Edge by Ascential Expands Ecommerce Features to Optimize Digital Shelf Performance

By STS News Desk On Apr 26, 2019

Edge by Ascential Expands Ecommerce Features to Optimize Digital Shelf Performance

Enhancements to Location-Based Analytics Among the Latest Updates to Address the Needs of Brands and Retailers in Growing Online Grocery Sector

Edge by Ascential, a leading provider of accurate and actionable sales-driving data, insights and advisory solutions for global brands and retailers, is pleased to announce the expansion of Location-Based Analytics. Location-Based Analytics helps brands increase sales by providing range, availability, pricing and promotions data and insights across hundreds or even thousands of retail and fulfillment locations offering grocery delivery and click-and-collect.

By making improvements to the flexibility and usability of Location-Based Analytics, Edge by Ascential is addressing the rising demand for insights into store-based distribution options for shoppers, such as click-and-collect and home delivery.

This is the latest in numerous enhancements to Edge by Ascential’s comprehensive solutions for brands and retailers in the online grocery sector. Ecommerce now accounts for 6.4% of grocery sales in the UK and 5.5% in the US, with those figures rising steadily in both markets; Walmart in particular credits a 43% increase in ecommerce sales to the growth of grocery delivery and click-and-collect. These latest updates from the company are specifically tailored to solve the biggest challenges in this growing market.

“The grocery industry is changing,” said Boren Novakovic, Managing Director and Executive Vice President at Edge by Ascential. “Location-Based Analytics gives brands the visibility they need to eliminate inefficiencies in the supply chain, making sure their customers always have access to the freshest products. This is the direction that grocery, and all of ecommerce, is going. And we are proud to lead the charge.”

Location-Based Analytics enables brands to:

Directly oversee and optimize the distribution of their products through various ecommerce networks;
Monitor assortments and stock levels at an individual-store level;
Identify problems in specific grocery delivery zones and minimize lost revenue;
Monitor product launches and promotions across all retailers and pickup locations in a market.

“Grocery brands need to ensure that their products can be found online by the shopper, no matter where that shopper is physically,” said Danny Silverman, CMO at Edge by Ascential. “To properly forecast and maximize product availability, brands need to know how retailers are positioning their products across locations. Our LBA tool lets them monitor the digital shelf at the local level and ensure that they are not missing out on sales—critically important not just to grocery delivery and grocery pickup but across all of ecommerce.”

These new features follow an exciting Q1 during which Edge by Ascential announced a wide range of news and enhancements across their solutions, including:

Continuous improvements to the accuracy of the industry-leading Market Share sales, traffic and conversion reporting for Amazon;
Improved functionality of Digital Shelf exports and new automation of catalog changes to better support the listing and delisting of seasonal products;
Fully Revamped Price + Promotions Product Dashboard with increased capabilities to easily and simply showcase all product information in one place;
The release of Market Movement Analysis, a new top-line price analysis tool which allows retailers to monitor and react to flash sales and price cuts in real time, at a total store level or per category;
Rapid adoption of the recently launched Retail Insight platform, consolidating data, analytics and content from legacy brands Planet Retail and RNG and redesigned for increased usability, improved search functions and enhanced filtering features;
The extension of the E^HACKATHON event series to suppliers working to drive sales through the Walmart digital ecosystem – an industry-first.