# Vazen > Vazen is the retail data AI platform that gives brands and retailers the shared evidence to make better category decisions, from assortment changes to retailer meetings to category collaboration. Vazen (Vazen Technologies Ltd) turns shelf, sales and shopper data into one governed foundation, with four products that point that data at specific category moments. ## Vazen | Better Decisions About What Happens on Shelf Source: /index.md # Better decisions about what happens on shelf. Vazen is the retail data AI platform bringing together retailer, brand and open-source data to give brands and retailers the evidence of how to win at shelf. [Request a demo](/contact)[Book a call](https://meetings.hubspot.com/jack809/jack-calendar-link?uuid=a38e563f-ca4b-44f9-9443-d682c510aaf6) ## Trusted by the world’s greatest companies ![AB InBev](/_astro/ab-inbev.u0GUM9bC.svg) ![Arla](/_astro/arla.CWhfApNn.svg) ![Beiersdorf](/_astro/beiersdorf.D1uC_qhq.svg) ![Carlsberg](/_astro/carlsberg.FjQMsyBp.svg) ![Coca-Cola](/_astro/the-coca-cola-company.CuuxEpSE.svg) ![Colgate-Palmolive](/_astro/colgate-palmolive.4yt4vv83.svg) ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![Danone](/_astro/danone.ChXRk2qC.svg) ![Diageo](/_astro/diageo.BoflhSdG.svg) ![Essity](/_astro/essity.zE3XxkVQ.svg) ![Ferrero](/_astro/ferrero.C_9fyxAW.svg) ![General Mills](/_astro/general-mills.ChK0PjCv.svg) ![Haleon](/_astro/haleon.DZNY9I1R.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Henkel](/_astro/henkel.C4P0GqNJ.svg) ![JDE](/_astro/jde.CDEB-fYE.svg) ![Johnson & Johnson](/_astro/johnson-and-johnson.BeSScoTC.svg) ![Kao](/_astro/kao.CKu1-DGS.svg) ![Kellanova](/_astro/kellanova.65fKWB55.svg) ![Kenvue](/_astro/kenvue.BmAbOs6n.svg) ![Kimberly-Clark](/_astro/kimberly-clark.jl1R1frV.svg) ![Kraft Heinz](/_astro/kraft-heinz.CrCloKp0.svg) ![Lavazza](/_astro/lavazza.BA_zTBrP.svg) ![Lindt & Sprüngli](/_astro/lindt.BkO6fSBQ.svg) ![L’Oréal](/_astro/loreal.zq1WQTB_.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![Moët Hennessy](/_astro/moet-hennessy.BrvlJVd7.svg) ![Molson Coors](/_astro/molson-coors.SOlnG2dM.svg) ![Mondelēz](/_astro/mondelez.ZKqx9RuZ.svg) ![Müller](/_astro/muller.CR_26CvY.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Nestlé Purina](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg) ![PepsiCo](/_astro/pepsico.Ch9QVHU5.svg) ![Pernod Ricard](/_astro/pernod-ricard.CDxPc09j.svg) ![Princes](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) ![SC Johnson](/_astro/s-c-johnson.B8Kar9UA.svg) ![Suntory](/_astro/suntory.CJjqlpZc.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “100% visibility of Co-op planograms, which we have never had understanding of before.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg)Nestlé Purina > “That evidence gave us confidence in the shelf strategy ahead of launch.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg)Co-op > “It completely changes the conversation.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/muller.CR_26CvY.svg)Müller > “It helped move our conversation from a negotiation into something truly collaborative.” Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “Being able to filter to each individual store adds so much value both to category and sales.” Customer Category Manager ![](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg)Tesco > “We have landed a really great planogram range and experience for the customers.” Buyer ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg)Heineken > “Thanks to Coplan, we successfully delivered a detailed response to Tesco’s Fit for Growth brief.” Senior Category Manager ## Trusted by the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) - ![Princes](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ## Four products that work on shared retail data. Coplan sees what’s on shelf, Studio designs what should be there next, Testing validates it with real shoppers, and Ask Vazen sits across all three to answer any question in seconds. ### Coplan See what’s on every shelf. Continuous shelf and planogram data across the entire retailer estate. Interactive with intuitive analytics tools to help you drive category growth. Live with Tesco and Co-op. [Explore Coplan](/platform/coplan) ### Studio Design plans that work at shelf. Modern planogram software built on live shelf and sales data. Create standout shelves in minutes. [Explore Studio](/platform/studio) ### Testing Validate before you commit. Virtual shopper testing for new products, packs, ranges and promotions. Statistically robust, retailer-ready evidence in days. [Explore Testing](/platform/testing) ### Ask Vazen Answers in seconds. Conversational analytics across your shelf, sales and shopper data. Superpowers for category management teams. [Explore Ask Vazen](/platform/ask-vazen) ### The Vazen Platform The foundation underneath every product Ingest. Govern. Connect. Model. Secure. Access. The capabilities that turn fragmented retail data into something software can use. The data layer that makes the rest of Vazen possible, and the foundation your AI workloads have been waiting for. [Explore the Vazen AI Platform](/platform) ## Built for both sides of the shelf. For Category & Insights Teams ### Run your category team as a growth function. How teams at Unilever, Reckitt, Nestlé, Red Bull, Princes and Mars land better launches, walk into sharper retailer meetings, and defend every recommendation with evidence. [Explore for category teams](/category-teams) For Retailers ### A modern platform for category data sharing. Modern infrastructure, supplier data sharing that works, and commercial models that grow both the category and your revenue from it. How Co-op and Tesco are rebuilding category collaboration. [Explore for retailers](/retailers) ## The results speak for themselves. ![Ripe tomatoes on the vine.](/_astro/princes-result.Dy9SsAcN_Z2rFvk.webp) ![](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) Princes ### +12% category growth on the ambient tomato fixture. Princes rebuilt the ambient tomato fixture from type-led to brand-led across 3 and 4 bay plans. Category sales lifted 12%, branded cross-shop climbed 5%, and multi-brand purchasing grew from 26% to 31%. [Read the result](/case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture) ![A can of Red Bull on the edge of a table.](/_astro/red-bull-result.B8R_L9jy_Z2sBlcf.webp) ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) Red Bull ### +7% in-store compliance, +5% category sales. Red Bull’s field team was losing hours hunting store managers and shelf-checking blind. Once they had planogram visibility and store-level target lists, reps walked in knowing exactly what to fix. [Read the result](/case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf) ![Cans of beer arranged on wooden shelves.](/_astro/heineken-result.C2-vvfTY_oMTOU.webp) ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) Heineken ### Availability restored across 30% of stores. One SKU on the wrong shelf, replicated across nearly a third of the estate. Once the pattern was visible, the fix took days. [Read the result](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) ## Explore shopper, category and retailer insights. Stay up to date with the latest in the retail world. ### [What is a retail data AI platform? A guide for CPG brands and retailers](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) [What the category does, how it differs from BI and planogram tools, and what to ask when evaluating one.](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) [18 August 2026](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) ### [What's In-Store: August Update](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) [Hello, welcome to our August newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we've spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) [1 August 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) ### [VST is now Vazen: the retail data AI platform](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) [Same company, same team, same nine years of category evidence. Wider frame.](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) [30 July 2026](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) [See all resources](/resources) ## Try Vazen on your category. [Request a demo](/contact) ## About | Vazen Source: /about.md # Hello, we’re Vazen. In retail, shelf space is make-or-break. Most decisions about what goes where are still driven by gut feel, outdated data, or static planograms. Retailers struggle to see what’s really happening in-store. Brands fight for space with no easy way to prove what works. In the end, shoppers end up with shelves that don’t reflect how they actually buy. We built Vazen to fix that, not with more slides or spreadsheets, but with tools that make the invisible visible. > “Retail decisions still get made a long way from the shelf. Our job is simple: bring them back to where shoppers actually decide.” Nick Theodore, Co-Founder & CEO About us ## Built to bring CPGs and retailers onto the same page. ### The testing problem We started by solving the testing problem. With Vazen Testing, brands can simulate real shelves with thousands of real shoppers, and prove what drives sales and category growth, before anything hits stores. ### The execution gap Then we tackled the execution gap. Coplan turns static retailer data into a live product, giving both retailers and brands the visibility they need to align, act, and deliver at-shelf. Our story ## What does this mean? ### For brands Instant access to store-level planograms. No more chasing PDFs or screenshots. ### For retailers It unlocks new value from existing data, helping monetise planogram access, improve compliance, and streamline supplier collaboration. ## Build something great. | Vazen Source: /careers.md Careers # Build something great. We’re always on the lookout for great, high-agency talent, no matter who they are. **Join a mission-driven, people-first startup building better ways for global brands to work with global retailers.** At Vazen, we’re on a mission to transform how massive brands like Mars, Coca-Cola and Unilever collaborate with retailers through smart tech and better data. We’re a venture-backed startup with solid foundations, a lot of ambition and a growing team. ## Why work with us? - Autonomy and power over products that sit at the core of this startup. - A path to grow, with opportunities to lead and shape the future of the company. - A flexible working environment. As long as the results are getting delivered, find a schedule that works for you. We’re based out of Old Street. - Share options with fair terms. - An end-of-year performance-based bonus. - As little bureaucracy as we can get away with, but no less. - The best equipment we can buy you, including an M-series MacBook Pro or whatever helps you do your best work. - The clearest and most transparent communication we can manage at all times. - An experience. Working at a startup should be exciting and this should be no exception. - Opportunities to travel to meet clients nationally and internationally. - A sales referral bonus if you introduce a big CPG customer that turns into a sale. Something missing? Please let us know. ### What you get - A great compensation package - Competitive salary - End-of-year bonus - Top-tier equipment - Share options with fair terms - Sales referral bonus Can we do better? Tell us how at . ## The process ### Client services 1. **Initial chat:** We want to get to know you, understand what you’re looking for and see if our principles align. 2. **Assessment case study:** An in-person overview of an insight or account plan case study, depending on the role, followed by questions with the team. 3. **Offer.** ### Engineering We try to move fast, and our interview process looks loosely like this: 1. **Initial chat and technical screen:** We want to get to know you, understand what you’re looking for and see if our principles align. 2. **Two technical interviews:** Often back to back and preferably in person. You can choose the style. Some people like to build something together, others prefer theoretical system design, and we also allow a free-form show and tell. 3. **Offer.** ### Our stack - **Frontend:** React, TypeScript, Effect Atom and Storybook - **Backend:** Node.js, Effect, PostgreSQL (Prisma), Redis, Snowflake and ClickHouse - **Infrastructure:** Docker, Pulumi, Kubernetes (DigitalOcean), continuous integration and delivery, and Netlify - **Tools:** Linear, Slack and Notion ## Life in engineering ### What you’ll work on We’re building a powerful enterprise web app powered by big, proprietary datasets. Some things you might tackle in your first year: - Scale and refine our product to serve large enterprise users - Contribute to customer-facing features using React, Node.js, Effect and PostgreSQL - Improve performance and reliability across our data-heavy frontend - Join user interviews and work closely with design to make thoughtful, human-focused user experience decisions - Take part in shaping the engineering culture, practices and mentorship - Explore opportunities to expand your impact into areas like infrastructure, security and hiring ### What your first year might look like - **30 days:** You’ve shipped your first changes, paired with the team and contributed to real customer impact. - **60 days:** You’re leading initiatives, joining user interviews and making smart suggestions to improve our stack and practices. - **90 days:** You’ve delivered major features, participated in architectural decisions and helped interview future teammates. - **6–12 months:** You’ve owned big, business-critical projects, mentored others and become a cultural leader in the team. ### What we’re looking for We’re open-minded about your background, whether you’ve worked in startups, agencies or enterprise. What matters to us is that you: - Are comfortable in fast-moving, semi-structured environments - Care about the details, from data modelling and testing to user interface polish and user experience - Can empathise with customers, not just code for them - Communicate clearly and collaborate across disciplines - Have a broad sense of ownership: you ship, test, debug and iterate ## Diversity and belonging at Vazen We believe building great software starts with diverse thinking, lived experiences and an inclusive culture. We’re proud to be building a team where different perspectives aren’t just welcomed, they’re essential. Whether you’ve followed a traditional path or not, we encourage people of all backgrounds, identities and communities to apply. ## Get in touch There’s no such thing as a “perfect” candidate. If you’re excited about meaningful work and believe you could build something great here, we’d love to hear from you. Email us at . ## Results | Vazen Source: /case-studies.md # Results The evidence in practice: how teams use Vazen to win the retailer conversation and move the