremendous amount of experience working with brands to grow and maneuver within Walmart. I mention this, because alongside Brooke Hodierne, who was SVP of merchandising at 7-Eleven, and Capri Brixey, who was a former leader at Coca-Cola, we add a human element to the numbers. We overlay business intuition and consultation as a result of our deep and diverse business backgrounds.
With that said, let’s look at some hypothetical scenarios where Walmart Luminate and Insite AI can work together to help brands get better results.
Product innovation. A snack food brand uses Walmart Luminate to look at larger category trends and in the process identifies a competitive product making waves. The new challenger brand delivers higher protein content and is more affordable. In response, the snack food brand has decided to create a new line of products with 10 more grams of protein. Insite AI can help that brand forecast a range of scenarios on how a certain pack size would perform against that competitor. What pricing would work better? Would a specific promotion generate more sales at launch, and how will it be performing months down the line?
Brand-switching behavior. Walmart Luminate delivers a weekly report to a detergent brand that shows the detergent was out of stock in a specific region of the country. It also shows what percentage of households switched to a new brand because of the out-of-stock product, highlights what brand the households bought and shares more in-depth analysis. Insite AI can then layer in predictive market analytics around demand forecasting in consumer segments and parts of the country to help the detergent brand see where its brand loyalty lies and how to effectively respond.
Delivery trends. Within Walmart Luminate’s data is a look at online transactions for delivery and pickup at the store, and a beer brand, for example, can narrow in to see if there was a spike in delivery during the first Sunday of the NFL football season. What brand had the highest delivery? Which brands lagged? At what time of the day did the deliveries occur most? Insite AI can layer on the tactical to see if the trend will continue and deliver efficient forecasts on what types of promotions or moves can be made to accelerate the trend and predict when out of stocks may occur.
Factor in all the categories and shopping behaviors happening daily inside a Walmart, and the scenarios facing brands are endless. Walmart Luminate works with brands of all sizes, offering a free package with limited insights. There is a monetized version which provides customer decision trees, leakage trees and real-time insights across 140 million households.
No doubt, the data platform will grow. Insite AI will grow alongside it, working with CPGs to help solve their challenges.
Unprecedented data and insights
No other data platforms deliver a view into online delivery and pickup behaviors, giving Walmart Luminate a major competitive advantage. Before Walmart Luminate, CPGs had to rely on panel data and qualitative data sets to try and spot a trend.
But the panel data is tens of thousands of households, and the data is months old. Brands have done excellent work with panel data but it can also be tricky. The results rely on how the panel responds, and sometimes people say what they want you to hear, or the subset of people in the panel isn’t very broad, in my opinion.
Walmart Luminate offers brands data at scale, and the data presents a complete picture of shopper behaviors and households. The data withholds any identifiable information of a shopper, but it represents 140 million households across income levels and ethnicities shopping at Walmart stores. CPGs have at their fingertips truly robust data.
Insite AI can help brands take this data even further. Contact us to see how we can leverage AI and predictive analytics and help you turn insights from Walmart Luminate into immediate action.
CPG’s Guide to Walmart Luminate: Enhancing Results Through AI.
Are you getting the most out of your Walmart Luminate data? The platform offers a goldmine of shopper insights, but making the data actionable can be a challenge. That’s why we’ve created the CPG’s Guide to Walmart Luminate: Enhancing Results Through AI.
This comprehensive guide provides a deep dive into Walmart Luminate, exploring its unique benefits and how to apply predictive analytics to unlock its full potential.
In this guide:
The key differences between the Basic and Charter versions of Luminate.
How AI-powered solutions can harmonize Luminate data with other sources.
Real-world examples of how brands are using shopper insights to optimize strategies.
Download Guide
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