BI HoReCa tools for data-driven sales & insights

HoReCa BI tools enable you to extract the most useful information from various data and use it to achieve your goals at work like creating route-to-market strategy, market research or competitor analysis. Speaking broadly, Business Intelligence (BI) is a set of tools and techniques used by companies to drive their growth, manage teams and streamline processes. The modern term “BI tools” refer to solutions that can gather, interpret or present (visualize) big data in a way that’s helpful for both decision makers and field personnel in various business branches.

Since SharpGrid deals with on-trade / HoReCa business (at SharpGrid, we use mainly the term “on-trade” - for definition and wording read our explanatory article), let’s take a closer look at our HoReCa and on-trade BI tools for channel managers, sales management or representatives, insights departments or sales support personnel.

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On-trade and HoReCa BI tools for  for customer targeting

One of the biggest issues in on-trade sales management (from the point of view of producers like Coca-Cola, Heineken or Asahi) is targeting the best outlets with the highest ROI potential. There are thousands and thousands of on-trade outlets (restaurants, bars, cafés etc. - sometimes called a point of sale) that a sales department can target as a potential client to sell their products, but is limited by human resources. One sales representative can visit just a handful of outlets per day and the whole customer universe is in constant motion, leaving companies struggling to keep up with market changes.

The main problem is randomness resulting from lack of qualitative indicators that would tell the decision maker (e. g. sales manager with a team of representatives) which outlets to focus on and which to avoid. The on-trade business is notorious for its lack of precise and up-to-date data about outlets, leaving decision makers blindly guessing or using outdated information at best. But with the digital revolution finally coming to the on-trade channel, new BI tools emerge to capture all this information and give it business value.

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On-trade and HoReca BI tools for managers and sales reps

Then, there is SharpGrid Outlet Census, a comprehensive data & insights tool that allows sales departments not only to see the whole customer universe ( = all the outlets in a given country or region), but also to filter them by quality, popularity, seasonality, seating capacity and dozens of other indicators. Some of them are outright disruptive like Core Consumer Proposition which tells you why people visit certain outlet (like a restaurant that’s popular for its coffee or a bar that’s famous for its live music) or what its predicted business potential is. 

This BI tool is especially useful for sales, marketing and insights departments or any sales support personnel in the company. To achieve this, SharpGrid Outlet Census gathers data from dozens of digital sources including transactions data from cash registers and interprets them via these qualitative indicators. If you want to learn more about how it all works or what it can do for you specifically, check out the Outlet Census product page.

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On-trade and HoReca BI tools for reporting and team management

There are numerous reporting BI tools available for various purposes, but not that many in the on-trade business. In fact, in some countries they are not available at all. That’s where the SharpGrid Market Meter comes in. It is a reporting BI tool with numeric and weighted distribution, pricing and other indicators broken down into categories, brands, products and regions. 

For example, with Market Meter you can see how much your competitor’s products cost in cafés in certain regions. Or how many pubs in a given country serve your products. Or how big market share your brands have. And many more useful information for your sales, marketing, trade marketing, sales support, business intelligence or insights departments. Market Meter is also updated quarterly, allowing you to follow trends and react momentarily to sudden market changes or your competition’s strategies and tactics. 

With this BI tool at hand, managers can measure their team’s and department’s performance and optimize it accordingly for maximum efficiency. It’s also a great tool for data-driven strategic decisions and planning. And there is also a free version that you can test right now:

FREE BI TOOL FOR ON-TRADE AND HORECA MARKET REPORTING

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Why use BI tools at all?

Some people are used to the old ways of doing sales. That is relying on one's intuition and experience rather than data. The pitfall of this approach is that you are only drawing on your own experience, which may not be applicable to other parts of the market or may not be relevant to rapid changes and trends in the market. While a sales representative might be doing just fine with this approach, he/she will always be subjected to his/her personal biases. This might in turn result in missed opportunities or lost sales negotiations.

The thing is, data is neutral. It has no prejudices, no biases. Data is based on facts. Therefore, with our BI tools at hand, you know you're using objective and unbiased information to base your decisions on. This is especially important when putting together route-to-market strategies, acquisition portfolios for you sales team or when measuring performance.

The role of BI tools in the on-trade and HoReCa channel

So there you have it. Business intelligence is a crucial part of every modern company that strives to grow and overcome its competitors with precise and actionable data. You might sometimes feel tempted to work with all this data yourself and try to extract something useful out of them. The problem is that it takes a lot of time and effort which can ultimately be spent in vain if your approach is flawed or inefficient. 

We have a whole team of data analysts with a business mindset harvesting millions of data points day by day and sorting them into useful information for you to achieve stellar growth, acquire new customers, save loads of time and even avoid hidden costs that can reach millions of euros. Data is like a wild river. If you want to use it to grow crops, you have to regulate it, which takes a lot of time, mandays and know-how. Which we at SharpGrid have.

If you’re still unsure how our two BI tools work and what is their purpose, check out other learning sources on our website: 

• Outlet Census product page
• Market Meter product page
• Our homepage with various use cases
• Our clients’ success stories with feedback and experience from companies like Heineken or Unilever