shelf. [Princes](/case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture) ## [How Princes Drove +12% Category Growth by Rebuilding the Ambient Tomato Fixture](/case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture) [Type-led out. Brand-led in. Cross-shop up.](/case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture) [28 May 2026](/case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture) [A national beer brand](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) ## [How We Helped a Beer Brand Fix Availability in 30% of Stores by Spotting One Shelf Error](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) [One SKU. Wrong shelf. Sales recovered.](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) [28 May 2026](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) [A confectionery supplier](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-confectionery-supplier-drive-15-value-growth-in-chocolate-pouches) ## [How We Helped a Confectionery Supplier Drive +15% Value Growth in Chocolate Pouches](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-confectionery-supplier-drive-15-value-growth-in-chocolate-pouches) [Smarter range. Smarter layout. +15% in 12 weeks.](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-confectionery-supplier-drive-15-value-growth-in-chocolate-pouches) [28 May 2026](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-confectionery-supplier-drive-15-value-growth-in-chocolate-pouches) [A grocery retailer](/case-studies/assortment-changes) ## [Simplifying assortment increased shopper spend and sped up the shopping trip](/case-studies/assortment-changes) [Why simplifying the shelf drove growth during disruption.](/case-studies/assortment-changes) [30 December 2025](/case-studies/assortment-changes) [A grocery retailer](/case-studies/how-we-drove-7-spend-by-reducing-sku-count-in-chilled-beverages) ## [How We Drove +7% Spend by Reducing SKU Count in Chilled Beverages](/case-studies/how-we-drove-7-spend-by-reducing-sku-count-in-chilled-beverages) [Fewer SKUs. Faster shops. Higher spend.](/case-studies/how-we-drove-7-spend-by-reducing-sku-count-in-chilled-beverages) [30 December 2025](/case-studies/how-we-drove-7-spend-by-reducing-sku-count-in-chilled-beverages) [A baby food brand](/case-studies/how-we-helped-grow-the-baby-food-category-by-7-with-better-signage) ## [How We Helped Grow the Baby Food Category by +7% with Better Signage](/case-studies/how-we-helped-grow-the-baby-food-category-by-7-with-better-signage) [Why clarity outperforms creativity in baby food aisles.](/case-studies/how-we-helped-grow-the-baby-food-category-by-7-with-better-signage) [30 December 2025](/case-studies/how-we-helped-grow-the-baby-food-category-by-7-with-better-signage) [A consumer goods brand](/case-studies/pack-size-testing) ## [4% pack size reduction opportunity before impacting brand share](/case-studies/pack-size-testing) [How far can you shrink before shoppers walk?](/case-studies/pack-size-testing) [30 December 2025](/case-studies/pack-size-testing) [An international consumer goods brand](/case-studies/shelf-placement) ## [How We Helped a New Product Innovation Drive +2% Category Growth by Securing the Right Shelf Placement](/case-studies/shelf-placement) [The right shelf position turned an innovation into growth.](/case-studies/shelf-placement) [30 December 2025](/case-studies/shelf-placement) [A consumer goods brand](/case-studies/testing-price-changes) ## [Reducing price by >5% for a brand only brought in a +2% increase in shoppers](/case-studies/testing-price-changes) [30 December 2025](/case-studies/testing-price-changes) [Red Bull & Heineken](/case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf) ## [How Red Bull and Heineken Are Using Planogram Data to Win at the Shelf](/case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf) [Why leading brands are using planogram data to win shelf space and trust.](/case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf) [29 September 2025](/case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf) [Tesco](/case-studies/tescos-approach-to-planogram-data) ## [Inside Tesco’s Approach to Planogram Data - and What It Means for CPGs](/case-studies/tescos-approach-to-planogram-data) [Category management is at a crossroads - so what happens now?](/case-studies/tescos-approach-to-planogram-data) [10 July 2025](/case-studies/tescos-approach-to-planogram-data) ## Simplifying assortment increased shopper spend and sped up the shopping trip | Vazen Source: /case-studies/assortment-changes.md A grocery retailer · Retail # Simplifying assortment increased shopper spend and sped up the shopping trip Why simplifying the shelf drove growth during disruption. 30 December 2025 ## Objective The retailer needed clarity on: - Should we cut back our assortment? - Which products can we remove without hurting sales? - Will simplification help shoppers move faster, especially during the pandemic? ## What We Tested - Three levels of assortment reduction - Different brand combinations removed - Over 3,000 shoppers ## Results - **+7% increase in category spend**, even with fewer SKUs - **+5% faster shopping trips**, showing simplification worked for both the business and the shopper ## How Princes Drove +12% Category Growth by Rebuilding the Ambient Tomato Fixture | Vazen Source: /case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture.md Princes · Food # How Princes Drove +12% Category Growth by Rebuilding the Ambient Tomato Fixture Type-led out. Brand-led in. Cross-shop up. 28 May 2026 ## Objective Princes wanted to redesign the ambient tomato fixture around how shoppers actually buy, not how the category had historically been ranged. The work needed to answer: - Is a brand-led fixture better than a type-led one? - Will it lift branded participation against private label? - Will it grow total category sales? ## What We Did - Removed merchandising units from the fixture - Improved brand blocking across 3-bay and 4-bay layouts - Added new products across multiple brands - Switched chopped, plum and passata from type-led to brand-led, while keeping puree separate - Iterated with the buyer across several review sessions until the fixture was right ## Results - **+12% category sales** across 3- and 4-bay plans - **+10% category sales** across all plans - **+5% increase in branded cross-shop** - Multi-segment brand purchasing across the three largest tomato brands grew from **26% to 31%** ## The Impact A brand-led fixture lifted branded participation in both value and volume while growing total category sales. The new layout actively encourages shoppers to buy multiple tomato sub-segments from the same brand. Organising shelves around shopper behaviour beat organising them around historical convention. ## How We Drove +7% Spend by Reducing SKU Count in Chilled Beverages | Vazen Source: /case-studies/how-we-drove-7-spend-by-reducing-sku-count-in-chilled-beverages.md A grocery retailer · Chilled beverages # How We Drove +7% Spend by Reducing SKU Count in Chilled Beverages Fewer SKUs. Faster shops. Higher spend. 30 December 2025 ## Objective The retailer wanted to simplify the chilled beverages category, but needed to know: - Will reducing the range hurt sales? - Which products can be removed without damaging brand performance? - Will shoppers appreciate a faster, simpler shopping experience? ## What We Tested - Three levels of assortment reduction - Different brand combinations removed - Over 3,000 shoppers ## Results - **+7% growth in category spend**, despite 20% fewer SKUs - **+5% faster shopping trips**, showing improved shopper experience - Simplification boosted both commercial results and shopper satisfaction ## The Impact The test proved that, when done strategically, less really can be more. With evidence in hand, the retailer could confidently streamline the range while brands defended, and in some cases grew, their share. ## How We Helped a Beer Brand Fix Availability in 30% of Stores by Spotting One Shelf Error | Vazen Source: /case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error.md A national beer brand · Beer # How We Helped a Beer Brand Fix Availability in 30% of Stores by Spotting One Shelf Error One SKU. Wrong shelf. Sales recovered. 28 May 2026 ## Objective A core multipack SKU was underperforming, but the brand could not see why from the sales data alone. The work needed to answer: - Is this a range issue, a price issue, or something on shelf? - Which planograms are dragging performance? - What is the fix, and how fast can it land at scale? ## What We Did - Used the multi-planogram view to identify exactly which plans were causing the decline - Spotted that the SKU had been placed on a shelf where it could not be stacked, which was suppressing availability - Built recommended planograms placing the SKU in a stackable position across affected stores ## Results - The SKU moved from the middle shelf to a floor stack in 30% of stores - Availability recovered across the affected estate - Category sales increased after the change ## The Impact A problem that would have taken days to investigate across hundreds of stores surfaced in minutes. One shelf-position change recovered availability and lifted category sales. The answer to a sales decline is not always range, price or promotion. Sometimes it is one position on one shelf. ## How We Helped a Confectionery Supplier Drive +15% Value Growth in Chocolate Pouches | Vazen Source: /case-studies/how-we-helped-a-confectionery-supplier-drive-15-value-growth-in-chocolate-pouches.md A confectionery supplier · Confectionery # How We Helped a Confectionery Supplier Drive +15% Value Growth in Chocolate Pouches Smarter range. Smarter layout. +15% in 12 weeks. 28 May 2026 ## Objective Chocolate pouches were underperforming versus the market in a major retailer. The retailer asked key suppliers to come back with recommendations to lift total category performance. The work needed to answer: - Where is the real category opportunity hiding? - What range and layout changes will move the numbers? - How fast can a supplier respond with credible, data-backed plans? ## What We Did - Surfaced category growth insights from planogram and sales data - Built a recommended future fixture with improved range and layout - Refined the plan collaboratively with the retailer until it was approved - Landed the new plans in store ## Results Twelve weeks after the range review: - **+15% value** - **+12% volume** - **+8% SKU count** - **+1% customer penetration** ## The Impact What would normally have taken weeks or months in legacy software took days. The supplier responded fast, with credible numbers behind every recommendation, and the retailer landed a launch they could measure against. Both sides got a better category outcome. ## How We Helped Grow the Baby Food Category by +7% with Better Signage | Vazen Source: /case-studies/how-we-helped-grow-the-baby-food-category-by-7-with-better-signage.md A baby food brand · Baby food # How We Helped Grow the Baby Food Category by +7% with Better Signage Why clarity outperforms creativity in baby food aisles. 30 December 2025 ## Background A leading international baby food brand and Tesco needed to simplify a category parents often find overwhelming. The objective was clear: make it easier to shop, faster to navigate and more commercially effective. ## What We Tested Three signage setups across a 6-bay range: - Control: no signage - Test 1: educational messaging - Test 2: fun, playful messaging We measured shopper experience, time spent and sales impact. ## Results - **+7% category sales uplift** with educational signage - Shoppers navigated the aisle significantly faster - Educational messaging beat fun signage on all key metrics ## The Impact The winning signage was rolled out in store with confidence. The test validated a business case that blended shopper empathy with return on investment, proving that smarter signage is not just nice to have: it drives growth. ## 4% pack size reduction opportunity before impacting brand share | Vazen Source: /case-studies/pack-size-testing.md A consumer goods brand · Consumer goods # 4% pack size reduction opportunity before impacting brand share How far can you shrink before shoppers walk? 30 December 2025 ## Objective The brand wanted to know: - Can we reduce pack size without hurting brand share? - What is the optimal reduction to improve margin without losing shoppers? ## What We Tested - Six different pack size variations - Over 3,000 shoppers across formats ## Results A **4% pack size reduction** was identified as the threshold before brand share is impacted, unlocking margin gain with minimal shopper risk. ## How Red Bull and Heineken Are Using Planogram Data to Win at the Shelf | Vazen Source: /case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf.md Red Bull & Heineken · Beverages # How Red Bull and Heineken Are Using Planogram Data to Win at the Shelf Why leading brands are using planogram data to win shelf space and trust. 29 September 2025 Planogram data has always been an under-leveraged asset in CPG. For years, it sat in files and systems, used narrowly for compliance checks or static range reviews. But when surfaced in the right way, it becomes a commercial lever - shaping the shelf, winning retailer buy-in, and unlocking category growth. That’s exactly what Red Bull and Heineken described on the *Category Management with dunnhumby* podcast. Both brands are using **Coplan** to turn shelf data into decisions that drive growth. You can listen to the full episode above, but here are the big takeaways. ## Heineken: From Tactical Fixes to Strategic Shelf Impact Beer and cider is one of the toughest categories in-store. It’s heavily promoted, space-intensive, and fiercely competitive. Heineken needed to show Tesco why certain brands warranted better visibility in order to grow sales and create a better shopper experience. With Coplan, they were able to build a compelling case. One fast-growing lager brand was buried mid-shelf, limiting performance. By using planogram data to demonstrate both the space issue and the commercial upside of moving it, Heineken secured better placement, and delivered sales growth for themselves and Tesco. As Rob Plant, Senior Category Manager at Heineken, put it: *“We showed Tesco, ‘look, we’re not on the bottom shelf here - this is what it’s worth if you move us.’ And when they did, we grew share and sales for both sides.”