Grocers Can Use New Tool to Drill Down on Pricing

While food retailers are keeping a close eye on prices with recent and likely future inflationary trends, data provider Datasembly is introducing a new grocery price index. The Tysons, Va.-based company, which collects hyper-local, real-time data from more than 130,000 stores and 180 retail banners across North America, created the tool to help grocers identify and react to the latest pricing and inflation insights. 

Updated on a weekly basis, the index from Datasembly enables grocers to find pricing details in specific geographies and spanning several categories to get the most accurate, updated insights into their competitive market. In addition to evaluating their local landscape, users can use the tool to assess trends in the country’s largest metropolitan areas and in other states.

“The pandemic brought an unprecedented amount of price volatility into the market, and now we are seeing a significant price inflation trend accelerating in Q3 of 2021 — making the need for real-time competitive pricing intelligence more important than ever,” said Ben Reich, founder and CEO at Datasembly. “The granular level of data about specific products and locations that Datasembly provides is a game changer for brands and retailers, helping them better understand pricing strategies, promotions, and assortment.”

To Reich’s point, the pricing tool comes at a pivotal time for the grocery sector, as inflation has taken hold. According to Datasembly, the overall price increase in the third quarter of 2021 was 2.28%. In September alone, the rate jumped 1.18%, exceeding the 20-year U.S. Department of Agriculture annual average. The most notable spikes came in the categories of beverages, meat and seafood and snacks, cookies and chips.