Using Cutting-Edge Data Analytics to Drive Profitable Growth at Lejos
Using Cutting-Edge Data Analytics to Drive Profitable Growth at Lejos
Taking advantage of data analytics in promotional planning and analysis helps Lejos to drive profitable growth and elevate their shoppers’ in-store experience.
Lejos is a data-driven marketing, sales, and distribution company in Finland for some of the world’s best-known and innovative brands. They work with non-alcoholic beverages and food brands, serving all of the local sales channels. In addition to those brands, Lejos works with contracted manufacturers to build brands of their own.
Managing multiple brands in different categories adds complexity to analyzing trade promotions. Joining the co-development of A² Trade Promotion was a great opportunity for Lejos to ensure the new solution would address their promotion planning and analysis needs for chain-wide and store-level promotions. Additionally, they wanted to make sure that relevant data and insights would integrate smoothly with their existing CRM and demand planning solutions without unnecessary manual interaction. The commercially launched A² Trade Promotion solution has been used at Lejos since the beginning of the year.
When executing the yearly planning, customer marketers and key account managers are focusing on this key question: what is driving profitable growth for each brand and category? With chain promotions it’s important to discover which campaign mechanisms are the most effective and profitable and get accurate forecasts in order to secure sufficient supply. With field sales activities, the highest priority is always on post-event analysis; what was the true impact and what brought the best return? This is particularly true in categories where the competition is fierce; it's an advantage to create your retail partner proposals based on solid data and insights.
Unified ways of working and measuring practices
All of Lejos' operations are built on shopper-centricity and ensuring the best possible commercial outcome. Therefore, being able to measure the results reliably is a must. Overall, the level of data utilization in decision-making at Lejos is very high. Even if various analyses have been executed to measure promotional performance, planning and optimization have been relying heavily on manually produced estimations, individuals’ ways of working, and limited analysis models.
Joining the co-development of A² Trade Promotion meant that going forward advanced data analytics would be fully used in decision-making and on the promotional front, so the ways to analyze performance would become more unified across the company. The same data would then be available for everyone within the organization and results would not be dependent on the analyzer.
“We will be able to develop our ways of working when we have the tools for monitoring and measuring the impact of different actions. We don’t only need to try to learn from trials, but we can combine reliable insight with our expertise. We will be able to identify the actions that are worth investing in and which should be further developed to best meet the shoppers’ needs. A² Trade Promotion will help us prioritize between alternative activations and identify the promotion mixes that provide us with the best and most profitable outcomes," says Markus Paulamäki, Sales Director at Lejos.
A recognized partner for international brands
Lejos’ extensive brand portfolio covers several product categories. The highest priority for Lejos is to be recognized by international brand owners as the best possible partner, which in turn means developing the category and identifying the best campaign mechanisms. Long-term, this also includes helping to attract more shoppers to the category. Unified ways of working, planning, and measuring practices ensure that Lejos will be able to serve all of their brand partners with extremely high service standards.
Simulating different campaign mixes and price points with advanced AI technology
“Being able to simulate different campaign mixes and price points for chain campaigns and discover the impact on campaign results is a significant added value. This allows us to plan and execute more attractive promotions and increase sales. When we can include profitability in the equation, we ensure that our campaigns bring us the best commercial outcome.” says Paulamäki.
Juhani Åström, the Customer Marketing Manager at Lejos, highlights the value of data in long-term planning. “It’s easier to reach the long-term goals when data and insight help us set the milestones that will lead us towards those goals. A² Trade Promotion Insight brings the store-level aspect to trade promotion analysis. We'll get valuable insight into which campaign types, displays, and materials shoppers find the most attractive.” Åström says.
“For example, if we run a campaign in 100 individual stores utilizing a few different display types, we will be able to compare the campaign performance by displays and see if end caps worked better than mass displays. We’ll also be able to discover, which activation and store combinations bring the highest returns on the investment, which is a valuable insight for future campaign planning.”
Being able to compare the performance of different display types, especially on a store level, is important as trade promotions are an important tool for Lejos to attract shoppers and elevate their in-store experience.
Cooperation with Analyse²
“Our cooperation with Analyse² has been smooth and flexible, the experienced Analyse² team has a thorough understanding of FMCG brands’ needs and what are the key challenges they need to be able to solve.” Åström describes.
Lejos is a Finnish company that imports and markets internationally renowned foods for consumers, grocery and wholesalers, hotel and resturant chains, and the food industry. The brands they represent include non-alcoholic beverages like Vitamin Well, Nocco, and The Gutsy Capitan Company Kombucha. Their portfolio of food brands covers brands like Dole, Sun-Maid, Kitchen Joy, and Barebells.