Business Intelligence: Making Sense of the Signals 

Every growing brand runs into tough questions:  

• Why didn’t that promo deliver?
• Why are certain stores outperforming others? 
• Why can’t we agree on what the data is telling us? 

The answers are rarely found in a single report or dataset. They emerge when you start connecting the dots. 

Here are some of the challenges brands bring us every day — and how our Business Intelligence team helps bring clarity to the complexity.

“Gen Z Is Buying, But We Don’t Know Why.” 

Sales data tells you what happened. Shopper insights help explain why. 

Acosta Group’s proprietary Shopper Community includes more than 40,000 consumers who regularly share feedback on how they shop and what’s shaping their choices. 

Wondering what makes Gen Z hit BUY? Who’s really embracing AI? How different demographics plan to spend over the holidays? We can ask. This ongoing connection can help you keep an eye on changing preferences, test new ideas, evaluate messaging, and understand what matters most at the moment of purchase. 

Shopper behavior influences pricing, promotions, shelf strategy, supply planning, and more. Insights help teams stay aligned and make better calls. 

“The Shelf Looks Different Every Time We Visit a Store.” 

You can spend months refining assortments and promotions, but once products reach the store, the shelf has the final say.  Are products where they’re supposed to be? Shelves fully stocked? Displays grabbing attention? 

Shelf Intelligence helps answer those questions by capturing what’s actually happening in stores. Using AI and computer vision, it can identify out-of-stocks, compliance issues, and other execution gaps before they cost you sales. 

Space Automation enables teams to act on what they’re seeing, accelerating everything from shelf planning to large-scale resets. 

As every brand knows, getting on the shelf is only half the battle. Staying visible, stocked, and easy to find is what keeps sales moving.

“We’ve Invested Millions in Promotions.  Which Ones Actually Grew the Business?” 

Every business makes bets: Price hikes. BOGOs. Product launches. The challenge is knowing which ones pay off. 

RGM Strategy Services pairs you with experts who help evaluate those decisions before they happen. Together, you can explore different scenarios, so you’ll know what’s likely to happen before making the call. 

TradeSense, our proprietary Trade Promotion Optimization (TPO) tool, tells you which investments really delivered. By separating true incremental growth from activities that simply shift purchases around, brands gain a clear view of what worked and what didn’t. 

The more you learn from each investment, the better the next one becomes. 

“Our Display Looked Great in the Pitch Deck.  Did It Actually Work?” 

Not every display performs the way it’s expected to. 

exACT uses machine learning to put ideas to the test before making bigger investments. Instead of guessing whether a planogram change is likely to affect sales, we can measure it in a controlled environment before rolling it out more broadly. 

Once a program is in market, the focus shifts from prediction to performance. 

exACT merchROI quickly connects in-store execution to sales results nationwide, helping brands separate high-performing activations from expensive disappointments. 

Assumptions can be costly. Good tools remove the guesswork. 

“We’re Sitting on Years of Data and Still Can’t Agree on What to Do Next.” 

Shopper insights. 
Digital shelf data. 
Retail media. 
Loyalty programs. 
Sales performance. 

It’s a lot for any team to manage. 

Omnichannel Analytics brings it all together, so teams can see what’s really happening. Powered by our unified platform, it connects data from across the business for a complete view of performance. Instead of bouncing between dashboards and reports, teams can see the bigger picture and respond to the story the data is trying to tell. 

“Our Promotion Crushed Expectations.  Now We’re Running Low.”

Runaway sales are exciting. Empty shelves are not. 

Supply Chain Analytics helps brands anticipate shifts in demand and identify potential disruptions before they become bigger problems. Most partners stop at recommendations. We help carry solutions all the way to the shelf.  The result is a supply chain that’s ready to support growth, not scrambling to keep up. 

“We Have the Tools. We Just Don’t Have the Time.” 

Most organizations aren’t starting from scratch. 

You may have an RGM platform but still have no roadmap in place. You may have a talented team that’s already juggling more than it should. Or maybe you’re looking for a more complete solution. 

Either way, we can plug in where it makes the most sense — bringing the technology, analytic clarity, and fresh perspective needed to help you make the most of what you have. 

The Full Picture 

Individually, each solution solves a unique problem. Together, they tell a more complete story. 

Shopper intel informs strategy. 
Strategy influences investments. 
Investments drive execution. 
Execution generates results. 
Results create new insights. 

This is when BI feels less like a collection of tools and more like a competitive advantage.