Putting brands in control: How Pinto simplifies CPG data management across retailers

A brief look

• CPG brands have the complex task of properly displaying their products across dozens of varying retail platforms.
• In addition, many CPGs do not have control over the ways their products are displayed on different platforms, leading to misinformation, lost sales, and highly convoluted workflows.
• What’s needed is a data management platform that can consolidate product data into a single source of truth.
• With this system, CPGs can tell their full story and offer consumers marketing messages, supply chain data, rich product content, and make quick updates and optimizations as they change.

Dive deeper

CPG brand managers are responsible for the proper expression of their brand across every retailer — an unbelievable undertaking when you start to consider the number of sub-brands, retailer-specific needs, requirements, and packaging updates a single company conducts within a year.

What’s more, CPG manufacturers often don’t have full control over how their products are presented on different platforms — the same product can have vastly different information and data highlights depending on which retailer is displaying it. Complex data ingestion and data prioritization pipelines only further complicate the process of translating information from the manufacturer to the retailer, resulting in convoluted workflows and slow speed-to-shelf times for CPGs.

To combat this issue, CPG brands need to invest in smart platforms that can consolidate their product and brand data into a consistent, optimized, and robust system, with complete data that can easily be shared with retail partners. This process can simultaneously improve customer-facing product representations and hasten speed-to-shelf times while simplifying CPG brand management across retailers.

What is real-time brand control?

Most CPG brands are either ‘out of control’ or ‘on their own’ as it pertains to data — if brands fail to maintain critical data, they are left unaware of the potential negative business impacts and frequently are not notified by the retail partner if their data is incomplete. Too often, CPGs are flying blind with no feedback on what to do, how to perform better, and if anything has changed with the retailer.

Real-time brand control is the result of CPG brands being suppliers of data and brand content, and controlling how it’s used, when it’s updated, and how it’s ultimately presented to consumers.

In this system, CPG brands can manage how they are tagged, searched, and presented across retail platforms, and can adapt marketing messages and other critical product information in real-time.

Currently, CPGs may submit products to retailers but are not involved in the process of overseeing, updating, or optimizing their information. This leads to inconsistencies and the mismarketing of their products. Even more troubling, there are no feedback loops to let them know when a product is missing data or if a retailer has introduced new requirements for their marketing initiatives. For example, a retailer implements a new in-store health program where shoppers are incentivized to shift their shopping towards healthier choices, such as Kroger’s OptUP program. If a CPG brand is not notified of this change, it will not be able to update its data to showcase specific health markers that may help it turn up in OptUP consumer searches. The longer the CPG brand stays unaware, the longer their products remain invisible. This can have a lasting effect on brand power, conversions, and incoming revenue.

The benefits of CPG-controlled data

With a modern platform like Pinto, CPG brands get immediate and up-to-date access to all retail data programs, data updates, specifications, and style guides. Brands are notified of any retail changes as they happen and are given clear instructions on how to update and maintain their data for any new programs or requirements. This enables them to manage all of their product data from one point, creating a stronger, more visible brand identity on all digital shelves and beyond.

Pinto’s centralized data management platform (Manager) allows real-time updates that are then pushed out or redistributed to retail platforms at every change — not once a quarter or every so often. Easy data submissions allow a CPG brand to upload all necessary assets to the platform, and the entire content is checked for retail data requirements, standardization, and optimization. Data-backed recommendations give insights into improving and optimizing the brands’ products whenever a retailer’s requirements change. Brand managers can also get internal access to how their products show up on the eCommerce sites of every grocery chain they sell into, giving them the agency to ensure they are showing up in the right searches and optimized for discovery across retailers.

On top of this, Pinto is able to connect legal and regulatory teams with marketing teams, product attribution teams, and product development teams. This has the potential to close a feedback loop that would save CPG brands untold hours of work while unlocking product formulation capabilities that have not been possible before. With this new data, CPG teams will be equipped with improved product knowledge to aid the research and development of products, creating better brand longevity and competitiveness. With data consolidated into one complete system, CPG brand management teams can pivot their time towards better business development initiatives.

Empowering CPG data management

Modern CPG brands need to perform well on the digital shelf to drive growth, but without smart tools, the approach can often be reactive and haphazard rather than proactive and data-driven. Pinto makes data management a one-stop shop and improves the timeliness of product inputs, optimizations, recommendations, and feedback loops. Pinto is well-versed in working with retail legal and regulatory teams alongside CPG marketing, attribution, and development teams, which improves speed-to-shelf times, product development, and brand positioning.

This robust data management system empowers CPG brands to tell their full story. Going beyond just product facts, brands can offer marketing messages, supply chain data, rich product content, and quickly update them as they change, ensuring they are always in control of their brand.

Contact Pinto to learn more about these exciting CPG brand initiatives.