Why clean data and AI fluency are retail’s next competitive edge

29th May 2025

Retailers have never had more data at their fingertips, yet many still struggle to translate information into meaningful action. Ahead of a Grocery Gazette breakfast workshop in partnership with Advise, we sat down with the team to unpack how automation, data access and generative AI are reshaping the retail decision-making landscape.

The event, taking place in London on June 10, will bring together senior leaders for a no-fluff, future-focused discussion on what it really takes to unlock value from modern analytics tools. From democratising insight to building trust in GenAI, the session will dig into practical strategies for turning data into outcomes.

For those unfamiliar with Advise, can you give us a quick overview of who you are and what you do?

We started out as academic researchers in artificial intelligence. Now, we apply that expertise to solve data challenges in the consumer goods industry. Our platform automates the entire analytics process, proactively surfacing the insights people need to act on now, not days later.

At the heart of it, our mission is about boosting productivity. We do that by driving efficiency and effectiveness through automation and by making data analytics accessible to everyone.

You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in consumer goods. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt about using data to improve commercial decision-making?

It all starts with clean, well-structured, usable data. That’s non-negotiable. “Junk in, junk out” is a well-worn phrase for a reason.

But what truly unlocks better decisions is access. If insights are trapped in silos or tailored to individual preferences, you’ll never get the full picture. Everyone in the business – not just the data team – needs real-time access to the same trusted source of truth. That’s what turns data into decisions.

‘Digital transformation’ is a term that gets thrown around a lot. What does it actually mean today in the context of category management and sales performance?

It means freeing up people to focus on high-value work.

For a transformation to succeed, it needs buy-in from the top. If leadership doesn’t adopt it, neither will the rest of the business. For the category management team, transformation means the end of repetitive manual tasks and a shift away from being the company’s data concierge.

When base analytics are automated and KPIs are available to all, the team can focus on the things that actually grow the category, like product launches, pricing strategy and promotions.

Category managers still spend huge amounts of time wrangling spreadsheets. What kind of value is being left on the table?

A lot. When you take away the hours spent formatting reports or chasing one-off data requests, you give teams space to think strategically — and that has ripple effects across the business.

Here’s what that unlocks:

Faster decisions: No delay in finding insights means quicker moves on pricing, promotions and range changes — and that leads to real commercial gains.
More proactive plays: With space to think ahead, teams can act on shopper trends, plan new bundles or secure secondary placements.
Better collaboration: Time can be spent on building retailer relationships and joint business planning, rather than pulling data for last-minute decks.
Continuous testing: You can’t build a test-and-learn culture if you’re stuck reporting on last month’s performance.
Higher retention: Talented analysts want to solve problems, not build dashboards. Give them space to do that, and they’ll stick around.

Everyone talks about real-time, shared data, but few get there. What’s standing in the way?

The biggest blocker is organisational behaviour. You can build a system that delivers live insights, but if teams default to Excel or keep asking the data team for ad hoc reports, you’re not getting the benefit.

Digital transformation is a cultural shift. It needs full commitment from the C-suite, not just funding. If senior leaders aren’t using the data platform, others won’t either. Change only happens when it’s championed from the top and embedded into daily decisions.

You’ve said data harmonisation leads to major operational efficiency gains. Can you give us an example of that in practice?

We worked with a client who dropped their expensive third-party data provider after moving to our One View data model. By harmonising their internal data, they gained full visibility across the category.

The results were immediate:

They cut report-building time by around 25 per cent – saving a week each month.
That freed up the team to assess product performance and review assortments.
Using insights from the platform, they made decisions on unit-size optimisation and launched new SKUs with measurable success.
Ultimately, they increased their category share and strengthened their retailer relationships.

It wasn’t just about seeing the data, it was about acting on it, quickly and confidently.

AI is changing how businesses extract insights, but not without risk. How do you see the role of GenAI tools in this space?

There’s no doubt GenAI has potential — especially for sales and marketing, where summarisation, translation and content generation can be powerful. But it’s important to know its limits.

GenAI is trained on language, not numbers. It doesn’t understand data structures or domain context, and it can produce confident-sounding errors. What people call “hallucinations”. That makes it unsuitable for the core of statistical analytics work.

The “rubbish in, rubbish out” principle still holds. You can’t ask ChatGPT to magically improve poor quality data.

That said, when the data is clean and structured, and GenAI tools are paired with expert oversight, they can unlock major gains. Human-in-the-loop systems will drive productivity by letting people make better decisions, faster, and with more confidence.

You’ve got something exciting coming up. What can you share, and why should people attend?

We’re hosting a session focused on the future of AI in consumer goods, and what’s coming next. There’s a lot of hype around GenAI, but we’re cutting through the noise to talk about real opportunities, AgenticAI and how this tech will reshape how the industry works.

If you want to get ahead of the change and start preparing your organisation now, it’s worth a conversation.

To apply for a place, email: sam@advisecpg.com