For the first time, foodservice distributors and manufacturers will be able to benchmark and track their market performance by product and operator segment based on actual sales from major broadline distributors with a new service from The NPD Group, a leading global information company.
SupplyTrack, which expands on NPD’s 30-plus years of tracking foodservice industry trends and performance indicators, will incorporate sales information on every product shipped from a critical mass of distributors to each of their foodservice operators.
The distributors participating in the SupplyTrack service, which will roll out this summer with initial categories, represent 70 percent of the broadline market. Each of these distributors will automatically receive detailed monthly reports on all SupplyTrack categories, while manufacturers will be able to subscribe on a category-by-category basis.
“SupplyTrack represents a landmark step enabling increased collaboration and fact-based business practices in the foodservice industry,” says Karyn Schoenbart, president and chief operating officer, The NPD Group. “With robust and detailed sales data measuring the majority of the broadline marketplace in the U.S., distributors and manufacturers will have greater ability to understand market dynamics, anticipate trends, and identify opportunities for growth.”
The new NPD service is designed to enable leading broadline distributors to assess their performance relative to the aggregated competitive set; allow manufacturers to track sales and share performance for their brands and competitive brands; measure the impact of promotional programs by tracking item-level performance on a monthly basis; and measure actual sales and share performance in distinct commercial and non-commercial operator segments.
“The current situation is that foodservice manufacturers do not know how the overall market is trending, where their products are going, or how their competition is performing,” says Ann Roberts, president of SupplyTrack.
“The availability of objective performance metrics in a consistent format will enable manufacturers and participating distributors to share a common understanding of the marketplace within categories available through SupplyTrack,” she adds. “They will have comprehensive market data to help them identify what product and marketing opportunities exist, and to understand what operator segments are most important to their business.”
