Resources
Scout Blog
Expert insights on CPG analytics, syndicated data, promotions, pricing, and distribution. Learn how top brands answer retailer questions faster.
- Basics
Circana Data Explained (Formerly IRI)
A plain-language guide to Circana data for CPG brands: what Circana is and why it used to be called IRI, what its POS and panel data cover, how it compares to NielsenIQ and SPINS, the Liquid Data and Unify platforms, how brands get access, and where it falls short.
- Basics
Share of Shelf: Formula & How to Calculate
A plain-language guide to share of shelf for CPG brands: the formula, how to calculate it in facings or linear inches, the difference between physical and digital share of shelf, how it compares to market share, how brands measure it with audits and image recognition, and why it moves sales at the moment of purchase.
- Basics
WTD, CWW & Other CPG Data Acronyms
WTD does not mean week-to-date in syndicated CPG data, it means Weighted. A plain-language guide to the retail-measurement acronyms brands routinely confuse, WTD, CWW, BWW, YTD, MTD, L52W, L13, L4, and YA, with worked examples, a quick-reference table, and the traps that make the same metric disagree across two reports.
- Basics
Total Distribution Points (TDP), Explained
Total Distribution Points sums the %ACV of every SKU a brand sells, folding distribution breadth and assortment depth into one number. Here's the formula, a worked example on harmonized data, how TDP differs from %ACV and a raw count of items carried, and the discipline that keeps a TDP trend honest.
- Basics
What Is Syndicated Data? A Guide for CPG Brands
A plain-language guide to syndicated data for CPG brands: what it is, how it differs from first-party and panel data, who provides it (Circana, NielsenIQ, SPINS), the POS and panel types you will meet, how brand teams use it for distribution and velocity, and where its coverage gaps and reporting lag bite.
- Basics
What Is Trade Promotion? Definition, Types, Examples
Trade promotion is the money a brand pays its retailers to discount, feature, and display its products — the largest line on most CPG P&Ls. A plain-language guide to the types, how they are funded, and how to measure whether they actually paid back.
- Basics
% ACV Distribution Explained
% ACV distribution is how syndicated data weights your distribution by store size: the share of a market's all-commodity volume rung up by the stores that carry your product. This primer covers what it means, why ACV stands for All-Commodity Volume, how it differs from numeric and weighted distribution, why it's one of the two most important numbers on the page, and how to read it with a worked example.
- Measurement
Sales Velocity in CPG: How Well a Product Sells
Total sales tell you how big a product is, not how well it sells. Sales velocity is the rate of sale buyers actually judge a SKU on: units or dollars per store, per week, normalized for distribution. The two velocity measures, when to use each, and how velocity exposes the hidden winners and losers total sales bury.
- AI
AI in CPG: What It Actually Changes for Brand Teams
A practical map of AI in CPG: where it shows up across the value chain, what it actually changes in the analyst's weekly workflow, where the hype outruns what ships, and how a brand team should decide where to start.
- AI
How CPG Executives Can Drive AI Adoption That Sticks
AI adoption in CPG fails in the rollout far more often than in the technology. A leadership playbook: name a workflow, assign an operational owner, measure the baseline, set a trust threshold with a sunset date, and frame the analyst as the interpreter.
- Deductions
Must-Have Deduction Management Software Capabilities
Every vendor promises capture, matching, and dispute workflow. Here are the deduction management software capabilities that actually move recovery rate, and the ones that just demo well.
- Deductions
Retail Deduction Management: One Size Never Fits
A brand selling into ten retailers is running ten deduction processes. Why retail deduction management is retailer-specific, and how to build a process that scales across accounts.
- Deductions
Deduction Management Best Practices for CPG Brands
Brands that recover well do not research faster, they run a better process. Five deduction management best practices that move recovery rate, and the common practices that quietly fail.
- Deductions
Deduction Management Challenges That Cost the Most
The expensive deduction management challenges are quiet and structural, not the big disputed deduction that gets attention. The four that drain the most cash, and how to fix each.
- Deductions
Accounts Receivable Deduction Management Explained
Accounts receivable deduction management is where short-paid invoices become a finance problem. How the AR process works, and why AR owns deductions it did not cause.
- Deductions
How to Automate Deduction Management
The case to automate deduction management is specific: manual work fails in predictable places. Which steps to automate, which to leave human, and the ROI math.
- Basics
What Is Trade Spend? A Complete Guide for CPG Brands
Trade spend is the largest discretionary line on a CPG P&L, 15-25% of gross sales. What it is, every type, how the money flows, and how to calculate it.
- Retailer Data
Retail Link Data: What Walmart's Portal Shows
Retail Link is Walmart's supplier portal, the most detailed view of one retailer a brand will ever get. What Retail Link data shows, what it leaves out, and how to use it without drowning in it.
- Retailer Data
KeHE Connect: The Specialty Distributor Portal
KeHE Connect is how brands that sell through KeHE read their distributor data. What KeHE Connect shows, how distributor data differs from retailer data, and where it falls short.
- Retailer Data
POS Data: What Point-of-Sale Data Tells a CPG Brand
POS data is the record of what scanned at the register. What point-of-sale data measures, what it cannot see, and how brands turn raw scans into velocity and distribution.
