Malt-O-Meal Optimizes Recessionary Pricing with Visual Demand Intelligence Solution
Data Visualization Key to Communicating with Retailer
Minneapolis, MN — February 3, 2010 — Faced with price hikes that were causing progressive decreases in sales volume, Malt-O-Meal’s Tracey Mankowski, Key Account Sales Manager, made repeated presentations to her Buyer. “Each time the price was increased, I spent hours importing data, running calculations and creating a presentation that I could share with my Buyer. But what I put together for him just didn’t make an impact — so the higher price points stayed in place.”
When Malt-O-Meal partnered with LumiData and installed SOLYS, everything changed. LumiData’s SOLYS software solution delivers seamless and actionable point-of-sale demand intelligence reports to all members of a consumer goods sales team. “I didn’t spend my time pulling information from InfoRetriever, crunching numbers and creating reports because SOLYS did that for me.”
Instead, she utilized SOLYS’ SKU Ranking Report to identify store counts and low numbers that indicated losses in sales. Once she had identified the items that were seeing marked decreases in sales due to the price increases, she ran an Item Synopsis Report and presented it to the Buyer. “I presented a one-page snapshot of the items — sales dollars, average price, inventory measures, lifts, distribution center data — everything. The price/volume comparison is what really told the story — it clearly illustrated what the price increases had done to the volume. I also showed the Buyer weekly supply and in-stock SOLYS reports to prove that these elements weren’t a factor in the decreased volume.”
As a result, Ms. Mankowski and the Buyer successfully adjusted the price points and sales recovered.
Ransom Stafford, President and CEO, LumiData, notes, “We partnered with Malt-O-Meal in June of this year. In less than six months, they’ve been able to reverse a loss in sales due to price hikes and identify supply chain challenges that have restricted their growth in volume. It’s a great example of demand intelligence dashboards and data visualization in action.” He adds, “Malt-O-Meal has nearly a century of experience and they’re leading the way in demand intelligence by utilizing data visualization technologies. Their history is testament to their ability to adapt, integrate new technologies and identify opportunity. Going forward, we will work closely with Ms. Mankowski as she takes part in a retail joint-business planning exercise, working to grow retailer private label volume.”
Concludes Ms. Mankowski, “SOLYS will make my role in this planning exercise much easier — identifying expected growth, assessing how realistic our marketing and sales projections are, perfecting forecasting and analyzing promotions. I have the historical data and the reports I need to demonstrate what’s possible and where opportunities lie. It’s a great opportunity and I can’t wait.”
Case study available upon request.
About LumiData.
LumiData is a demand intelligence specialist providing retail demand information that assists Fortune 1000 consumer goods companies to evolve their business strategies. LumiData’s combination of software applications and client services creates demand planning solutions utilized to drive sales and marketing strategies that increase revenue, increase margins, enhance brand visibility and strengthen market positions. LumiData’s SOLYS is a comprehensive, adaptive software solution that delivers seamless and actionable point-of-sale information across downstream and upstream business functions — bridging the gap between data and decisions.
About Malt-O-Meal
Malt-O-Meal’s history of consistent quality and service is a tradition since 1919. Founded by John S. Campbell, Malt-O-Meal® originally manufactured hot wheat cereal. In 1965, the company introduced its first ready-to-eat cereals. Today, the company manufactures three varieties of hot wheat cereal and many varieties of ready-to-eat cereal.
