From Pitfalls to Profits: Unveiling Ag Retail's 4 Data Pillars
Adrian Kelly
Where are you making money?
If you’re a business leader — no matter the industry — you need a clear answer to this question.
Where are you performing? Does that answer differ depending on product, line-of-business, customer, salesperson, or branch?
To get to these answers in Ag retail, you need accurate and consistent commercial data: information about product net costs, sales prices, margins, inventory, etc.
But the reality is good data can be hard to come by — even though there are so many benefits to fixing the issue.
To put it simply, bad data leads to bad margins. But a strong data foundation at your business can lead to better profits, more streamlined operations, and happier employees and customers.
After working with best-in-class retailers (whose own data strategy has translated into higher business performance), we learned there are four main data pillars to maintain to drive strong margins, happy customers, efficient internal processes, and minimal surprises.
1. Product data
When you have a crystal-clear idea of what you’re selling, everything else in your business gets a lot easier. Having that information on hand (and accurate) helps you optimize your decision-making and improve your margins.
But things get messy — and your margins get smaller — when that information is inaccurate, missing, outdated, or not easily accessible.
Typical product data problems:
Product catalogs aren’t maintained regularly, leading to outdated information
Repackaged product isn’t accurately recorded or even an available SKU for sale within a catalog
Vague, or non-descriptive Units of Measure (“Eaches” vs gallons/pounds)
Duplicate / multiple Item Codes for the same product
Duplicate products (e.g. one for “Retail” and another for “Agency”)
Products not updated for mergers
Multiple products, with a single Item number (e.g. for semi-commoditized chemicals, like 4 versions of 2,4-D)
Missing or inaccurate active ingredient information
“Flat” product data (for example, relational information recorded as attributes: RoundUp Ready stored as “RR2” on Seed items)
Current active / inactive status (currently sold, or no longer sold)
No current EPA or regulatory labels
When you fix this data, you can…
Find replacements based on active ingredients when there are shortages — making customers happier
Accurately record repacks for bulk rebate earnings
Improve invoice accuracy by avoiding duplicate products / item codes
Better understand sales trends and business performance (Growth or declines because of volume, price, or product mix effects)
Better manage inventory and rationalize “long-tail” / low-sales products on your price list
Ensure regulatory compliance in storing, handling and selling product
With this data in place, you can operate your retail business from a strong foundation and thorough understanding of all products.
2. Transaction data
This data is the lifeblood of any commercial operation. When transaction data is clear and correct, everyone across the business has a good bird’s-eye view of the flow of products.
Typical problems with transaction data:
Duplicate records
Missing / incomplete address information
Incorrect Unit of Measure that doesn’t match pricing or rebate programs from the manufacturer
Missing price information, or inaccurate total price calculation
Invalid location or GLN codes
No wholesale, retail or agency designation on the sale (creating rebate redemption problems)
Incomplete product information (like package size, manufacturer name, Item number)
Trailing or leading spaces
Truncated location or GLN codes
Multiple Item numbers for the same product
Bad formatting or file structure
Grower information is missing, and the transaction is listed as a cash sale
When you fix this data, you can…
Clearly understand how much you’re selling, and to whom
Get a clear view of which manufacturer and wholesalers you’re actually supporting and which are your most profitable relationships
Spot pricing trends and changes earlier
Streamline your process to protect your confidential data, when sharing GPOS or EDI transaction records with manufacturers
Reduce admin load on your team, particularly during rebate redemption season
Enable a broader IT strategy with “non-ERP” solutions like Agronomy tools, e-Commerce platforms, rebate tools and CRM platforms
With better transaction data, you truly understand your sales position within your market while simultaneously working more seamlessly with your suppliers.
3. Price & program data
To improve your organization’s profitability, retailers need to enable their sales teams with the appropriate tools. Strong margins (driven by your salespeople) require updated, accurate information at the pricing and rebate program level.
Typical price and program data issues:
Prices updates from suppliers are delayed / entered inaccurately
Redemption, MSRP, distribution list prices are not tracked separately or accurately
No visibility at head-office over geographic-specific net costs (i.e. the “branch-level” net being used for a pricing decision is not transparent)
Little visibility at branch of corporate or company-wide incentives which impact net cost
Confusion over how to interpret the program data you received (“What is the incentive rate? What do I actually get paid on? What do I have to do to earn it?”)