* But Heineken didn’t stop at individual SKUs. They used the tool to pitch branded bays for Strongbow, creating a more disruptive in-store presence. Instead of speculative proposals, they could show buyers realistic mock-ups, iterate live on Teams calls, and quickly land an agreement. This shifted their relationship with Tesco from reactive supplier to co-creator of the fixture. ## Red Bull: Closing the Availability Gap Red Bull’s challenge looked different. Despite being the **#1 branded SKU in FMCG by units sold**, its 250ml can was often missing from shelf. For a category driven by loyalty and impulse, even a single gap meant a lost sale. Coplan gave the category team two levers: 1. **Securing more facings** - by clearly showing Tesco which lower-performing SKUs were over-spaced compared to Red Bull’s high unit rate of sale. 2. **Equipping the field force** - by arming reps with live planograms so they could see exactly what the fixture should look like, identify zero-sales stores, and fix compliance gaps on the spot. Casey Brady, Head of Category for Grocery at Red Bull, explained the shift: *“For the first time, we could get planogram data out to our field reps. They could walk into a store, see what it should look like, and make sure the right number of facings were in place. That was really powerful.”* The result was fewer out-of-stocks, stronger buyer conversations, and a more aligned commercial team internally. ## What Both Brands Show The Heineken and Red Bull stories highlight three consistent outcomes when planogram data is unlocked properly: 1. **Retailer engagement that sticks** - buyers respond faster to visual, data-led proposals than to static decks. 2. **Operational efficiency** - field teams and category managers can cut wasted cycles and get to action quicker. 3. **Realistic planning** - internal teams stop asking for the impossible, because the fixture reality is clear to everyone. As Rob Plant summed it up: *“It helps us set realistic expectations - for our buyers, but also internally across brand and account teams. Everyone can see the same picture.”* And for Casey Brady, the competitive edge is just as much about credibility as execution: *“Coplan is best-in-class. You’re essentially putting Tesco’s fixture in front of Tesco’s buyers - but with all the right data to hand.”* ## The Bottom Line Planogram data used to be overlooked. Now, with the right software, it’s a driver of category growth, stronger retailer partnerships, and better decision-making inside CPGs. That’s the shift Red Bull and Heineken are making, and why more brands are starting to treat planogram data not as admin, but as a source of competitive advantage. You can listen to the full podcast episode above to dive deeper into their experiences. ## How We Helped a New Product Innovation Drive +2% Category Growth by Securing the Right Shelf Placement | Vazen Source: /case-studies/shelf-placement.md An international consumer goods brand · Consumer goods # How We Helped a New Product Innovation Drive +2% Category Growth by Securing the Right Shelf Placement The right shelf position turned an innovation into growth. 30 December 2025 ## Background A leading international consumer goods brand had developed a new product innovation, but faced the usual challenge: proving it deserved prime shelf space. Retailers needed more than a pitch. They needed evidence that this product would drive category growth. ## What We Tested Three versions of the shelf layout: - Control: no new product - Test 1: product in Position 1 - Test 2: product in Position 2 We measured category sales, brand share and how noticeable the new product was in each scenario. ## Results - **+2% increase in category spend** when placed in Position 2 - **+5% increase in brand share** in the same layout - Position 1 performed no better than not launching the product at all ## The Impact Thousands of shoppers validated the right location in just 48 hours, giving the brand the data to win over retailers and land the launch. The difference between a successful innovation and a flop came down to shelf placement. ## Inside Tesco’s Approach to Planogram Data - and What It Means for CPGs | Vazen Source: /case-studies/tescos-approach-to-planogram-data.md Tesco · Grocery # Inside Tesco’s Approach to Planogram Data - and What It Means for CPGs Category management is at a crossroads - so what happens now? 10 July 2025 Category management is at a crossroads. For suppliers, the day-to-day reality is messy - too much data, not enough clarity, and a constant battle to align shopper needs, retailer expectations, and operational realities. For retailers like Tesco, the challenge is harnessing that data to shape the shelf of the future. In this episode of *Category Management with dunnhumby*, we heard from both sides: **Danone and Reckitt** on what life is really like for category managers, and **Tesco’s commercial leaders** on what they expect from suppliers, and how tools like Vazen’s **Coplan** are changing the game. ## What category managers are up against Helena (Danone) and Andrew (Reckitt) painted a familiar picture: - **Too much data, not enough clarity.**\ *“We use data day-in, day-out, but often the challenge is finding the piece that really matters for category growth.”* (Andrew) - **The fixture is make-or-break.**\ *“The shelf is where decisions are made. If the shopper can’t find what they need easily, they’ll walk away.”* (Helena) - **Old tools created blind spots.**\ *“We used to rely on PDFs or store photos. You could spend hours optimising, but only for 20% of stores.”* (Andrew) For CPGs, “best-in-class” category management means putting the shopper first, aligning with retailer strategy, and ensuring fixtures work in the real world - for shoppers, store colleagues, and online pickers alike. ## Tesco’s view: One truth, forward-looking Tesco’s **David Beardmore (Impulse Category Director)** and **Tommy Maier (Category Buying Manager, Beauty & Personal Care)** set out what separates good from great. - **Forward-looking insight matters most.**\ *“Our data is best-in-class at looking backwards. What I want from suppliers is what the next one to three years looks like.”* (David) - **Nuance by category is essential.**\ *“The way we trade skincare is very different to baked beans. Category management has to respect those differences.”* (Tommy) - **Execution is non-negotiable.**\ Coplan gives Tesco and its suppliers “one version of the truth”: a shared reality of what’s on shelf across clusters and formats, removing wasted time and misalignment. ## How Coplan Is Changing the Game **For suppliers:** - **Danone**: *“We’re now talking one truth with Tesco… it builds credibility and alignment from the start.”* - **Reckitt**: *“We can now optimise all stores, not just a small cluster.”* **For Tesco:** - Faster reviews and fewer manual requests. - Clearer collaboration with suppliers. - A stronger focus on future optimisation rather than firefighting the present. ## What It Means for CPGs Tesco doesn’t just want data dumps. They want: 1. **Foresight.** Scenario planning and long-term category growth opportunities. 2. **Fixture credibility.** Recommendations grounded in real shelf execution. 3. **Clarity.** One truth, shared by Tesco and suppliers, to accelerate decision-making. As Tommy summed up: *“Be honest about why you’re doing things. If it’s education, make it brilliant. If it’s about volume, prioritise that. What matters is that it makes sense for customers and drives long-term growth.”* ## The Bottom Line Planogram data has moved from an overlooked file in a back office to a **strategic lever** for collaboration between retailers and suppliers to drive category growth.. For CPGs, the message is clear: those who can combine **shopper-first insight, category nuance, and execution credibility** will be the ones who win with Tesco. Listen to the full podcast [**to learn more**](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uDsWvVX0ZLGyN2gv5jLmP?si=cff02be687fe4bf2). ## Reducing price by >5% for a brand only brought in a +2% increase in shoppers | Vazen Source: /case-studies/testing-price-changes.md A consumer goods brand · Consumer goods # Reducing price by >5% for a brand only brought in a +2% increase in shoppers 30 December 2025 ## Objective The brand needed to understand: - Can we beat own brand by cutting price? - What is the tipping point where reduced price actually drives trial? ## What We Tested - The current price against six reduced price points - Over 3,500 shoppers ## Results - Price cuts greater than 5% delivered only **+2% more shoppers** - The investment was not commercially viable; smaller pack sizes were a more effective route for driving trial without damaging premium positioning ## For Category & Insights Teams | Vazen Source: /category-teams.md For Category & Insights Teams # Run your category team as a growth function. At shelf. In retailer meetings. Across range reviews. Vazen gives category and insights teams the evidence to defend every recommendation, the speed to make decisions before the moment passes, and the tools to walk into retailer meetings with the answer already in hand. [Request a demo](/contact)[See the platform](/platform) ## Trusted by ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) ## Trusted by - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) - ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) ## Three things you can do on Vazen that you can’t do anywhere else. ### Better launches Test new products, packs, formats and ranges virtually before you commit budget. Find out which concept wins in the aisle before it gets there. Faster than an in-store trial. Cheaper than getting it wrong. [Explore Testing](/platform/testing) ### Sharper retailer meetings Walk in with shelf and sales data the buyer can’t argue with. Coplan tracks your share of space across the Tesco and Co-op estate, so you know exactly where the conversation needs to go before you sit down. [Explore Coplan](/platform/coplan) ### A team that backs itself Equip your category managers with the tools to defend every recommendation. Ask Vazen moves your team from “we think” to “we know” in seconds, not the three days it takes to get an answer back from the insights team. [Explore Ask Vazen](/platform/ask-vazen) ## Why the category teams at Reckitt, Nestlé and Mars work this way. ### You can finally see what’s on shelf Out-of-stocks, share of space, distribution gaps, compliance. The view you’ve never had at scale, updated continuously across Tesco and Co-op. ### You can validate before you commit Virtual shopper testing in days, not the months an in-store trial takes. ### Your insights team gets ten times the leverage One Ask Vazen prompt replaces a three-day SQL ticket. Your analysts stop running queries and start generating insight. ### You get backed, not just billed We embed alongside your team. The mission isn’t complete when the answer arrives. It’s complete when the shelf moves. Proof ## Trusted by the category teams who can’t afford to be wrong. - Weetabix walked into the retailer with evidence the buyer couldn’t argue with. The protein bay launched, and outperformed. - Nestlé validated their RTD iced coffee range on Vazen before the in-store trial. The launch hit its targets. - Reckitt: a day-one client, still one of the biggest. FAQ ## Questions category teams ask before they buy. Who at a CPG brand uses Vazen? Heads of Category, Heads of Insights, Heads of Shopper and Shopper Marketing, and the category and insights managers reporting into them. The teams owning a category P\&L line and accountable for the growth on it. How is Vazen different from a research agency? Research agencies deliver reports. Vazen delivers a platform your team keeps using. The methodology lives in the software, so every range review, every NPD launch, every retailer meeting has the same evidence base behind it. How long does it take to get up and running? Most category teams are running Coplan in minutes and receiving results from Testing in under two weeks. Ask Vazen is faster because it sits on data you already have. Which retailers does Vazen cover? Coplan currently covers Tesco and Co-op in detail, with new retailers added through 2026 and into 2027. Testing and Ask Vazen work across any retailer, category, and market. What do you mean by virtual shopper testing? Statistically robust shopper testing run in a virtual environment, faster and cheaper than an in-store trial. ## Walk us through your category. We’ll walk you through Vazen. Thirty minutes. Your retailers. Your range. Your real questions. [Book a walkthrough](/contact) ## Contact Us | Vazen Source: /contact.md Contact # Get in touch We’d love to hear from you. Fill in the form and we’ll reply within one working day. Something went wrong sending your message. Please email us at and we’ll pick it up. Name Work email Company (optional) How can we help? Send message ## Thanks, we’ll be in touch We’ve received your message and will reply within one working day. ## Prefer email? ## Office Vazen\ Beyond The Bower, 207 Old Street\ London\ EC1V 9NR [Get directions](https://maps.app.goo.gl/XDgQXejHfcZU3dq18) ## Socials [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/virtual-store-trials) ## Cookie Policy | Vazen Source: /cookies.md Legal # Cookie Policy Last updated: 29 July 2026 The Vazen website does not currently set cookies or use analytics or marketing tracking. It stores one optional preference in your browser when you choose a colour theme. ## What the website stores The theme control uses local storage, a browser feature similar to cookies, to remember whether you chose light, dark or automatic colour mode. This value stays on your device. It is not sent to Vazen and is not used to identify or track you. ## Forms and third-party services The contact and newsletter forms send the information you submit to HubSpot or Mailchimp. The website does not load their tracking scripts or set their tracking cookies. Our [Privacy Policy](/privacy) explains how we handle the personal data you submit. ## Managing local storage You can return the theme to automatic using the theme control, or remove the stored preference by clearing this website’s data in your browser. Because the website sets no non-essential cookies, it does not show a cookie consent banner. ## Changes to this policy If we introduce non-essential cookies or tracking technologies, we will update this policy and ask for consent before using them where required. ## For Data & Engineering Teams | Vazen Source: /data-and-engineering.md For Data & Engineering Teams # The retail data foundation that makes AI work for CPGs. Designed for the safety, reliability and integration retail data has always needed. Vazen is the middle layer between your cloud and your AI ambitions, with structured, secured, queryable shelf and sales data your models can actually use. [Start a technical conversation](/contact)[See the architecture](/platform) ## Trusted by ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ## Trusted by - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ## Three things the Vazen AI Platform does that nothing in your stack does today. ### The foundation Shelf, sales and shopper data ingested, normalised, governed, and made queryable through APIs. The dataset that has never existed at scale in a form software can use. Built for the reliability, security and integration retail data has always needed. ### Built by engineers API-first architecture. Cloud-native. Granular access controls. Audit logs. Vazen’s CTO and co-founder leads