DATA
SPAR SCOTLAND SALESTRACK
SPAR SCOTLAND UNVEILS GROUND-BREAKING DATA PLAY SPAR SCOTLAND WHOLESALER AND RETAILER CJ LANG & SON IS TO MAKE WHOLESALE AND RETAIL SALES DATA AVAILABLE TO SUPPLIERS AND STAKEHOLDERS, IN WHAT IS BELIEVED TO BE AN
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INDUSTRY FIRST MOVE.
cottish Spar wholesaler and retailer CJ Lang & Son, Scotland’s largest independent retailing and distribution company, has revealed a groundbreaking new sales data reporting service that will make wholesale and retail sales data available to suppliers and stakeholders for the very first time. CJ Lang is working with data and digital specialist TWC to develop and launch the service, call Spar Scotland SalesTrack, which will not only give its suppliers access to the company’s wholesale shipment data but, in what is believed to be an industry first, the group is also giving suppliers visibility of retail sales from its 108 company-owned Spar convenience stores. The new service is scheduled to launch on Monday 18 January 2021. Colin McLean, CEO of CJ Lang & Son, says: “Today’s trading environment is about understanding how our retailer and consumer shopping behaviours are changing and ensuring we all adapt fast to meet demand and expectation across products, systems and service. This includes rewarding loyalty, increasing customer retention and getting to understand our customers’ buying preferences better. One size does not fit all. “Harnessing data in a way that gives all our partner suppliers visibility and knowledge of what is happening across wholesale shipments and at a retail point of sale will enable us all to work closer together. It will enable us
14 I SLRMAG.CO.UK / ISSUE 30 / WEDNESDAY 11TH NOVEMBER 2020
COLIN MCLEAN, CEO OF CJ LANG & SON
all to do ‘better business’ together. Our SalesTrack service will provide suppliers with the most accurate read yet as to what is happening from a wholesale and retail perspective in Scotland. “Importantly, we wanted to create a system that is easy to navigate and interpret and TWC impressed us with their ability to apply tech in a way that is manageable, understandable and surprisingly addictive.” Tom Fender, Development Director for TWC, says that the two data sets (wholesale shipment data and retail Epos data) will sit side by side on TWC’s dashboard, where they will be accessible to users anytime, anywhere, and on any device. “You don’t need to be a rocket scientist or have a PhD in stats to use our reporting tool,” he says. “We’ve designed it for busy execs ‘on the go’ so they can access information at their finger-tips. It’s intuitive, cloud-based and will help aid growth and upsell.
