3 tips for working with your retail partners to improve pricing and promotions

Maintaining good relationships with retail partners is a must for emerging pet manufacturers. Effective collaboration with retailers can help you develop the best possible pricing and promotional strategies for your product—and amplify your success.

By accessing specific retailer data, you can identify key accounts and understand which promotions have worked effectively in the past. You can also learn which pricing structures will drive product sales for both you and your retail partners, and establish a collaborative approach together.

Here are three tips for working with your retail partners to develop pricing and promotion strategies that create win-win outcomes:

1. Identify key accounts and access their data

The pet retail landscape is broad, but top-heavy, big-name retailers with large geographic footprints can have an outsized impact on your product’s success. Know who your key accounts are, and study their point-of-sale (POS) data to learn which pricing and promotional strategies may work.

PET PRO ADVICE: While internal sales figures can show you which of your current retail partners are your biggest accounts, market-level Retail Measurement Services (RMS) data can help you identify which pet retailers sell the highest volume of other products in your category. A data provider with direct access to your key accounts’ POS data can help you gain more-specific insights into store-level performance.

2. Pinpoint retailers’ keys to success

Not all promotions are created equal. Some might work for a specialty pet retailer but will be less effective in a grocery setting. It’s important to identify promotions that will be most effective in your key accounts. By learning what drives retailers’ revenues, you can identify promotional strategies that will benefit both sides.

PET PRO ADVICE: Analysis of key account sales data shows which promotions have worked for your retail partners in the past in terms of individual product performance and overall store sales. When you’ve identified which promotions have created win-win outcomes, you can work with retailers to replicate them through a retail collaboration platform. 

3. Deploy marketing dollars where they will have the most impact

Trade promotions are a powerful tool for manufacturers and their retail partners. But to be effective sales drivers, promotions must be well planned and targeted. Analyzing the sales lift resulting from promotions in your key accounts shows where your trade dollars will have the most significant effect.

PET PRO ADVICE: Because there are so many variables to consider when developing a promotional strategy, having the most accurate and current information is essential. Revenue management optimization (RMO) tools provide the analytics you need to plan efficient trade promotional spending.

How NielsenIQ data can help you develop win-win pricing and promotions 

NielsenIQ’s data provides the insights you need to work effectively with your retail partners. Our exclusive key account RMS data lets you drill down into shelf-level performance at your most important partners’ stores. RMO provides advanced analytics and predictive modeling, so you can get the most return from your promotions. Retail collaboration programs offer a shared platform for you to work with your retailers to develop mutually beneficial pricing and promotion strategies.

A suite of NielsenIQ products for effective pricing, promotion, and retail collaboration

• RMS gives you comprehensive and current data on market shares, competitive sales volumes, and insights into distribution, pricing, merchandising, and promotions
• RMO provides the analytics needed to improve pricing decisions, enhance trade spending efficiency, and ensure product availability
• Retail collaboration programs simplify and streamline collaboration between FMCG retailers and manufacturers/suppliers to deliver consistent mutual growth