"With our old data analysis platforms, it was taking the analyst roughly four and a half hours to pull all of the data and put it together. By using Spotlight, they were able to accomplish the same work in ten minutes."
Fruit of the Earth
The Objective
For more than 40 years, Fruit of the Earth, a family-owned, Texas-based company, has produced private label and branded sunscreen and personal care items for multiple retailers across the US. In addition to supplying US retailers with personal care products, the company also manufactures for businesses in Chile and South America.
In their work with some of the nation's largest retailers, Fruit of the Earth relies on precise, compelling retail data that help their customers make informed purchasing decisions. But as many manufacturers and suppliers have found, compiling that data and tailoring it to multiple audiences can be a challenging process that requires significant time, energy, and resources.
For retailers, Fruit of the Earth handles a wide range of responsibilities, everything from sales and analytics to supply chain logistics and sales forecasting. Before learning about Spotlight automated retail analytics software, the team would spend a significant portion of each workweek mining data and figuring out how to present it effectively.
"We couldn't pull together actionable analytics that were specific to retailer merchants or company executives," shared the team. "We needed an analytics solution that was very audience-focused, one that would give us the ability to transition between various parties." In their professional experience, the team had seen many solutions that promised outstanding results but fell short. "There are a lot of platforms out there, but they tend to be for internal use as opposed to retailer-facing. We were never really satisfied with the information those systems produced because the results weren't actionable.
Even the most robust platforms failed to deliver data in a manner that the team could use to tell data stories that would connect with a multitude of audiences. This meant that the Fruit of the Earth analysts were spending massive amounts of time assembling the data, double-checking their work, creating customized graphs and chart, and then re-manipulating them for each audience. "When we were using other analytics platforms, we still had to do a ton of data mining to put our story together. And anytime you're doing things manually, you're operating less efficiently and introducing additional opportunities for error."
The Solution
Customized, Automated Retail Data Analysis
As a result of the ongoing challenges with their analytics platforms, the Fruit of the Earth team began seeking out a better data management solution. Their search led them to Nuqleous, and they noticed a distinction in the way they did business. "From the very beginning, the Nuqleous team did an amazing job of listening to us and taking the time to understand how our business was changing."
Once they grasped the challenges that the team was facing, the Nuqleous team showed them how Spotlight could enhance their effectiveness by offering customizable data analysis tools that can be tailored to automatically produce reporting and insights designed to meet the individual presentation needs of each stakeholder.
And while Spotlight's automated data analysis and customizable reporting tools sold them on the software solution,, the Fruit of the Earth team was even more impressed with Nuqleous' collaborative focus on partnership. "They really took time to understand our business and how it might be a little bit different," they said. "Rather than just trying to sell us a package, they wanted to make sure that they were offering a solution that would help us manage our business."
The Results
Actionable Analytics & Massive Time Savings
It didn't take long for the team to realize the immense value that Spotlight delivered. In fact, the results were staggering when Fruit of the Earth started using Spotlight's automated data analysis to generate their regular Monday reports. "With our old data analysis platforms, it was taking the analyst roughly four and a half hours to pull all of the data and put it together. By using Spotlight, they were able to accomplish the same work in ten minutes." Realizing that claim sounds almost too good to be true, they added, "We know that sounds drastic, but it's the honest truth."
Not only did this newfound efficiency allow analysts to create clear, audience-specific data reports in a fraction of the time as previous programs, it also gave them the time to focus on putting together action items and communicating strategy. With the increased clarity of their reports and the additional focus on actionable analytics, Spotlight allowed the Fruit of the Earth team to uncover an unexpected benefit: their retailers began to view them as experts, often coming to them with purchase and supply questions.
Enhanced Demand Planning Leads to Stronger Buyer Relationships
According to the team, merchants rarely take the time and effort to write manual purchase orders. Most prefer to rely on their systems to adjust forecasts, and then they make their decisions accordingly. However, since the team has started using Spotlight to automate their demand planning, they have noticed an increase in sales. "Now, before we send a manual order, we send our buyers a map showing how their sales have impacted their supply levels. Because Spotlight helps us convey the story clearly, we're no longer losing sales. When we submit a manual order, they process it every single time."
The Fruit of the Earth team was also quick to mention that Spotlight's demand-planning tool forecasts better than the tools used by many of her top retailers. "We decided to use Spotlight in one of our meetings, and it allowed us to show our buyer exactly what we were seeing. Due to the level of detail we were able to show them, they actually set up weekly demand planning meetings with us. Now, we compare numbers and plan the business together."
Noting that their largest retailer now comes to them with questions instead of going to other sources, the team added, "They know we have a reputation for providing clear, concise data with understandable visual presentations." By allowing them to leverage the power of their retail data, Spotlight has enabled Fruit of the Earth to gain the trust of their retailers - an impact that extends well beyond just the data or just the reporting.
