This column usually focuses on sales in specific categories, subcategories, or trends. But something far more noteworthy happened this week.
In partnership with PLMA, Circana launched Unify+, an expanded database for monthly statistics. While it contains some of the same information as the previous version, Unify+ gives a more in-depth look at store brand sales from several key angles. Members are advised to log in and tour the new database for themselves.
For instance, the Channel Summary portal appears as the first choice on the platform. Here you can instantly see the top 10 selling store brand categories and subcategories not only in total outlets but in multi-outlet, supermarkets, drug stores, and convenience stores. In addition, you can see not only the top 10 but which products were driving growth that month aka which had the largest sale increases.
Say you want to know the top five best-selling categories in convenience stores. A quick look shows bottled water, milk, cups and plates, fresh eggs, and natural cheese. What products were driving growth in the first four months in dollar sales from YA%? Cups & Plates (140%), Fresh Eggs (25%), Toilet Tissue (+41%), and meat (+114%). Members also discover convenience store private label sales rose 18.5% compared to a year ago.
In the POS Drivers section, members can see the big picture of how store brands have changed in the past 52-weeks- an increase of $20.3B in dollar sales since April of 2022. In Panel Drivers members see a detailed look into households and per shopping trip data. Users will see sales in the frozen food department is up 8.7% per buyer while dollars spent on frozen food per trip have increased 8.8%.
The demographics portal displays the behavior of specific groups including pet owners and 12 other demographic categories and what their spending habits are in total store. Unify+ gives the user a look into dollars spent per trip, per household, and product trips per buyer.
In the departments and PLMA Rank Reports for food and non-food, the statistics are the same as monthly updates offered by Circana in the past. Now they are presented in a new format making it easier to see the entire picture.
In the PLMA Rank Report you can view dollar and unit sales for 317 categories and 967 categories for both store brands, national brands and all brands combined.
The best way for members to appreciate the advantages of the new system is to try it. Find the category or subcategory that matches your business and discover insights into multiple layers of data from the hundreds of categories and subcategories available.
Tom’s Data Dive is a monthly column written by Editor-in-Chief Tom Prendergast, taking a deeper look at statistics and trends in the industry. This story will be featured in PLMA’s e-Scanner May 20, 2023, e-Scanner newsletter.