Brand Performance (URMS)

Brand Performance Dashboard (Category Benchmarking)

Overview

The Brand Performance Dashboard is built off of Syndicated data (SPINS, NielsenIQ and/or Circana), and is designed for category-level analysis, allowing you to compare your brand against competitors within a retail category or market. This dashboard is especially useful for brand managers and category managers who need to understand market share dynamics and competitive benchmarks. If you’re working with syndicated retail data (like NielsenIQ or SPINS), this is often the first stop for analysis – it provides a quick ranking of brands and highlights which brands are driving category growth, their market share, distribution, and velocity. In other words, it answers “Which brands are winning or losing in the category, and why?”

Key Use Cases:

• Identify the top brands in your category and see how your brand ranks in terms of sales and share.

• Examine which brands are gaining or losing market share and what might be contributing (distribution gains, better velocity, etc.).

• Benchmark key metrics (e.g. % ACV distribution, velocity $/point, average pricing) for your brand versus the competition, to inform strategy and retailer discussions.

Dashboard Layout

*(A screenshot of the Brand Performance dashboard’s main table or chart could be included here, showing the brand ranking table and a comparison chart.)

• Category KPIs: At the top, you’ll see summary metrics for the total category (or whatever aggregate market you’ve selected). Common KPIs here include Total Category Sales (in dollars), Category YoY growth, and your Brand’s Share of Category (%) and YoY share change. This gives immediate context on how the overall market is performing and your brand’s contribution. For example, if the category is $500M and grew +5%, and your brand’s share is 10%, you know your brand’s sales and whether you outpaced the category or not. There may also be category-level metrics like total category %ACV (usually 100% by definition) and average velocity for the category, just for context.

• Brand Ranking Table: The centerpiece of this dashboard is a table listing each Brand in the category (you can typically filter the list to focus on a subset, e.g. top 10 brands or a specific segment). The columns include critical measures for each brand: Dollar Sales, Unit Sales, Market Share (%), %ACV Distribution, Velocity (sales per distribution point), and often Average Price or other insights. Growth rates vs prior year (both in absolute sales and share points gained/lost) are included to show momentum. By default, the table is sorted by sales or share, showing the largest brands first. This is a classic output similar to Nielsen or SPINS category summaries that analysts use to get a “league table” of brand performance. It becomes immediately clear which brands are leading and who is trailing. For instance, you might see Brand A at 25% share, Brand B at 20%, etc., and maybe a long tail of small brands. If your brand is among them, you can see your exact share and rank.

• Comparison Charts: To bring the table data to life, the dashboard includes visualizations that compare key metrics across brands. For example:

  • A bar chart of dollar sales by brand can highlight the sales gap between the top players.

  • A market share trend chart (if the dashboard allows a time dimension) could show how each brand’s share is changing over time.

  • Charts for distribution vs. velocity are especially powerful: for instance, a scatter plot might plot brands by %ACV on the x-axis and $/ACV velocity on the y-axis, with bubble size representing sales. This kind of visualization shows whether a brand’s size comes more from having broad distribution or from exceptional velocity. Often, you’ll find that the largest brands have both high distribution and solid velocity, but a smaller brand might have high velocity in limited distribution (a “niche rocket”) or vice versa. Such insights are crucial: research consistently shows distribution and velocity together explain a brand’s successcdn2.hubspot.netmicrosites.nielseniq.com. If a competitor’s velocity is much higher than yours, it means they’re turning product faster where they sell – a sign of strong consumer pull. If a competitor’s distribution far exceeds yours, that might explain their larger sales, and it also might indicate an opportunity for your brand if you can close that distribution gap.

  • Another chart might compare Average Price or Price Tier by brand, indicating who plays at premium vs value pricing, which can also partly explain velocity differences (premium brands often have lower unit velocity but higher dollar per unit).

• Brand Share Change Analysis: Some dashboards include a specific view for share change: e.g., a bar chart of share point change for each brand vs year-ago. This highlights which brands are growing share (shown to the right) and which are losing share (to the left). If your brand is gaining share, this chart will show by how many points and who you’re stealing share from (often the brands losing share). If losing share, it shows who is gaining at your expense. This is a straightforward way to measure competitive dynamics.

Interpretation & Best Practices

• Focus on Distribution vs Velocity: When looking at the Brand ranking, pay close attention to the %ACV Distribution and Velocity ($/TDP) columns for each brand. A key question in retail analytics is whether a brand’s performance is driven more by distribution (being in more stores) or by velocity (selling faster in the stores they are in). For example, you might notice Brand X has 90% ACV but a middling velocity, whereas Brand Y has only 45% ACV but a very high velocity. Brand Y’s strong turn rates suggest high consumer demand or a successful niche positioning – it may represent a growing threat if it can expand distribution. In fact, studies have found that increasing distribution is often the fastest way to grow sales (since getting on more shelves directly increases availability), but it’s the velocity – how well the product sells – that signals long-term success and consumer pullnielseniq.comnielseniq.com. Use this insight when communicating with retailers: if your brand’s velocity is strong, you have a case to ask for more distribution; if velocity lags, you know to improve your marketing or product before pushing for more stores.

• Identify Market Share Opportunities: Your brand’s Market Share tells you where you stand, but the combination of share and growth is even more telling. If your share is, say, 8% and growing by +1 point, that’s positive momentum – you’re capturing a larger piece of the pie. Look at which competitors lost share; these are likely the brands you’re outperforming. On the other hand, if you lost share, analyze the brands that gained – what are they doing differently? Are they launching new products, pricing aggressively, or expanding into new retailers? The brand dashboard can surface such patterns (e.g., a competitor might have gained +10 distribution points which fueled their share gain – a tactical insight for your team to respond to).

• Leverage Best-in-Class Benchmarks: The dashboard effectively provides benchmarks for high performance. For instance, the top brand’s velocity or distribution can serve as a benchmark. If the category leader has a $/TDP of $500 and your brand is at $300, there’s room to improve your sales per store – perhaps through better promotions or marketing. Similarly, if your price is significantly higher than all others (premium priced) but your velocity is low, you might be priced out of reach for some consumers; conversely, if you’re the lowest price but still have low velocity, it could indicate a distribution or awareness problem rather than pricing. Seeing all brands side by side helps in setting realistic targets (e.g., “If we could reach at least 60% ACV next year, that would put us in line with mid-tier competitors”).

• Communicate with Retailers: This dashboard is an excellent tool for preparing line reviews or customer decks for retailers. Retail buyers often think in terms of category performance. Showing that “Our Brand grew 15% vs YA, while the category grew 5%. We gained 0.5 share points, mainly thanks to a distribution increase to 50% ACV” is a concise story. It demonstrates you’re contributing to category growth. If you can also show that in markets where you have equal footing (similar ACV) you outperform a larger competitor on velocity, you strengthen the argument that giving your brand more shelf space will drive incremental category sales (not just cannibalize others). Buyers appreciate when brands use credible syndicated metrics in this way, as it aligns with how they measure success.

In summary, the Brand Performance Dashboard provides a one-stop comparison of all brands in the competitive set. It’s like a scoreboard for your category. Use it to celebrate wins (share gains, above-category growth) and to diagnose areas for improvement (distribution white space or velocity issues). Often, this high-level view will prompt deeper questions – for example, if a competitor’s velocity is much higher, you might next explore the Pricing Analysis Dashboard to see if pricing is a factor, or the Promotions dashboards to check if they are promoting more. The goal is to connect the dots between these dashboards to form a complete story.