How Longo’s continues to optimise store planning with Store Insights

Our advanced analytics tool allows for even deeper data interrogation and performance tracking. By using Store Insights in tandem with StoreSpaceOnline, Longo’s has gained improved visibility into inventory, category management, and store performance, resulting in more efficient operations and better decision-making.

StoreSpace® Implementation Consultant and developer of Store Insights, Liam Donnelly, reflects on the impact the tool has had: “It’s been incredibly rewarding to work on the Store Insights solution and witness the value it’s bringing to our clients. We’ve empowered retailers to identify their best- and worst-performing areas within each store.

This has enabled them to better understand what’s working well, uncover the reasons behind strong performance, and use those insights to influence future project rollouts or new store openings. It’s been a game-changer in helping clients make more confident, data-led decisions.”

Store Insights has provided Longo’s an additional level of data analysis, further improving the efficiency of their store planning and category management processes. One of the standout benefits of Store Insights is its ability to streamline category reviews, allowing Longo’s to make more informed decisions about product placement.

Longo’s Store Planner, Robert Zuccaro:

“I really believe this would be a great tool to aide category management. I don’t see how companies cannot implement this into their process. When you’re reviewing something, you need as much information as you can gather.

Here at Longo’s, as I reach out to the category managers and show them how we’re going to start looking at things, I realised that Store Insights should be part of their process. If you’re going to have a category review process, it must have Store Insights because it helps you make informed decisions toward the Category.”

Liam adds:

“The recent upgrade to version 2 of Insights marked a major step forward, unlocking access to historical data through the trend analysis report. This allowed our clients to benchmark performance over time and spot emerging patterns. Coupled with the adjacencies report, they can now see which flows and adjacencies are most effective across their estate. This deeper level of analysis has helped clients fine-tune their layouts and improve the in-store experience for their customers.”

Store Insights is a powerful tool for setting performance benchmarks and optimising store layouts. By comparing store performance based on square footage, retailers can set realistic goals and improve efficiency. Additionally, it serves as a valuable resource for category managers, helping them determine optimal product placements and track adjacencies to enhance the shopping experience and drive sales.

Robert comments:

“Store Insights is great for setting benchmarks because you can see other stores and how they perform and maybe we need them to perform at that level with that square footage. So, it’s great for setting benchmarks. It’s also a great category aid. In terms of adjacencies, it helps with telling category managers they should be showcasing certain products beside other things or in other aisles and then track it through the adjacencies, so that’s great.”

The platform also helps identify opportunities for optimising shelf space allocation, leading to better category performance. Robert continues:

“The contributory metrics are fantastic. This could aid in category development, whether through space, merchandising, or unit level. Contributory metrics is great because it shows you where you should be investing your space.”

Store Insights also provides Longo’s instant access to key data, reducing the time spent on manual reporting and improving responsiveness to store-level queries. Store teams and category managers can now quickly retrieve historical data and make comparisons without the need for manual snapshots, adding further efficiencies to the planning process.

Robert adds:

“It’s efficient because I hear questions from our category managers and I’m able to access all their answers via the Store Insights dashboard, so that’s amazing I think.”

The use of Store Insights enables Longo’s to compare store performances and space allocations. This helps ensure consistency across locations and allows for strategic adjustments based on sales data. Additionally, the space elasticity curve helps Longo’s optimise space usage and maintain planogram consistency.

“I think the space elasticity curve is great because it aids in the consistency that we’re looking for with planograms and the number of items inside the planograms, whichever the footage, we try to keep it consistent, in regard to, the number of items and also increase the percentage of stores with the same POG size.” Robert concludes.

Highlighting upcoming improvements, Liam added:

“Looking ahead, version 3 has now been fully scoped and is on track to launch later this year. It brings exciting enhancements to the Store Insights platform and introduces new tools for interrogating data in smarter, more flexible ways.

The goal is to evolve the platform further, helping clients not only understand their store performance but also receive actionable insights to drive informed decisions.”

By implementing Store Insights, Longo’s has significantly enhanced its store planning, category management, and space optimisation strategies.

The tool has provided crucial insights that have begun to streamline operations, improved store performance tracking, and saved time for store planners and category managers.

As Longo’s continues to expand, Store Insights will play an essential role alongside StoreSpaceOnline in ensuring data-driven decision-making and maintaining consistency across its growing store network.