a team that has spent years solving the messy reality of retail data so your team doesn’t have to. ### Enablement, not another AI tool Vazen sits between your data and your AI ambitions. We don’t replace your stack. We make the retail data in it usable. Your existing models, agents and BI tools query the Vazen AI Platform like they would any other production-grade data source. ## How Vazen fits next to your existing platforms. - We complement Databricks, Snowflake, and your cloud data platform. They bring the infrastructure. Vazen brings the retail data and the retail-specific products on top of it. - We’re not a consultancy. The work is delivered as software that runs in production. - We’re AI-ready, not AI-roadmap. The Vazen platform runs production workloads today. Ask Vazen and Coplan are live. FAQ ## Questions engineering teams ask first. What kind of data does the Vazen platform ingest? Retailer planogram and sales data, brand-side category and shopper data, open-source signals. Normalised into a consistent schema, queryable via API. What’s the architecture? Cloud-native and API-first. Ingestion pipelines bring retailer feeds, brand systems and open-source signals into one governed platform, normalise them into a single retail schema, and expose them through APIs and the Vazen products. Every organisation’s data is segregated, every access is controlled and logged, and every record keeps its lineage back to the source feed. How does Vazen handle security and compliance? Granular access controls, audit logs, encryption in transit and at rest, and per-organisation data segregation are built into the platform, with data held under the governance of the organisation that owns it. We share our current security documentation as part of a technical conversation. Can we integrate Vazen with our existing data stack? Yes. Vazen connects to the cloud platforms and BI tools your team already uses. We don’t ask you to migrate. How is this different from Databricks, Snowflake, or Palantir? Vazen brings the retail data and the retail-specific products. Those platforms bring the cloud infrastructure. The two are complementary, not competing. ## Start a technical conversation with our team. [Book a technical session](/contact) ## The Vazen Platform | Vazen Source: /platform.md # The foundation the retail industry has never had. Vazen turns shelf, sales and shopper data into the evidence brands and retailers build on. Organised enough that AI works on top of it. Backed by the service that turns insight into action at fixture. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Trusted by the world’s greatest companies ![AB InBev](/_astro/ab-inbev.u0GUM9bC.svg) ![Arla](/_astro/arla.CWhfApNn.svg) ![Beiersdorf](/_astro/beiersdorf.D1uC_qhq.svg) ![Carlsberg](/_astro/carlsberg.FjQMsyBp.svg) ![Coca-Cola](/_astro/the-coca-cola-company.CuuxEpSE.svg) ![Colgate-Palmolive](/_astro/colgate-palmolive.4yt4vv83.svg) ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![Danone](/_astro/danone.ChXRk2qC.svg) ![Diageo](/_astro/diageo.BoflhSdG.svg) ![Essity](/_astro/essity.zE3XxkVQ.svg) ![Ferrero](/_astro/ferrero.C_9fyxAW.svg) ![General Mills](/_astro/general-mills.ChK0PjCv.svg) ![Haleon](/_astro/haleon.DZNY9I1R.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Henkel](/_astro/henkel.C4P0GqNJ.svg) ![JDE](/_astro/jde.CDEB-fYE.svg) ![Johnson & Johnson](/_astro/johnson-and-johnson.BeSScoTC.svg) ![Kao](/_astro/kao.CKu1-DGS.svg) ![Kellanova](/_astro/kellanova.65fKWB55.svg) ![Kenvue](/_astro/kenvue.BmAbOs6n.svg) ![Kimberly-Clark](/_astro/kimberly-clark.jl1R1frV.svg) ![Kraft Heinz](/_astro/kraft-heinz.CrCloKp0.svg) ![Lavazza](/_astro/lavazza.BA_zTBrP.svg) ![Lindt & Sprüngli](/_astro/lindt.BkO6fSBQ.svg) ![L’Oréal](/_astro/loreal.zq1WQTB_.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![Moët Hennessy](/_astro/moet-hennessy.BrvlJVd7.svg) ![Molson Coors](/_astro/molson-coors.SOlnG2dM.svg) ![Mondelēz](/_astro/mondelez.ZKqx9RuZ.svg) ![Müller](/_astro/muller.CR_26CvY.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Nestlé Purina](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg) ![PepsiCo](/_astro/pepsico.Ch9QVHU5.svg) ![Pernod Ricard](/_astro/pernod-ricard.CDxPc09j.svg) ![Princes](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) ![SC Johnson](/_astro/s-c-johnson.B8Kar9UA.svg) ![Suntory](/_astro/suntory.CJjqlpZc.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “100% visibility of Co-op planograms, which we have never had understanding of before.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg)Nestlé Purina > “That evidence gave us confidence in the shelf strategy ahead of launch.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg)Co-op > “It completely changes the conversation.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/muller.CR_26CvY.svg)Müller > “It helped move our conversation from a negotiation into something truly collaborative.” Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “Being able to filter to each individual store adds so much value both to category and sales.” Customer Category Manager ![](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg)Tesco > “We have landed a really great planogram range and experience for the customers.” Buyer ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg)Heineken > “Thanks to Coplan, we successfully delivered a detailed response to Tesco’s Fit for Growth brief.” Senior Category Manager ## Trusted by the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) - ![Princes](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ## What you can do on Vazen. ### Coplan See what’s on every shelf. Continuous shelf and planogram data across Tesco and Co-op. Whatever your team needs to know about the shelf, the answer sits in Coplan. [Explore Coplan](/platform/coplan) ### Studio Design plans that work at shelf. Modern planogram software built on live shelf and sales data. [Explore Studio](/platform/studio) ### Testing Validate before you commit. Virtual shopper testing that returns statistically robust evidence in days, whether you’re testing a new product, a pack, a range or a promotion. [Explore Testing](/platform/testing) ### Ask Vazen Answers in seconds. Conversational analytics across your shelf, sales and shopper data. The analyst on your desk that never sleeps. [Explore Ask Vazen](/platform/ask-vazen) ## How the pieces fit. Coplan sees what’s on shelf, Studio designs the change, Testing validates it with shoppers, and Ask Vazen sits across all three to answer any question in seconds. One data foundation underneath means the products speak to each other. ## The data foundation underneath. Underneath the four products sits the Vazen Platform. It ingests retailer feeds, brand data and open-source signals, normalises them, governs access with a full audit trail, and makes the whole lot queryable through the products or through APIs. - - Ingest - Retailer feeds, brand systems, open-source signals - Govern - Granular access controls, audit logs, full lineage - Connect - One schema across shelf, sales and shopper - Model - Structured for humans and AI - Secure - Enterprise-grade security and compliance - Access - Through the app, through APIs, through your BI stack FAQ ## Questions about the platform. Can we start with one product? Yes. Most teams start with Coplan or Testing and add the others as they go. Which retailers does Vazen cover? Coplan covers Tesco and Co-op today, with more retailers added through 2026 and into 2027. Testing and Ask Vazen work across any retailer and any market. How does Vazen fit our existing data stack? Through APIs. Vazen connects to the cloud platforms and BI tools your team already uses. No migration required. ## Try Vazen on your category. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Ask Vazen | Conversational Analytics Source: /platform/ask-vazen.md Ask Vazen # Superpowers for your category teams. Ask Vazen turns natural language into instant answers across your shelf, sales and shopper data. Every answer links back to the source. [See it in action](/contact) ## Trusted by data teams at the world’s greatest companies ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg)Co-op > “It completely changes the conversation.” Senior Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg)Heineken > “Thanks to Coplan, we successfully delivered a detailed response to Tesco’s Fit for Growth brief.” Senior Category Manager ## Trusted by data teams at the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) - ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ## The queue between the category manager and the answer, closed. The category manager needs an answer. The analyst has the data. Between them sits a queue of SQL tickets and a week long turnaround. Ask Vazen jumps the queue. Ask in plain English, get the answer from your live retail data, and see the underlying records linked back for the insights team to audit. ## What Ask Vazen does. ### Instant answers. Ask in plain English. Ask Vazen queries your live retail data and returns the answer in seconds. ### Free your insights team for real analysis. Every query the analyst doesn’t have to write is time they get back for the questions that actually need a human. ### Prep for retailer meetings in < 1 hour. Every question you would normally queue up for an analyst gets answered directly. Meeting prep collapses from a week to an afternoon. ## The kind of questions category managers ask. The sort of question you’d type into Ask Vazen before a retailer meeting. - “How has my share of space in Tesco shifted this quarter, by store cluster?” - “Where are my biggest distribution gaps in Co-op, and which competitors are filling them?” - “Which of my SKUs are underperforming relative to the shelf they’re getting?” - “What should I lead with in tomorrow’s Walmart meeting?” ## What’s in Ask Vazen. - - Natural language - Ask in plain English, no SQL, no formulas - Traceable answers - Every response links back to the underlying data - Cross-dataset queries - Shelf, sales and shopper in one question - Answer templates - For common category and retailer questions - Audit log - Full record of every question and answer - API access - For programmatic use across your stack FAQ ## Questions teams ask about Ask Vazen. How is Ask Vazen different from ChatGPT? ChatGPT runs on whatever it can find. Ask Vazen runs on your structured retail data on the Vazen AI Platform, with lineage back to the source. Can I trace where an answer comes from? Yes. Every answer links back to the underlying data, so your insights team can audit exactly which records produced the result. How does Ask Vazen handle data security? Granular access controls, audit logs and data segregation by organisation. Every query is logged. How does it work with the rest of Vazen? Ask Vazen queries data from Coplan, Testing, Studio and any other feeds on the Vazen AI Platform. One dataset, one interface. ## See it run on your data. [See it in action](/contact) ## Coplan | See Your Product on Every Shelf | Vazen Source: /platform/coplan.md Coplan # See your product on every shelf. Coplan tracks shelf and planogram data continuously across the retailer estate. Know where your product is, where it isn’t, and where the gaps sit. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Trusted by category teams at the world’s greatest companies ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “100% visibility of Co-op planograms, which we have never had understanding of before.” Senior Category Manager ![](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg)Co-op > “It completely changes the conversation.” Senior Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “Being able to filter to each individual store adds so much value both to category and sales.” Customer Category Manager ![](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg)Tesco > “We have landed a really great planogram range and experience for the customers.” Buyer ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg)Heineken > “Thanks to Coplan, we successfully delivered a detailed response to Tesco’s Fit for Growth brief.” Senior Category Manager ## Trusted by category teams at the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) - ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) - ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) Live with Tesco and Co-op ## The secret to category growth. Shelf data lives in quarterly audits, retailer extracts and field force photos, always slightly out of date. Coplan gives you the data and analytics you need to get closer to the retailer and influence change in-store. ## What Coplan does. ### See what’s happening on every shelf. Share of space, distribution, compliance and competitor positioning, updated continuously across Tesco and Co-op. ### Walk into retailer meetings on shared data. The buyer already has the shelf data. Coplan gives you the same view, so conversations start at the answer rather than the question. ### Catch distribution gaps before they cost you. Missing listings and compliance drops show up in Coplan as they happen, so your team fixes them before they show up in sales. ## What’s in Coplan. - - Continuous data feeds - Tesco and Co-op, updated continuously - Share of space tracking - Down to the fixture, up to the estate - Distribution monitoring - Listed-SKU compliance at every store - Out-of-stock detection - Catch gaps as they happen - Competitor tracking - See moves at the fixture in near real time - API access - For your data team’s workflows ## What Coplan changes. ![A can of Red Bull on the edge of a table.](/_astro/red-bull-result.B8R_L9jy_Z2sBlcf.webp) Red Bull ### +7% in-store compliance, +5% category sales. Red Bull’s field team was losing hours hunting store managers and shelf-checking blind. Once Coplan gave them planogram visibility and store-level target lists, reps walked in knowing exactly what to fix. [Read the result](/case-studies/redbull-heineken-win-at-shelf) ![Cans of beer arranged on wooden shelves.](/_astro/heineken-result.C2-vvfTY_oMTOU.webp) A national beer brand ### Availability restored across 30% of stores. One SKU on the wrong shelf, replicated across nearly a third of the estate. Once Coplan surfaced the pattern, the fix took days. [Read the result](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) ## Coplan by retailer. Live across the Tesco and Co-op estates today, with more retailers added through 2026 and into 2027. ### [Coplan for Tesco](/platform/coplan/tesco) [Continuously updated shelf and planogram data from across the Tesco estate, built for the category teams who supply them.](/platform/coplan/tesco) [Explore Coplan for Tesco](/platform/coplan/tesco) ### [Coplan for Co-op](/platform/coplan/co-op) [Continuously updated shelf and planogram data across the Co-op estate, built with Co-op for the suppliers who grow categories with them.](/platform/coplan/co-op) [Explore Coplan for Co-op](/platform/coplan/co-op) FAQ ## Questions teams ask about Coplan. Which retailers does Coplan cover? Tesco and Co-op today, with more retailers added through 2026 and into 2027. How often is the data updated? Continuously, with the exact cadence depending on the retailer and the data feed. How is Coplan different from a traditional shelf audit? Shelf audits give you a snapshot a few times a year, gathered by people walking stores. Coplan gives you a continuous view drawn directly from retailer data. Can I get the data through an API? Yes. Coplan exposes shelf and planogram data through APIs your data team can query directly. ## See Coplan running on your retailers. