WESTLAKE, Texas — Convenience retail distributor Core-Mark International has signed an agreement with data, insight and predictive analytics provider IRI to help store convenience-store operators make the best product mix decisions possible. Core-Mark will use IRI’s point-of- sale, UPC-scanned c-store data to analyze consumer preferences, sales, pricing and other metrics that directly affect traffic, income, profits and loyalty.
Combined with Core-Mark’s data analytics capabilities, the IRI data will arm its category management teams and Center of Excellence (COE) analysts with information to further customize planogram models for product assortment and shelf placement – all in an effort to maximize sales for the stores it serves.
“Our marketing and Center of Excellence experts exist to better serve our customers and having access to IRI data ensures we’re providing them with key metrics and insights for better decision-making,” said Core-Mark COE Director Amanda Sulc. “By integrating IRI data with customers’ sales data, we will have access to the best insights for making decisions that spur consumer satisfaction and sales growth.”
“We are pleased to partner with Core-Mark as their data provider and support the COE to better enable their customers and retailer partners,” said Rob Porod, executive vice president of mid-market national for IRI. “Understanding and leveraging POS metrics will help support initiatives with fact-based reporting to drive better assortment and key category growth.”
To optimize each customer’s product mix to maximize sales, Core-Mark uses a variety of data sources, trends, brand analysis and shopper insights to determine the best assortment and space utilization. The IRI data enhances Core-Mark’s ability to construct customized SmartSet plan-o-grams, which are built using software and industry knowledge of product movement and consumer trends to determine the products to stock and how to display them.
The COE—a facility that allows convenience retailers to immerse themselves in the retailing experience and drive new ideas, products and solutions—will make use of the IRI data as part of its Insights and Data Center hub.
Core-Mark is a major marketer of food, fresh and broad-line supply solutions to the convenience retail industry in North America. It offers a full range of products, marketing programs and technology solutions to more than 40,000 customers in the United States and Canada through 32 distribution centers. Core-Mark services traditional convenience retailers, grocers, drug, liquor and specialty stores, as well as other stores that carry convenience products.
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