- Retailer Data
EDI Transactions in Retail, Explained
EDI transactions are the standardized documents that run a retail trading relationship: purchase orders, ship notices, invoices. What the common EDI transactions are, and why they are a data source, not just plumbing.
- Retailer Data
Supply Chain Analytics for Retail: The Signal
Supply chain analytics turns retailer data into decisions about inventory, availability, and demand. What it covers in a retail supply chain, and where the demand signal comes from.
- Retailer Data
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) for CPG Brands
Sales and operations planning aligns the demand plan with the supply plan on one cadence. What S&OP is, why retail sell-through belongs in the demand plan, and how brands close the gap.
- Pro Tips
Trade Promotion Management and Optimization
Trade promotion management makes promotions run and get paid for; trade promotion optimization decides which to repeat. Why a brand needs the first working before the second pays off, and how to tell which one is actually broken.
- Pro Tips
Trade Promotion Analysis: Did the Promo Pay Back?
Trade promotion analysis is the post-event work of separating real incremental lift from baseline volume and forward-buy, then turning it into an ROI a brand can act on. The method, the math, and the three errors that make a losing promotion look like a win.
- Basics
The Parts of Trade Promotion Management, Explained
Trade promotion management has five moving parts: planning, funding, execution, settlement, and measurement. A breakdown of what each part does, who owns it, and the handoff failures that leak the most money.
- Basics
Trade Promotion Management in CPG: Why It Is So Hard
Trade promotion management in CPG is uniquely difficult: the spend is huge, the money leaves as deductions months later, and the retailer holds the scan data. What makes CPG trade different and what a brand can actually control.
- Basics
Managing Trade Promotions: A Practical Starter Guide
A practical guide to managing trade promotions for CPG brands without a dedicated trade team: the baseline, the calendar, the agreement, and the post-event read, and the order to build them in.
- Basics
Managed Trade Promotions Services: When to Outsource
Managed trade promotions services run a brand's trade management for it: settlement, deductions, sometimes planning. When outsourcing makes sense, what to keep in-house, and the one capability you should never hand away.
- Pro Tips
Build vs Buy for CPG Sales Analytics
When to build your CPG sales analytics infrastructure in-house and when to buy it: the true cost of building, the four costs nobody budgets for, and a component-by-component decision framework you can run with your own numbers.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend Management: A Practical Guide
A practical guide to trade spend management for CPG brands: the plan-to-settle lifecycle, where cross-functional handoffs break, and a maturity model.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend Management Software: How to Choose
A buyer's guide to trade spend management software: what TPM tools do, when to leave spreadsheets behind, the capability checklist, and what to budget.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend Optimization: More From Every Dollar
Trade spend optimization isn't cutting the budget. It's moving the same dollars where they return more. The loop, the levers, and a worked reallocation.
- Basics
Trade Spend Analysis: A Step-by-Step Method
A step-by-step method for trade spend analysis: set the baseline, isolate incremental units, net out cannibalization, and read the result honestly.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend Analytics: Metrics and Systems
A practitioner's guide to trade spend analytics: the six metrics worth tracking, the data sources that never reconcile, and the accrual-vs-actual gap.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend ROI: How to Calculate It, and Pitfalls
Trade spend ROI looks simple, but the headline number routinely overstates returns by 30% or more. How to calculate it honestly, with a worked example.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend Effectiveness: Measuring What Works
How to grade a whole portfolio for trade spend effectiveness: effectiveness vs. efficiency, the signals of wasted dollars, and repeat/adjust/kill calls.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend Strategy: Building an Annual CPG Plan
How to build a trade spend strategy that holds: setting the budget, allocating across retailers and quarters, and the guardrails that protect your brand.
- Basics
CPG Trade Spend: Benchmarks and How It Works
How CPG trade spend works: why it runs 15-25% of gross sales, how it flows through gross-to-net, and where category and channel benchmarks land.
- Basics
What Is Trade Promotions Analysis? A CPG Primer
An introductory primer on trade promotions analysis: what it is, the three signals that matter, the data you need, how it differs from a sales recap, and the most common pitfalls. Built for CPG sales teams new to the discipline.
- Pro Tips
A Guide to Trade Promotions Effectiveness Analysis
The five-signal framework Scout uses to evaluate trade promotion effectiveness (incremental lift, profit, mix, retailer, and the sustain-lift ratio) with worked examples, the failure modes that distort the numbers, and how to decide whether to repeat, adjust, or kill a promotion.
- Pro Tips
How to Forecast Trade Spend ROI for Promotions
A minimum-viable model for forecasting promotion ROI: define the event, build a baseline, compare against history, and forecast a range instead of a single number.
- Basics
Why Spreadsheets Don't Scale for CPG Sales Teams
The five breaking points spreadsheets hit as CPG sales teams grow past one or two analysts, and what scalable analytics looks like instead.
- Basics
How to Tell If a CPG Promotion Actually Worked
Lift alone doesn't prove a promotion worked. Three checks every CPG promo analysis should include (incrementality, post-promo behavior, and retailer/SKU-level differences) before you decide to repeat.
- Pro Tips
Trade Spend: From Cost Center to Profit Driver
Reframing trade spend as capital allocation: incrementality-first evaluation, ROI as the guiding metric, and portfolio optimization across retailers.