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Coplan for Co-op | Vazen Source: /platform/coplan/co-op.md Coplan # Coplan for Co-op. Continuously updated shelf and planogram data across the Co-op estate, built with Co-op for the suppliers who grow categories with them. [Book a Co-op walkthrough](/contact) ## Trusted by Co-op suppliers at the world’s greatest companies ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Danone](/_astro/danone.ChXRk2qC.svg) ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg)Co-op > “It completely changes the conversation.” Senior Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg)Heineken > “Thanks to Coplan, we successfully delivered a detailed response to Tesco’s Fit for Growth brief.” Senior Category Manager ## Trusted by Co-op suppliers at the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) - ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) - ![Danone](/_astro/danone.ChXRk2qC.svg) - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ## Built with Co-op. Coplan for Co-op exists because Co-op partnered with Vazen to rebuild the way they share shelf data with their supplier partners. The product is the result of that partnership. Co-op suppliers using Coplan are working from the same data Co-op’s own category team works from. ## What’s covered. - Share of space across the Co-op estate - Distribution and compliance against listed SKUs - Competitor positioning at the fixture - Out-of-stocks and gaps by store format - Planogram changes as they happen ## Why Co-op suppliers use Coplan. ### Walk into Co-op meetings on shared data Co-op category managers work from Coplan. Coplan for Co-op gives you the same view. Conversations move from “whose data is right” to “what do we do about it.” ### See store-format differences as they actually are Co-op’s estate spans store formats with very different category dynamics. Coplan surfaces the format-level reality that a single-line distribution report obscures. ### Catch issues without sending people to stores The Co-op estate is too distributed to audit by field force at speed. Coplan tells you where compliance has slipped, where listings are missing, and where the gaps are. FAQ ## Questions Co-op suppliers ask first. How is the partnership with Co-op structured? Co-op partnered with Vazen to build the platform that powers Coplan for Co-op. The detail sits inside our commercial arrangement. How often is Co-op data updated? Continuously, with updates landing as Co-op’s planogram and sales feeds refresh. Can we get Co-op data through an API? Yes. Coplan for Co-op data is available through the same APIs as the rest of the Coplan dataset. ## See Coplan running on the Co-op estate. [Book a Co-op walkthrough](/contact) ## Coplan for Tesco | Vazen Source: /platform/coplan/tesco.md Coplan # Coplan for Tesco. Continuously updated shelf and planogram data from across the Tesco estate, built for the category teams who supply them. The same view, in the same format, on the same cadence as the buyer. [Book a Tesco walkthrough](/contact) ## Trusted by Tesco suppliers at the world’s greatest companies ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “100% visibility of Co-op planograms, which we have never had understanding of before.” Senior Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg)Red Bull > “Being able to filter to each individual store adds so much value both to category and sales.” Customer Category Manager ![](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg)Tesco > “We have landed a really great planogram range and experience for the customers.” Buyer ![](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg)Heineken > “Thanks to Coplan, we successfully delivered a detailed response to Tesco’s Fit for Growth brief.” Senior Category Manager ## Trusted by Tesco suppliers at the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) - ![Red Bull](/_astro/redbull.BjZeFY6u.svg) - ![Heineken](/_astro/heineken.oXFzIE6P.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ## What’s covered. - Share of space across the Tesco estate - Distribution and compliance against listed SKUs - Competitor positioning at the fixture - Out-of-stocks and gaps by store cluster - Planogram changes as they happen ## Why Tesco suppliers use Coplan. ### Walk into Tesco meetings on shared data The buyer has the data. Until now, you didn’t. Coplan gives Tesco suppliers the same view, in the same format, on the same cadence. Conversations start at parity. ### See what’s actually in store Listings get authorised. Planograms get distributed. Reality at the fixture is something else. Coplan tells you which of your SKUs are present, which aren’t, and where the gap sits. ### Catch issues without sending a field force Continuous monitoring means you don’t need a national audit to find out where compliance has slipped. The data tells you. You fix it. FAQ ## Questions Tesco suppliers ask first. What Tesco data does Coplan cover? Shelf and planogram data across the Tesco estate, including share of space, listed-SKU compliance, distribution gaps, competitor positioning, and out-of-stock patterns by store cluster. How often is Tesco data updated? Every week, each Friday. How is the data sourced? Through our formal data partnership with Tesco. Which Tesco formats are covered? Every Tesco store, every plan, every product. Can we get Tesco data through an API? No. Our data partnership with Tesco doesn’t permit sharing Tesco data over the API. It’s available through the Coplan product itself. ## See Coplan running on the Tesco estate. [Book a Tesco walkthrough](/contact) ## Studio | Modern Planogram Software | Vazen Source: /platform/studio.md Studio # Design plans that work at shelf. Studio is modern planogram software built on live shelf and sales data, so every plan reflects what’s on the fixture and every variant gets shopper-validated before it ships. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Trusted by planning teams at the world’s greatest companies ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Princes](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ![](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg)Co-op > “It completely changes the conversation.” Senior Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ![](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg)Tesco > “We have landed a really great planogram range and experience for the customers.” Buyer ## Trusted by planning teams at the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) - ![Princes](/_astro/princes.CIADV05r.svg) - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ## Every plan, backed by what’s actually on shelf. Planogram decisions have historically been made on the wrong side of the data. You build against a frozen extract, ship to store, and try to remember what you decided months later when the outcome comes back. Studio changes the flow. Plans build on live data from Coplan, variants get shopper-validated in Testing, and every decision sits on the same evidence base as the rest of your category work. ## What Studio does. ### Design on live shelf data. Studio pulls current shelf and sales data straight from Coplan, so every plan reflects today’s reality rather than last quarter’s extract. ### Validate before you ship. Test variants with shoppers through Testing before they leave your desk. Commit to the plan you already know works. ### Collaborate across the shelf. Retailer and supplier teams work in the same environment, with the access controls that make joint planning safe across organisations. Built once, together, rather than bounced between spreadsheets. ## What’s in Studio. - - Create plans - Create variants at store-cluster level - Store-cluster automation - One master plan, tailored across the estate - Coplan integration - Design against live shelf data - Testing integration - Validate variants with shoppers before commit - Cloud-native - Browser-based, with nothing to install ## What Studio changes. ![Ripe tomatoes on the vine.](/_astro/princes-result.Dy9SsAcN_Z2rFvk.webp) Princes ### +12% category growth on the tomato fixture. Princes rebuilt the ambient tomato fixture from type-led to brand-led across 3 and 4 bay plans. Studio designed the variants, iterating with the buyer across several sessions until the fixture was right. [Read the result](/case-studies/how-princes-drove-12-category-growth-by-rebuilding-the-ambient-tomato-fixture) ![Bars of milk and dark chocolate on a table.](/_astro/confectionery-result.BBUOdn_y_1hy7br.webp) A confectionery supplier ### +15% value growth in chocolate pouches. The pouch fixture had grown organically without ever being properly rethought. Studio restructured it with better brand blocking and clearer format groupings. [Read the result](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-confectionery-supplier-drive-15-value-growth-in-chocolate-pouches) FAQ ## Questions teams ask about Studio. How does Studio integrate with existing planogram systems? Import and export in industry-standard formats, plus API access for planogram data in and out. Can retailers and suppliers work in Studio together? Yes. Studio supports shared workspaces with the access controls and audit logs to plan safely across organisations. What data can Studio use? Live data from Coplan and Testing, plus any feeds connected to your Vazen AI Platform. Is Studio available standalone? Studio is part of the Vazen platform. Talk to us about the right commercial model for your team. ## Design your next plan on live data. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Testing | Virtual Shopper Testing | Vazen Source: /platform/testing.md Testing # Validate with real shoppers before you commit. Virtual shopper testing for new products, packs, ranges and promotions, helping brands build the Fixture of the Future and validate Category Visions. Statistically robust evidence in days, not the months an in-store trial takes. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Trusted by insights teams at the world’s greatest companies ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) ![Nestlé Purina](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg) ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) ![Diageo](/_astro/diageo.BoflhSdG.svg) ![Danone](/_astro/danone.ChXRk2qC.svg) ![](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg)Nestlé Purina > “That evidence gave us confidence in the shelf strategy ahead of launch.” Senior Category Manager American Single Malt Whiskey > “Vazen has been a game changer for our category presentations.” Chief Marketing Officer ## Trusted by insights teams at the world’s greatest companies - ![Reckitt](/_astro/rb.DAgqQv1i.svg) - ![Nestlé](/_astro/nestle.BsGnSOQ8.svg) - ![Nestlé Purina](/_astro/nestle-purina.CZU0GbQo.svg) - ![Unilever](/_astro/unilever.Ax9EhLl5.svg) - ![Mars](/_astro/mars.oWuVBi1c.svg) - ![P\&G](/_astro/p-and-g.3KAhSehU.svg) - ![Diageo](/_astro/diageo.BoflhSdG.svg) - ![Danone](/_astro/danone.ChXRk2qC.svg) ## Shopper evidence, fast. The traditional shopper research cycle was built for a different pace. Focus groups, concept testing, an in-store trial that arrives months after the decision has been made. Testing changes the order. We build a virtual category and fixture, expose statistically representative shopper panels to your variants, and return results in days. You test before you launch. ## What Testing does. ### Test in days, not months. Shopper evidence arrives while the decision is still live, not after. No more waiting for the in-store trial to confirm what you already suspect. ### Test what you couldn’t test in store. New formats, radical range changes, new brands. Test what your retailer would never let you trial physically, and walk in with the evidence to justify asking. ### Walk in with evidence, not a promise. The buyer asks whether the launch will sell. You answer with shopper data, not intuition. The meeting moves from debate to decision. ## What’s in Testing. - - Statistical panels - Representative shopper samples per market - Virtual fixtures - Fixture-level environments, not abstract concepts - Parallel variants - Test unlimited numbers of packs or range options in the same window - Coplan integration - Test against real shelf reality - Retailer-ready outputs - The format your buyer can use, not a research deck - Multi-market - Any market, any category, any shopper ## What Testing changes. ![A supermarket aisle lined with breakfast products.](/_astro/new-product-result.DsO_pUfX_23kzCX.webp) A new product launch ### +2% category growth from the right shelf placement. A new product needed the right position on shelf to earn its space. Testing modelled the options, the winning variant went to store, and the category grew behind the launch. [Read the result](/case-studies/shelf-placement) ![A shopper holding a bag of frozen berries.](/_astro/pack-size-result.CK8b4ZJh_Zydmu7.webp) A pack size test ### 4% pack reduction, brand share protected. Testing modelled a 4% pack reduction across multiple variants. The winning route unlocked cost without eroding brand share, and went into production. [Read the result](/case-studies/pack-size-testing) FAQ ## Questions teams ask about Testing. How is virtual shopper testing different from a focus group? A focus group surfaces opinions from a small group in an abstract setting. Testing measures actual behaviour from a statistically representative panel in a setting that approximates the aisle. How statistically robust are the results? Each test is sized to the question. Panels are recruited to match the category and market. We design to a confidence level your insights team can defend in front of the buyer. How long does a typical test take? Days, depending on complexity. What can we test? New products, packs, formats, ranges, planograms, promotions, brand launches. Anything where shopper behaviour at the fixture is the answer you need. ## Run a virtual test on your next launch. [Request a demo](/contact) ## Privacy Policy | Vazen Source: /privacy.md Legal # Privacy Policy Last updated: Monday 28th July, 2025 ## Who we are **Legal entity:** Vazen Technologies Ltd\ **Trading name:** Vazen\ **Address:** Level 2 Beyond The Bower, 207 Old Street, London, England, EC1V 9NR\ **Email:** Vazen is a B2B technology company helping CPG brands and retailers make smarter commercial decisions through virtual testing and planogram data solutions. We are the controller of your personal data unless otherwise stated in this policy. ## Purpose of this privacy policy This policy explains how and why we collect, use and protect your personal data when you engage with us, for example by visiting our website, downloading a report, requesting a demo or using our platform. It also covers how we handle professional contact data used for prospecting. Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. ## What information we collect and why We collect personal information to support four key areas: ### 1. Providing and improving our services - Names and business contact details - Company and role information We use this to deliver services, offer support and continue to improve the tools we provide to clients. ### 2. Operating client or customer accounts - Account registration and login credentials - Role-based permissions and activity logs This allows us to manage secure access, monitor platform usage and personalise onboarding and support. ### 3. Marketing and information updates - Names, contact details, job titles and company information - Preferences and engagement data We use this to send relevant insights, product updates and invites, only where appropriate and always with an opt-out. ### 4. 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You can withdraw consent at any time. ### Contract We process your data when it’s required to enter into or fulfil a contract, for example to create an account or deliver services to your organisation. ### Legitimate interest We rely on legitimate interest for certain types of processing that are low-risk and expected in a B2B context, including: - Sharing relevant insights, reports or case studies with existing clients or contacts - Using aggregated data to improve the platform or inform product development - Enriching professional contact records using publicly available sources, for example LinkedIn - Monitoring platform login activity to improve security and onboarding We always balance our business needs with your rights and provide clear ways to opt out of communications or object to processing. ## Where we get personal information from We collect personal information: - Directly from you, for example when filling in forms, emailing us or using the platform - From professional tools and platforms such as **HubSpot, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Lusha** - From publicly available sources like LinkedIn or Companies House ## How long we keep your data We only keep personal data for as long as necessary. 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These include: - **HubSpot:** CRM and marketing automation - **Mailchimp:** newsletter subscriptions and email marketing - **AWS:** hosting and infrastructure - **Lusha:** B2B data enrichment - **LinkedIn Sales Navigator:** contact discovery All third-party vendors are under data processing agreements and are only allowed to use data as instructed by us, not for their own purposes. ## International data transfers Some of our providers are based outside the UK or EEA. When we transfer data internationally, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as: - Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) - International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTAs) These mechanisms ensure your data receives a similar level of protection. ## When Vazen acts as a data processor In some cases, such as when conducting research or surveys for clients, we act as a **data processor**, processing information solely under our client’s instructions. In these cases, our clients are responsible for the lawful basis and participant consent, and their own privacy policy will apply. This privacy notice applies to situations where Vazen is the **data controller**, for example in relation to our own marketing, platform operations and sales activity. ## Your data protection rights Under UK GDPR, you have the right to: - Access the personal data we hold about you - Correct or update inaccurate information - Request deletion of your personal data - Restrict or object to certain types of processing - Request a copy of your data in a portable format - Withdraw consent at any time (where consent is the lawful basis) To exercise these rights, email us at . We’ll respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at [ico.org.uk](https://ico.org.uk/), but we’d always prefer to resolve it with you directly first. ## Changes to this privacy policy We may update this policy from time to time to reflect legal, technical or business changes. The latest version will always be published at vazen.com/privacy. If we make significant changes, we’ll let you know via email or an in-platform notification if applicable. We take information and data security seriously. We operate a [bug bounty program](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bug_bounty_program). If you believe that you have found an issue in our software, please email us at . ## Resources | Vazen Source: /resources.md # Resources How shoppers behave, how categories grow, and what the data on the shelf is telling us. [Featured](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) ## [What is a retail data AI platform? A guide for CPG brands and retailers](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) [What the category does, how it differs from BI and planogram tools, and what to ask when evaluating one.](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) [Retail Operations · 18 August 2026](/resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform) AllCompany NewsNewsletterProduct UpdatesRetail OperationsShelf & Category StrategyShopper Behaviour [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) ## [What's In-Store: August Update](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) [Hello, welcome to our August newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we've spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) [1 August 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2026) [Company News](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) ## [VST is now Vazen: the retail data AI platform](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) [Same company, same team, same nine years of category evidence. Wider frame.](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) [30 July 2026](/resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2026) ## [What’s In-Store: July Update](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2026) [Hello, welcome to our July newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2026) [1 July 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2026) [Shelf & Category Strategy](/resources/can-supermarket-shelves-talk-how-vst-won-two-awards-at-iiex-europe-2026) ## [Can supermarket shelves talk? How Vazen won two awards at IIEX Europe 2026](/resources/can-supermarket-shelves-talk-how-vst-won-two-awards-at-iiex-europe-2026) [Vazen took both the Audience Favourite Award and the Industry Impact Award at the Insight Innovation Competition.](/resources/can-supermarket-shelves-talk-how-vst-won-two-awards-at-iiex-europe-2026) [30 June 2026](/resources/can-supermarket-shelves-talk-how-vst-won-two-awards-at-iiex-europe-2026) [Shelf & Category Strategy](/resources/ai-is-ready-to-transform-category-management-the-real-question-is-your-data) ## [AI is ready to transform category management. The real question is your data.](/resources/ai-is-ready-to-transform-category-management-the-real-question-is-your-data) [What we told the panel at IGD’s Future of Category Leadership 2026.](/resources/ai-is-ready-to-transform-category-management-the-real-question-is-your-data) [25 June 2026](/resources/ai-is-ready-to-transform-category-management-the-real-question-is-your-data) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2026) ## [What's In-Store: June Update](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2026) [Hello, welcome to our June newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2026) [1 June 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2026) [Shelf & Category Strategy](/resources/retail-in-2026-the-practical-shifts-leaders-say-matter-most) ## [Retail in 2026: The Practical Shifts Leaders Say Matter Most](/resources/retail-in-2026-the-practical-shifts-leaders-say-matter-most) [We asked a group of senior leaders across grocery retail and FMCG one question: what is the biggest, most meaningful shift happening in retail this year, and why does it matter?](/resources/retail-in-2026-the-practical-shifts-leaders-say-matter-most) [12 May 2026](/resources/retail-in-2026-the-practical-shifts-leaders-say-matter-most) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-may-2026) ## [What's In-Store: May Update](/resources/whats-in-store-may-2026) [Hello, welcome to our May newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-may-2026) [1 May 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-may-2026) [Company News](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026-key-learnings) ## [What's In-Store April: Key Learnings](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026-key-learnings) [A roundup of our key learnings from April's What's In-Store Event](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026-key-learnings) [27 April 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026-key-learnings) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026) ## [What's In-Store: April Update](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026) [Hello, welcome to our April newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026) [1 April 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-march-2026) ## [What's In-Store: March Update](/resources/whats-in-store-march-2026) [Hello, welcome to our March newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-march-2026) [1 March 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-march-2026) [Shopper Behaviour](/resources/how-shoppers-make-alcohol-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) ## [How shoppers make alcohol decisions, and what it means for CPG strategy](/resources/how-shoppers-make-alcohol-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) [Beer, Wine & Spirits is one of the most context-driven categories in grocery. Shoppers rarely enter the aisle thinking in brands or SKUs. They arrive with an occasion, a mood, or a constraint in mind - tonight, the weekend, guests, gifting, unwinding, moderation.](/resources/how-shoppers-make-alcohol-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) [2 February 2026](/resources/how-shoppers-make-alcohol-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) [Shelf & Category Strategy](/resources/top-5-shelf-execution-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them) ## [Top 5 Shelf Execution Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)](/resources/top-5-shelf-execution-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them) [The executional blind spots costing brands sales at the shelf.](/resources/top-5-shelf-execution-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them) [1 February 2026](/resources/top-5-shelf-execution-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-february-2026) ## [What's In-Store: February Update](/resources/whats-in-store-february-2026) [Hello, welcome to our February newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month.](/resources/whats-in-store-february-2026) [1 February 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-february-2026) [Shopper Behaviour](/resources/how-shoppers-make-petcare-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) ## [How shoppers make petcare decisions, and what it means for CPG strategy](/resources/how-shoppers-make-petcare-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) [Petcare is one of the most purposeful categories in grocery. Shoppers arrive with specific missions - caring for a puppy, managing health concerns, rewarding behaviour, supporting an ageing pet. They navigate with intent, and they expect the aisle to make sense.](/resources/how-shoppers-make-petcare-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) [13 January 2026](/resources/how-shoppers-make-petcare-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-january-2026) ## [What's In-Store: January Update](/resources/whats-in-store-january-2026) [Stepping into 2026, slowly remembering how to “do work”. January’s here, and with it comes the latest slice of interesting things happening around the world of retail.](/resources/whats-in-store-january-2026) [2 January 2026](/resources/whats-in-store-january-2026) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-december-2025) ## [What's In-Store: December Update](/resources/whats-in-store-december-2025) [December’s here! And with it, a packed out newsletter featuring some of the interesting things from the world of CPG mostly falling into two camps important on the minds of both shoppers and the wider industry right now - AI and Health.](/resources/whats-in-store-december-2025) [1 December 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-december-2025) [Shopper Behaviour](/resources/from-crisis-to-caution-how-shopper-behavior-is-evolving-in-2025) ## [From Crisis to Caution: How Shopper Behavior Is Evolving in 2025](/resources/from-crisis-to-caution-how-shopper-behavior-is-evolving-in-2025) [What UK shopper behaviour in 2025 really tells us about value, confidence, and choice.](/resources/from-crisis-to-caution-how-shopper-behavior-is-evolving-in-2025) [4 November 2025](/resources/from-crisis-to-caution-how-shopper-behavior-is-evolving-in-2025) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-november-2025) ## [What's In-Store: November Update](/resources/whats-in-store-november-2025) [If you’re reading this on Monday, Halloween will have been and gone (sadly, given the wealth of excellent in-store displays), and we now canter towards the end-of-year holiday season.](/resources/whats-in-store-november-2025) [3 November 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-november-2025) [Company News](/resources/whats-in-store-2025-key-learnings) ## [What's In-Store 2025: Key Learnings](/resources/whats-in-store-2025-key-learnings) [A roundup of our key learnings from 2025's What's In-Store Event](/resources/whats-in-store-2025-key-learnings) [27 October 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-2025-key-learnings) [Company News](/resources/vst-partners-with-co-op-to-unlock-planogram-data-for-suppliers) ## [Vazen partners with Co-op to unlock planogram data for suppliers](/resources/vst-partners-with-co-op-to-unlock-planogram-data-for-suppliers) [For years, planogram data has existed quietly in the background of grocery retail - essential, operational, but rarely accessible to the people who need it most.](/resources/vst-partners-with-co-op-to-unlock-planogram-data-for-suppliers) [1 October 