One of the biggest strengths of Circana's platform is also the source of a major challenge: data scale. You have access to more retail data than ever before – but with that comes complexity. And when you’re trying to compare performance across multiple retailers, things can quickly get messy.

Different Retail Formats, Different Rules

Every retailer operates under a distinct format, strategy, and shopper profile. Comparing a warehouse club to a drugstore chain to a mass merchandiser isn’t apples-to-apples – it's more like apples to bowling balls. Circana data does a great job of tracking activity within retailers, but it doesn’t automatically adjust or normalize for these differences. That means a straight volume or trip comparison often gives a misleading picture.

Metrics That Don’t Align

Even common metrics like volume, velocity, and sales can be reported differently across retailers. A high volume at one store might reflect heavy discounting, while the same number elsewhere might indicate healthy organic demand. Without a consistent context, numbers lose their meaning – and so can your insights.

Structural Limitations of DIY Research

DIY tools offer fantastic functionality, but they often rely on the user to set parameters, apply filters correctly, and tell the right story. When teams are under-resourced or lack deep Circana expertise, it’s easy to make small missteps that lead to big strategic misinterpretations. For example, looking at only absolute movement without accounting for retailer store count can skew a channel performance comparison.

Why On Demand Talent Makes a Difference

This is where experienced consumer insights professionals come in. With On Demand Talent from SIVO, you can bring in an expert who understands the nuances of retailer-level data, the context behind the numbers, and how to build a clean, apples-to-apples comparison across formats. These professionals do more than just “pull reports” – they help your team focus on the right problem, use the right filters, and draw the right conclusions.

Whether it’s:

• Normalizing data across channels
• Choosing the best metrics to anchor your analysis
• Adjusting for store counts or assortment variations

…the right expert can bring clarity and storytelling back into the process.

When comparing retailers in Circana, the goal isn’t just more data – it’s better insight. With the right support, teams can make smarter decisions based on complete, contextualized views of performance – not surface-level numbers alone.

One of the trickiest parts of using Circana is deciphering what the numbers truly mean. Metrics like volume, velocity, trips, and conversion rate get thrown around often, but interpreting them – especially in cross-retailer comparisons – can be anything but straightforward.

The Core Metrics – and Where Teams Get Stuck

Each metric represents a valuable view into performance, but they don’t always play nicely together:

• Volume: The total units or dollars sold. High volume doesn’t necessarily mean high consumer engagement – especially if driven by promotions or distribution pushes.
• Velocity: Sales performance relative to distribution or shelf presence. This is often used for benchmarking, but can be distorted by incorrect base calculations or missing distribution data.
• Trips: Frequency of shopper visits. Useful for understanding traffic patterns, but often segment-specific and variable by format (e.g., grocery vs. dollar stores).
• Conversion Rate: The percentage of visits that result in a purchase. An essential metric, but not tracked or defined consistently across retail types.

Misunderstanding these can lead to the wrong strategic conclusions, like assuming a retailer with higher volume is outperforming when, in reality, its velocity or conversion is lagging.

Challenges in Interpreting These Metrics in Circana

Some common difficulties teams encounter include:

• Multiple data inputs: Circana often requires combining multiple dashboards or modules to get a full picture, increasing the chance of errors.
• Unclear definitions: There’s often confusion or lack of alignment on how metrics like velocity are calculated – adjusted for ACV? Gross or net units?
• Data overload: With so many filters, cuts, and breakdowns, teams can spend more time analyzing than deriving conclusions.

How On Demand Talent Helps Untangle the Data

Seasoned On Demand Talent doesn’t just understand the math – they understand the story. These professionals help your teams interpret volume, velocity, and trip data in the context of your business strategy and retail goals. They know when to spotlight conversion trends by format, how to adjust for ACV or distribution gaps, and how to tell a balanced, accurate performance story across retailers.

For example, an expert might help your team uncover the reason a top retailer is showing declining trips despite steady sales – potentially pointing to fewer loyal consumers buying more per basket. That’s a meaningful shift worth acting on, but one easily missed without context.

With experienced insights specialists guiding your interpretation, you don’t just get clearer outputs – you also build team know-how. On Demand Talent not only executes analysis quickly, but helps your organization learn smarter ways to use Circana tools for future projects, too.

In today’s landscape of leaner budgets and faster timelines, DIY tools aren’t going anywhere. But neither is the need for skilled human interpretation. Pairing powerful market research tools like Circana with expert input lets your team shape meaningful, actionable insights – and avoid getting lost in the numbers.

Retailers vary dramatically – from big box stores and drug chains to club stores and online platforms. Yet when analyzing Circana data, it's easy to fall into the trap of treating all formats as equal. This is where format-level storytelling comes into play – and why it’s so important for a strong retail strategy.

Format-level stories go beyond aggregate numbers by uncovering what’s happening differently at each retailer type. Instead of just comparing velocity or volume across stores, this approach asks: why is a certain item overperforming in a value retailer but lagging at a national pharmacy chain? The answers can guide everything from assortment decisions to promotional strategies.

