IRI adds CPG Channel Shift Index and CPG E-Commerce Demand Index to its COVID-19 Insights dashboard

IRI has announced the release of the IRI CPG Channel Shift Index and IRI CPG E-Commerce Demand Index as additions to its COVID-19 Insights Dashboard.

“The IRI COVID-19 Dashboard has become a trusted, standard resource for understanding the CPG landscape in real time, including the behavioral shifts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Krishnakumar (KK) S. Davey, president of IRI Strategic Analytics. “These two new indices significantly increase our offerings by providing additional shopper views to help CPG manufacturers and retailers stay connected to their customers during a time that has rendered traditional measurement models as poor predictors of the future. Powered by IRI’s nationally representative consumer panel and market-leading E-Market Insights, these new indices work in tandem with the extensive IRI Shopper Loyalty database of over 500 million frequent-shopper loyalty cards to provide unmatched insights into rapidly evolving consumer behavior.”

IRI CPG Channel Shift Index

The IRI CPG Channel Shift Index provides the industry’s only standard metric for tracking accelerating and decelerating CPG channel shifts for seven geographies: all outlets, grocery, club, dollar, drug, mass and total e-commerce. The index offers two views: Channel Demand, which examines the level of dollar sales transactions within each channel compared to the year-ago period, and Product Trip view, which details the level of trips consumers take to each channel compared to the year-ago period. Both views are updated weekly and allow users to view channel demand at the total CPG level or segment by edible and non-edible categories.

Notable insights revealed by the CPG Channel Shift Index in recent weeks include:

Total e-commerce demand has significantly outpaced all other channels since at least mid-June and is up 86 percent compared to the year-ago period.
Spending in the drug store channel was down 5 percent, a significant drop during the week ending Aug. 30 compared to previous year, reversing a 10-week trend of being in-line and above last year’s spending.
Total trips across CPG outlets were down 3 percent compared to the year-ago period during the week ending Aug. 30, despite trips in the e-commerce channel being up 91 percent.

IRI CPG E-Commerce Demand Index

The IRI CPG E-Commerce Demand Index provides a standard metric for tracking changes in online spending on consumer-packaged goods. The index measures rolling changes in consumer purchases by analyzing dollar sales vs. the year-ago period across releasable edible and non-edible departments. The index is available for three channels (Total E-Commerce, Brick & Mortar E-Commerce and Online E-Commerce) and two fulfillment types (Click & Collect and Delivery/Shipment). Both views are updated every four weeks and allow users to view channel demand at the total CPG level or segment by categories within the edible and non-edible departments.

Notable insights revealed by the CPG E-Commerce Demand Index in recent weeks include:

Demand for brick & mortar e-commerce at the total CPG level is up 125% against the year-ago period, significantly outpacing demand for online e-commerce, which is only up 36 percent.
Within the online e-commerce channel, demand across categories is up compared to the year-ago period, except for refrigerated foods, which dropped 1,500 basis points during the period ending 8/9 to 7 percent below year-ago levels.
Demand for click-&-collect fulfillment at the total CPG level (up 120 percent vs. the year-ago period) is significantly outpacing demand for deliveries (up 78%).

The CPG Channel Shift Index and the CPG E-Commerce Demand Index are currently available online as part of the IRI COVID-19 Info Portal and Data Dashboard, a suite of resources to help CPG manufacturers and retailers understand and navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes the latest rapid-response research, insights on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global CPG consumer behavior and supply chain challenges, historical and predictive data on consumer demand as well as IRI solutions to help manage CPG and retail challenges during the pandemic.