2025](/resources/vst-partners-with-co-op-to-unlock-planogram-data-for-suppliers) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-october-2025) ## [What's In-Store: October Update](/resources/whats-in-store-october-2025) [Read on for September’s interesting things including Kraft Heinz’s decoupling, Whiny Baby’s acquisition, more CPG, and a podcast featuring ME (and others).](/resources/whats-in-store-october-2025) [1 October 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-october-2025) [Shelf & Category Strategy](/resources/what-is-shelf-testing-and-why-its-replacing-in-store-trials) ## [What Is Shelf Testing - and Why It’s Replacing In-Store Trials](/resources/what-is-shelf-testing-and-why-its-replacing-in-store-trials) [From opinion to evidence: testing shelf decisions before they go live.](/resources/what-is-shelf-testing-and-why-its-replacing-in-store-trials) [17 September 2025](/resources/what-is-shelf-testing-and-why-its-replacing-in-store-trials) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-september-2025) ## [What's In-Store: September Update](/resources/whats-in-store-september-2025) [A happy Labor Day to those in North America! At the time of writing from the UK, I can say it’s not just the “unofficial end of summer”, as I look out onto another day of rain. Anyway, I’ll be back in Minneapolis and Bentonville for most of September - let me know if you’re around.](/resources/whats-in-store-september-2025) [1 September 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-september-2025) [Retail Operations](/resources/the-ai-opportunity-hiding-in-your-planogram-data) ## [The AI Opportunity Hiding in Your Planogram Data](/resources/the-ai-opportunity-hiding-in-your-planogram-data) [The hidden cost of ignoring shelf data, and the upside of fixing it.](/resources/the-ai-opportunity-hiding-in-your-planogram-data) [5 August 2025](/resources/the-ai-opportunity-hiding-in-your-planogram-data) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2025) ## [What's In-Store: August Update](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2025) [I’ve been in Bentonville for most of July having fun and drinking some excellent coffee. Thanks to everyone who took the time to really delve into what’s driving US retail with me. Good to be back in the UK for summer and getting out to some stores. Safe to say that I’m pretty out of touch with the Children’s Health industry.](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2025) [1 August 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-august-2025) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2025) ## [What's In-Store: July 2025 Update](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2025) [Read on for the interesting things happening in retail and CPG last month, including an anti-competitive ingredients purchase, “Fridge Cigarettes”, and the wildest set of Celebrity CPG launches I think we’ve ever featured (warning; do not read with your breakfast).](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2025) [1 July 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-july-2025) [Newsletter](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2025) ## [What's In-Store: June 2025 Update](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2025) [Positives and negatives from the month of May for UK retail. Where we’ve seen positives (hopefully!) in trade deals with the US and the EU that should help ease complexity and cost pressures on the industry, cyber security divisions are on red alert after hackers infiltrated systems at M\&S, Co-op, and, Harrods.](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2025) [2 June 2025](/resources/whats-in-store-june-2025) [Company News](/resources/vst-is-heading-stateside) ## [Vazen Is Heading Stateside](/resources/vst-is-heading-stateside) [We've opened our first U.S. office in Bentonville, bringing our shelf-first approach to one of the most important hubs in global retail.](/resources/vst-is-heading-stateside) [1 January 2025](/resources/vst-is-heading-stateside) [Shopper Behaviour](/resources/over-half-of-the-uk-label-themselves-concerned-about-the-rise-in-cost-of-living) ## [Over half of the UK label themselves concerned about the rise in cost-of-living](/resources/over-half-of-the-uk-label-themselves-concerned-about-the-rise-in-cost-of-living) [We’re approaching the worst recession in decades. Following on from a pandemic (or potentially into the next stage of it), supply-chain…](/resources/over-half-of-the-uk-label-themselves-concerned-about-the-rise-in-cost-of-living) [1 August 2023](/resources/over-half-of-the-uk-label-themselves-concerned-about-the-rise-in-cost-of-living) [Retail Operations](/resources/unlock-the-value-of-planogram-data-a-new-frontier-for-retailer-and-cpg-collaboration) ## [Unlock the Value of Planogram Data: A New Frontier for Retailer and CPG Collaboration](/resources/unlock-the-value-of-planogram-data-a-new-frontier-for-retailer-and-cpg-collaboration) [Over the past two decades, the value of shared data at the retailer-CPG interface has been proven time and again. Data-driven retailers…](/resources/unlock-the-value-of-planogram-data-a-new-frontier-for-retailer-and-cpg-collaboration) [4 July 2023](/resources/unlock-the-value-of-planogram-data-a-new-frontier-for-retailer-and-cpg-collaboration) [Product Updates](/resources/introducing-planogram-publisher) ## [Introducing: Coplan](/resources/introducing-planogram-publisher) [Imagine as a CPG brand if you could zoom into any grocery store and view where your product is and what it’s sat next to.](/resources/introducing-planogram-publisher) [1 July 2022](/resources/introducing-planogram-publisher) [Shopper Behaviour](/resources/shopper-behavior-in-inflationary-times-brands-vs-supermarket-private-brand) ## [Shopper Behavior in Inflationary Times: Brands vs Supermarket Private Brand](/resources/shopper-behavior-in-inflationary-times-brands-vs-supermarket-private-brand) [Note: this article is an extract from a workshop by Vazen. If you’d like to book a workshop for your brand or category, please get in touch…](/resources/shopper-behavior-in-inflationary-times-brands-vs-supermarket-private-brand) [23 February 2022](/resources/shopper-behavior-in-inflationary-times-brands-vs-supermarket-private-brand) [Shelf & Category Strategy](/resources/testing-times-6-themes-from-vst-testing-in-2021) ## [Testing times: 6 themes from Vazen testing in 2021](/resources/testing-times-6-themes-from-vst-testing-in-2021) [Most years are dynamic in CPG strategy, but this year has been one of the busiest. If 2020 was defined by ‘stay at home’ orders and a rush…](/resources/testing-times-6-themes-from-vst-testing-in-2021) [3 January 2022](/resources/testing-times-6-themes-from-vst-testing-in-2021) The only resource in this category is the one featured above. ## AI is ready to transform category management. The real question is your data. | Vazen Source: /resources/ai-is-ready-to-transform-category-management-the-real-question-is-your-data.md # AI is ready to transform category management. The real question is your data. What we told the panel at IGD’s Future of Category Leadership 2026. 25 June 2026 ## “100% yes” That was Nick’s answer when the panel asked whether AI is ready for the real work of category management. Not a pilot. Not someday. Now. A couple of months ago, the Vazen team deeply integrated AI into its core products, giving it the ability to query billions of rows of in-store, transactional and shopper data built up over years. Within moments it was producing the kind of category analysis that would normally take weeks. “It felt like we had suddenly become the best category managers in the world,” Nick said. The point for the room was not the size of the dataset. It was that the technology has quietly crossed a line. For the first time it works reliably against real data, on real category questions, with answers you can trace straight back to source. ## The spreadsheet days are over What makes this matter day to day is something simpler than it sounds. You can now ask questions of your data in plain language and get a clear answer back, also known as conversational analytics. At Vazen that already runs across the team, for category visions, store performance, new product opportunities, space and flow. “We are at a point where no one in a category team needs to open a spreadsheet again,” Nick said. “That is either frightening or exciting, depending on where you sit.” He sits firmly in the second camp, and this is the reassuring part for anyone worried about what AI means for their role. The job does not disappear. The grind does. The hours you spend wrangling data come back to you for the commercial, creative work that actually moves a category. As Nick put it, “it is like releasing superpowers into the industry.” ## The work that made this possible There is a catch, and it is the most important thing to understand. All of this depends on the data underneath it. Organised well, AI works today. Organised badly, it does not work at all. “The model is only ever as good as the foundation it sits on,” Nick said. We can say that with some confidence, because it is the work we have been doing for years. If you know Vazen, you will know us for the less glamorous end of the industry - capturing, cleaning and structuring planogram and transactional data, store by store and line by line. We have not always talked about AI, because for a long time the groundwork had to come first. That groundwork is exactly why AI is ready for us now. The years spent getting the data right are the reason we could point the latest models at it and get answers that hold up. The foundation the whole industry is now realising it needs is the one we have been quietly building all along. For your own team, that is the encouraging part. AI is ready. The real question is whether your data is in good enough shape for it to do something useful, and getting that right is the work that unlocks everything else. It is the honest place to begin, and it is not a place you have to reach on your own. ## Nobody has it all worked out yet When Edison invented the phonograph, he was convinced it was a machine for office dictation. He ranked playing music near the bottom of its uses. Twenty years later, he admitted that amusement had been the point all along. Inventors rarely work out what their technology is really for. And that, Nick told the room, is the encouraging part for category professionals. We have built the capability. What it is best used for, in the messy reality of a specific category, is still being worked out, and it will be settled by the people doing the work rather than the people who built the models. Which is why his advice was to start talking to your technology partners early. The best ideas tend to surface in the conversation between people who know the data and people who know the category. ## Where to begin If your team is at the start of this, a few things help. You do not need to be technical to get value, but you do need to bring in the people who are. More conversations with IT and data colleagues are a healthy sign, not a hurdle. Choose tools on the strength of the data and the results behind them, rather than the name on the box. And above all, get hands-on. As Nick put it, “how optimistic someone is about AI is proportional to how much they’ve used it.” The teams that experiment, even in small ways, are the ones that move ahead. ## The category leader of 2030 Less different from today than people fear, in Nick’s view. Still commercially curious, still experimenting, still human. What changes is the support around them, a set of capable assistants handling the heavy lifting so people can focus on the decisions only they can make. The technology is ready. The teams that get their data foundations right now will be the ones writing the next chapter of category management, rather than catching up to it. **Wondering where your team would start?** We help brands and retailers get more from their shelf, planogram and shopper data, from virtual shelf testing that proves what works before anything reaches the shelf, to live, store-level planograms. If something from the day raised a question about your own category, fixture or ranging work, we would be glad to show you [how it works](/contact). ![](/_astro/01.CiOPG82E_2lSBJ8.webp) ## Can supermarket shelves talk? How Vazen won two awards at IIEX Europe 2026 | Vazen Source: /resources/can-supermarket-shelves-talk-how-vst-won-two-awards-at-iiex-europe-2026.md # Can supermarket shelves talk? How Vazen won two awards at IIEX Europe 2026 Vazen took both the Audience Favourite Award and the Industry Impact Award at the Insight Innovation Competition. 30 June 2026 We opened with a question that sounds like a riddle. Can supermarket shelves talk? In 1877, Thomas Edison built the first machine that recorded sound and played it back. For the first time, a voice could be captured, stored, and asked to repeat itself. Retail shelves have been holding their own record all along. Every facing, every price change, every gap, every reset writes down what is happening in a category. The information has always been there. The problem has been getting the shelf to say it out loud. ## The problem is scale, and it is messy There are 3 million grocery stores across the globe. Each one runs hundreds of categories, and each category sits on a planogram that changes constantly. Pull that data together and it arrives in the worst possible shape: exported from different systems, formatted to different rules, and hard to line up against sales figures because the product codes and dates rarely match. We showed the audience what category teams actually face. On one side, a planogram file rendered as a maze of measurements and bounding boxes. On the other, a photograph of a real fixture, shelves of oil and condiments, where the plan and the reality rarely match. Planogram data is messy and complicated, and that is before anyone tries to turn it into a decision. ![](/_astro/01.QWI0ltQL_Z1uaAc3.webp) ## The scale of the data behind Vazen Vazen has processed billions of rows of shelf data since launch. If we laid out the shelf space we have received since launch, the shelves would reach the moon and back four times. ![](/_astro/02.B-T4YM4f_f0Ly.webp) The architecture is straightforward to describe. Three sources flow in: retailer data from live shelf and sales feeds, brand data, and open source data such as weather and location. Vazen organises all of it into a standardised structure, with the right data tables, models, and security.From there, the products draw on the same foundation - Coplan for understanding where a category sits now against its past, Studio for building and sharing planograms with stakeholders, Testing for proving a category vision before committing to it, and Ask Vazen for conversational analytics. Ask Vazen then allows users to expose that standardised data structure to AI. A category team can use Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini, or whichever frontier data model of choice, and ask it questions in plain language. The shelf, finally, talks back ## From four manual steps to one The clearest way to show the value was to put the old workflow next to the new one. Without Vazen, shelf intelligence travels through four manual steps and takes weeks. An analyst starts with raw data, moves it into a spreadsheet, exports an external Excel report, then builds a presentation, all to land a single insight such as a quarter’s category growth. ![](/_astro/03.DNIE0DTB_1A1c1T.webp) With Vazen, the same insight takes one step and seconds. The standardised data sets feed LLM-generated reporting directly, and the answer comes back finished. We demonstrated it live, generating a chilled drinks reallocation playbook complete with shelf charts and a recommended action, from a single prompt. This is not roadmap AI. This is AI-ready. This is the claim the pitch was built to prove: shelf intelligence that outperforms category analysts, every time. Like superpowers for your category teams. ## Why it won Two awards at the Insight Innovation Competition tell us two things. The Audience Favourite Award says the room recognised the workflow, because everyone who has wrestled a planogram export at 9pm knows exactly what days of manual work feels like. The Industry Impact Award says the judges saw where this goes: a data foundation deep enough that brands can connect their own AI and get category answers in seconds. Thomas Edison gave sound a voice it could replay. Vazen gives the shelf one. After IIEX Europe 2026, a lot more of the industry has heard it. Thank you to everyone who voted, and to Charlotte and Yasmine for taking the stage in Amsterdam. *Watch this space.