How Circana Data Supports Format-Level Strategy

Circana provides high-quality syndicated data on volume, velocity, trip data, and shopper behavior – but those metrics only tell part of the story when used in isolation. When interpreted through the lens of retailer format, however, they start to illuminate distinct patterns, such as:

• Trip frequency: Club format shoppers may buy in larger quantities but visit less often.
• Market basket composition: Mass retailers may offer more cross-category opportunities.
• Conversion drivers: Convenience and immediacy might drive drugstore trips more than price sensitivity.

By digging into these nuances, insights teams can uncover high-impact growth opportunities customized to each channel’s unique dynamics.

What Happens Without Format-Level Storytelling?

Without it, category performance can appear misleading. For example, a product may have lower velocity in a grocery channel not due to poor demand, but because it requires more in-store engagement than that format allows. Without understanding this context, teams might incorrectly deprioritize that retailer – missing a chance to optimize with more targeted tactics.

Fictional example: A CPG brand analyzing Circana trip data notices weaker conversion at a major drugstore. By applying format-level storytelling, they realize their shelf placement is near seasonal items – not their core category block – limiting visibility. Once adjusted, conversion improves dramatically.

Insights like these depend on accurate interpretation – and that’s often where internal teams benefit from additional expertise.

Market research tools like Circana have put powerful data into the hands of insights teams – but navigating that power requires more than point-and-click dashboards. Many organizations using DIY tools encounter challenges that limit the value they can extract from the data. That’s where expert On Demand Talent comes in.

Where DIY Approaches Run into Trouble

While accessible tools are great for speed and flexibility, analysis often hits roadblocks such as:

• Surface-level findings: DIY dashboards can produce top-line insights, but crafting deep narratives requires knowledge of retail dynamics and data behavior.
• No filter for quality: Teams without dedicated analysts may misinterpret volume or velocity trends, leading to flawed strategies.
• Tool fatigue: With smaller teams doing more, there's often too little time or bandwidth to learn every tool’s full potential effectively.

What’s more, tools like Circana aren’t plug-and-play. Understanding how to compare retailer performance in Circana – especially across formats – takes experience interpreting metrics like trip data, conversion rates, and velocity within the shopper journey.

The Value of On Demand Talent

SIVO’s On Demand Talent connects organizations with seasoned consumer insights professionals who are already fluent in tools like Circana. These experts don’t replace your team – they enhance it by bringing depth of experience, fresh perspectives, and bandwidth to solve problems faster and more thoroughly.

Unlike general consultants or freelancers, On Demand Talent quickly integrate into your process and offer:

• Retail-savvy interpretations: Know what’s driving the numbers, not just stating them
• Storytelling expertise: Turn complex data into clear insights tailored to stakeholders
• Strategic thinking: Connect insights to business outcomes like shelf strategy or promotion timing
• Capability building: Teach your team how to maximize tool investments long after the project ends

For instance, a fictional startup struggling with how to analyze velocity in Circana during retail pitches brought in an On Demand Talent expert. In two weeks, they re-framed their story using format-specific consumer behavior and sealed several key distribution wins.

Bottom line: the right talent can elevate your DIY tools from transactional dashboards to powerful engines of strategy.

Having access to data is one thing – converting it into insights that drive retail results is another. Many businesses using Circana to compare retailer performance run into delays, dead ends, or confusion trying to make sense of volume, velocity, trip data, and conversion rates. Actionable insights shouldn’t be a guessing game. Fortunately, there’s a faster, lower-risk way to get them.

What “Actionable” Really Means

An actionable insight leads to a clear business decision – whether that’s launching a new SKU, changing shelf strategy, or adjusting a go-to-market plan. The challenge with raw Circana data is that not all metrics translate directly into action. High velocity in one retailer may be less impressive when the trip volume is low, or conversion rate drops due to format specifics.

When trying to work through this solo, teams can mistakenly chase performance symptoms instead of sourcing root causes. That can lead to wasted time and misaligned strategies.

Use Expertise to Gain Clarity – Not Just Data

On Demand Talent helps you move quickly from raw data to well-organized retail stories. These professionals zero in on the most relevant KPIs – whether you’re focused on growing with a specific retailer or positioning your product against competitors.

Benefits of using On Demand Talent to accelerate Circana insights include:

• Faster turnaround: No long learning curve – experts hit the ground running
• Format-aware frameworks: Insights are tailored to retailer-specific behaviors, not just one-size-fits-all KPIs
• Minimized risk: Experienced perspectives help avoid costly misreads in data interpretation
• Scalable support: Get help only when you need it – whether it’s one project or ongoing partnership

For example, a fictional mid-sized brand expanding into new retail channels used On Demand Talent to prioritize which accounts to pitch by comparing Circana data on velocity and conversion across formats. Within a month, their tailored insights report helped sales focus their time where ROI was highest.

In today’s compressed timelines and lean teams, the ability to quickly extract and act on retail data insights is a competitive advantage. With expert help, you ensure decisions are smart, not rushed – and that your story resonates across every retailer.