Murkiness around date-specific incentives (are there incentives to buying/selling during specified dates? How can you tell?)
Incorrect invoices sent to growers due to price changes or list price management problems
When you fix this data, you can…
Stay in line with fast-moving supplier pricing and program changes, then streamline price communication to your commercial team
Drive your rebate program earning opportunity on every sale and your performance against supplier targets
Maximize performance against supplier hurdles, growth or loyalty plans
Ensure your sales team and branch leadership always works from the correct numbers
Send accurate invoices to growers, avoiding credit/rebills (which never go in your favor)
Strengthen your price and program data — and you can lock in business trends and drive big-picture insights.
4. Grower data
What’s actually happening at the farm gate? What products are going where? Having grower customer data locked down is crucial to keep everything going smoothly.
Typical problems within this data bucket:
No master account for customers, so it’s difficult (or impossible) to tell who your biggest customers are or what purchasing trends exist within your business
Missing, incomplete, or outdated address, GLN or location information
PO Boxes instead of actual physical or geo-located addresses (meaning invoices are received, but supply-chain/ logistics track information manually, or on spreadsheets)
Grower customers are listed as multiple different entities, with multiple customer records for each
Spliced “ship-to” or “bill-to” addresses, thanks to customer records being split among the different entities
Growers getting incorrect manufacturer rebates because their purchases have been divided among different names
Grower “doesn’t exist” in manufacturer rebate payment databases, meaning sales are not accounted for in program targets or you experience post-season admin headaches to track down data
Growers are listed as retailers as opposed to end-users (or vice versa)
Inaccurate or non-existent Seed Contract License information
Missing Restricted Use permit information
When you fix this data, you can…
Understand your customer base, in detail, meaning you can better serve your most profitable customers
Serve the customer all season: across sales, shipping, invoicing, collection and rebate redemption processes
Segment your market and understand where to invest for profit growth and where to maximize volume
Better identify cross-selling opportunities and get early-warnings of problems throughout the season
Clearly spot opportunities with customers you aren’t serving today.
With strong grower data in place, you optimize your sales and marketing operations toward the right customer base.
How Smartwyre helps Ag Retailers build the data foundation for better business performance.
Product data: Our master product data at Smartwyre (on 130,000+ products) is updated daily. It includes a comprehensive, curated dataset of Crop Protection, Seed, Fertilizer and other products from 350+ manufacturers and wholesalers. Smartwyre’s platform makes it easy to search by active ingredients, quickly find products, and help retailers make more informed decisions to drive performance at their operation.
Transaction data: Our Data and Transaction solutions allow all data errors to be resolved at the source with rules created to automate all future corrections. Fix it once, and see it “stay fixed.” In-app data hygiene tools and audit records within Smartwyre help trace transaction changes. Automatic alerts direct retailers to data quality errors and solutions. Meanwhile, APIs are configured to connect Smartwyre directly to retailer ERPs and other corporate systems to keep everything running smoothly.
Price & program data: With instant pricing updates and visibility, salespeople working in the Smartwyre platform can feel confident that they’re always working with current pricing from either their suppliers or Retail head office. This leads to better margins and reduces mistakes in invoices. Plus, with detailed breakdowns of rebate incentives from suppliers, retailers can make smarter, more informed purchasing and pricing decisions. Automatic rebate calculations also help retailers track their rebate earnings year-round (and minimize their end-of-year admin headache).
Grower data: Smartwyre’s platform ships with a Grower Directory of nearly 700,000 US growers, including address, geo-location and rebate-driving location IDs. This integrates all grower data into one platform, matching with and supplementing a retailers’ proprietary internal customer records. Salespeople can then easily identify trends and evaluate individual growers’ situations to recommend products and dial-in growth or profitability. This builds trust with grower customers and increases sales; meanwhile, farmers get exactly what they need to grow their own operations. Everybody wins.
Learn more about how to make the 4 data pillars in your business healthier by watching our webinar. To get started optimizing your core four data pillars and to use Smartwyre help streamline your data processes, contact our team today.
