Deep dive: chain gap analysis

TL;DR. Chain gap analysis shows how many stores in a chain aren't displaying your product on their website, usually because it's out of stock or the store hasn't listed it. Pull it monthly on your key chains, then send the gaps to your chain manager or your account team. It turns missing digital shelf availability into a reorder.

What it shows

Your product can be authorized in a chain and still be missing from many of that chain's online store pages. Chain gap analysis counts those stores for each product, so you can see where shoppers can't find you even though you have the placement. Because a shopper can't buy what a retailer doesn't show, these gaps are lost sales you can often recover.

Why it matters

Say your flagship shows as unavailable at a large share of a chain's stores. That usually means those locations are out of stock or slow to update their site. One note to your chain manager with the list can get shelves refilled, and you can drive incremental cases from a retailer that already buys from you, with no new doors to open.

How to read the results

Last stock date. The last day we saw your product on that store's digital shelf. An older date is an early warning of an out-of-stock and a replenishment opportunity, especially at smaller or regional chains that reorder more often. Send these to your chain manager or wholesaler.
NA. We have never seen the product on that store's shelf. Reasons vary, from store format to local rules. Give these to your account team as targets for deeper penetration.

How to find it

Chain gap analysis lives in Product Analytics. Two ways to get there:

From Business Overview, click Analytics next to the product, then scroll to Chain Gap Analysis and click the banner to show the results.
From Products in the side nav, choose the product, click Analytics, then scroll to Chain Gap Analysis.

What you can do depends on your tier: Small Business gives limited visibility into chain-level gaps by product, Professional gives the full snapshot with limited exports per month, and Enterprise lets you export the exact store locations to hand to your sales team or drop into your CRM.

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