* ## From Crisis to Caution: How Shopper Behavior Is Evolving in 2025 | Vazen Source: /resources/from-crisis-to-caution-how-shopper-behavior-is-evolving-in-2025.md # From Crisis to Caution: How Shopper Behavior Is Evolving in 2025 What UK shopper behaviour in 2025 really tells us about value, confidence, and choice. 4 November 2025 After more than two years of cost-of-living pressure, you might expect shoppers to be fatigued, brand loyalty to be eroded, and new product launches to feel like a risk. But the data tells a more nuanced story. The 2025 *UK Shopper Trends Report* from Vazen tracks how real shopper behavior is evolving, based not just on what consumers say, but on what they actually do at the shelf. And this year’s wave shows that while price remains critical, it’s no longer the whole story. Instead, we’re seeing a more complex value equation emerge: shoppers are cautious but curious. Still scanning for deals, but open to quality and newness when the value is clear. ## Shoppers haven’t relaxed, but they’ve recalibrated In early 2025, inflation is no longer rising at the pace it once was. But the mindset it created hasn’t disappeared. UK shoppers remain incredibly value-conscious. They’ve just adapted. Vazen research shows that over 50% of household spend is now going towards essentials like groceries and bills - a figure has held steady. But what’s shifting is how shoppers define and seek value. ## Price still matters, but shoppers are willing to try something new Half of all shoppers still start their decision-making by looking for the cheapest item on the shelf. And 73% say they’re always on the lookout for money-off promotions. But these figures are both slightly down on last year, hinting at a softening in extreme deal-hunting behavior. ![Article content](/_astro/01.Ct1M69F2_Z9KARS.webp) At the same time, 49% of shoppers said they tried a new product in the past month. That’s a remarkable figure for a market defined by caution, and it tells us innovation isn’t off the table. It just has to work harder. Shoppers are willing to try something new if it hits one of three triggers: - It offers better value than what they usually buy - It’s on promotion - It feels like a treat or indulgence they can justify Brands planning launches in 2025 should see this as an opportunity, but also a challenge. Novelty alone won’t cut it. New products need to *justify their place in the basket* with clear benefits, standout positioning, or pricing that makes sense. ## Own-label still dominates, but not everywhere The rise of private label is a defining trend of the past two years. In UK grocery, own-label products now make up 63% of unit sales and 55% of value sales (NIQ Homescan). But that dominance isn’t as clear-cut as it seems. Much of the volume is concentrated in categories where own-label is the default, like produce, bakery, and meat. These high-volume areas skew the total market share picture. But when you look at brand-led categories, the battleground looks very different. Vazen’s data shows that brand preference remains strong in categories like: - Spirits and alcohol - Skincare and personal care - Pet food Meanwhile, categories like frozen, dairy, and household are far more contested, with shoppers frequently switching between brands and own-label based on price or availability. This means brands can’t afford to generalise. Understanding where your category sits on this spectrum and how exposed it is to private label is now a strategic imperative. ## Confidence is creeping back, but trust is still low Interestingly, while fewer shoppers cite inflation as their number-one concern, anxiety hasn’t disappeared. It’s just shifted. ![Article content](/_astro/02.CUflFgL-_Z8cNkc.webp) This year, more shoppers say they’re worried about “the economy” at large rather than their personal financial situation. Confidence in household finances has seen a modest uptick. But faith in the government and broader economic recovery has dropped sharply. Just half as many people now believe the government will help them manage cost-of-living challenges compared to two years ago. This reflects a broader mood: cautious, sceptical, and self-reliant. Shoppers aren’t looking for reassurance. They’re looking for proof. ## In-store behavior still matters - perhaps more than ever While value is driving more planned shopping, what happens at the shelf still holds serious sway. Most UK shoppers say they plan their trips carefully, but they don’t always stick to the plan. On average, just **37% say they buy exactly what’s on their list**, and that figure varies dramatically by category: from **63% in pet food** to just **19% in snacks**. Even in heavily planned categories like healthcare or beverages, over half of shoppers remain open to influence at the point of decision. That means shelf presence and execution still have the power to sway decisions, even for budget-conscious shoppers. In fact, **78% of shoppers noticed an in-store display last month**, with end-of-aisle promotions and shelf signage being the most recalled. These moments of visibility prompt reappraisal and, often, action. For brands and retailers, it’s a reminder that the shelf is still the “last mile” for influence. Executional levers like layout, signage, bundling, and price communication are critical in converting a cautious shopper into a confident one. Even in the most planned of categories, there’s still room to win if your product can make its case clearly and compellingly in the moment that matters. ## What should brands and retailers do? The data points to a few clear strategies for those looking to win with today’s cost-conscious shopper: ### 1. Go beyond blunt discounting Yes, price still matters. But shoppers are open to other kinds of value: longevity, quality, portion size, even sustainability. Messaging needs to make that case at-shelf. ### 2. Test before you launch Vazen’s Virtual Shelf Testing lets brands test price, packaging, layout, and innovation with thousands of real shoppers before going live, removing guesswork and improving ROI. ### 3. Understand your category risk Every category is different. Some are already heavily private label. Others are still brand-driven. Use data to see where you stand and how shopper behavior is changing. ### 4. Don’t underestimate execution From planogram visibility to promo mechanics, the basics still matter. Being visible, well-priced, and available where it counts is non-negotiable. Shoppers in 2025 are still value-conscious, but not closed off. They’re still cost-aware, but not cost-obsessed. For brands and retailers, that means a real chance to re-engage, regain share, and reassert relevance. But only if your offer is clear, compelling, and backed by real shopper insight. **Download the full [Vazen 2025 UK Shopper Trends Report](/uk-shopper-trends-report-2025).** ## How shoppers make alcohol decisions, and what it means for CPG strategy | Vazen Source: /resources/how-shoppers-make-alcohol-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy.md # How shoppers make alcohol decisions, and what it means for CPG strategy Beer, Wine & Spirits is one of the most context-driven categories in grocery. Shoppers rarely enter the aisle thinking in brands or SKUs. They arrive with an occasion, a mood, or a constraint in mind - tonight, the weekend, guests, gifting, unwinding, moderation. 2 February 2026 Beer, Wine & Spirits is one of the most context-driven categories in grocery. Shoppers rarely enter the aisle thinking in brands or SKUs. They arrive with an occasion, a mood, or a constraint in mind - tonight, the weekend, guests, gifting, unwinding, moderation. Alcohol purchases are often intentional, but rarely rigid. In the Vazen Value Tracker, Beer/Wine/Spirits sits in the “mostly planned” camp: **67% say purchases are completely or mostly planned (Sept 2025).** That’s high intent, but it doesn’t mean fixed choice. Many trips are planned at an occasion level (“get wine for dinner”), but not locked to a specific brand or SKU. This flexibility has become more commercially important under sustained value pressure. In the Vazen Value Tracker (Sept 2025), **71% cite cost of living as a top concern, and 75% say price/value drives where they shop.** At the same time, shoppers are not simply buying the cheapest option: **56% say they’d rather spend more for better quality (Feb 2025), while 47% say they try to buy the cheapest products on shelf** (Sept 2025). That tension between trading-down in some moments and trading-up in others  is exactly the environment BWS teams are operating in. This category review brings together the behavioural patterns that shape alcohol decision-making and the strategy questions that matter most for CPG teams navigating growth, innovation, and retailer conversations. ## 1. Alcohol Is Planned, But Only at the Occasion Level BWS is not a spontaneous category in the way snacks or confectionery can be. Planning levels support that: Beer/Wine/Spirits is consistently more planned than the average grocery category in the Value Tracker. But “planned” doesn’t mean predetermined. Alcohol planning typically happens at the level of: - an occasion (“something for tonight”) - a role (“something to bring”) - a constraint (“under £X”, “lower alcohol”, “needs to please everyone”) That’s why the shelf matters. When shoppers have a mission but lack certainty, they use the fixture to resolve the decision quickly. If the shelf makes it easy to translate occasion into choice, decisions accelerate. If it doesn’t, shoppers default, switch, or abandon. **Strategy implication:** treat BWS less like a replenishment aisle and more like a decision engine - the fixture is where intent gets converted, not where people simply “pick up what they always buy”. ## 2. Shoppers Navigate by Occasion, Not by Subcategory In BWS, shoppers don’t naturally think in beer vs wine vs spirits first. They think in use cases: - weekday / tonight - weekend / socialising - hosting / gifting - unwinding / reward - moderation / control These occasions cut across subcategories, and that’s why switching is high. A shopper might enter looking for “something nice for dinner” and leave with beer, wine, or a ready-to-drink option depending on what feels most fitting, most reassuring, or best value. This is also where no/low starts to reshape the category, not as a simple alternative, but as a new kind of occasion logic (more on that below). ### Where RTD Fits In Ready-to-drink (RTD) illustrates how occasion-led navigation plays out in practice. Shoppers don’t approach RTD as a subcategory; they arrive at it when it best matches the moment they’re shopping for. RTDs don’t map cleanly to beer, wine or spirits in the shopper’s mind. Instead, they sit at the intersection of occasion, immediacy and moderation. For some shoppers, RTD solves a *tonight* or *on-the-way* mission - something cold, convenient and low-effort. For others, it’s a *later* occasion - socialising, relaxing, or replacing a traditional drink with something lighter or easier. This creates a strategic question many retailers and brands haven’t fully resolved:\ **Does RTD belong at the front of store or within the main alcohol aisle - or both? And for which stores?** Behaviourally, placement sends a signal. Front-of-store cues immediacy and impulse. Back-of-store cues intent, legitimacy and equivalence with beer, wine or spirits. Shoppers respond differently depending on which signal they receive. **Strategy implication:** winning in BWS is often about winning the occasion, not just defending a subcategory. ## 3. Value Pressure Changes How Alcohol Is Chosen In the Value Tracker (Sept 2025): - **73%** of shoppers are always on the lookout for money-off promotions - **69%** say they shop around to get the best priced items - **63%** look for multi-buy promotions - and **75%** say price/value drives store choice In BWS, that shows up as a search for justification and reassurance, not simply the lowest price. Alcohol is emotionally loaded - it’s tied to identity, hosting, gifting, and social expectations. Even when shoppers are budget-conscious, they still want to feel they’ve made a “good” choice. You can see this in the Value Tracker tension: - **56%** would rather spend more for better quality - but **47%** try to buy the cheapest products on shelf Some occasions are about minimising risk (“safe choice”), others are about minimising spend (“just need something”). The job of shelf strategy is to help shoppers resolve those trade-offs fast. **Strategy implication:** don’t treat “value” as a single segment. Build for multiple value mindsets - bargain, reassurance, permission, and trade-up. ## 4. Branded Still Leads, But Own Label Sets the Value Frame Alcohol is not a category where own-label “wins” outright in the same way as staples. That’s partly because the perceived downside of getting it wrong is higher - taste, occasion-fit, and social risk matter more than in most grocery aisles. Shoppers use brands as shorthand for reassurance, especially when buying for other people, gifting, or trading up. In the Value Tracker, Beer/Wine/Spirits remains predominantly branded, **with 55.4% of shoppers saying they buy branded (Aug 2024) rising to 58.7% (Feb 2025)**. Own label is lower but growing - **16.7% (Aug 2024) to 22.7% (Feb 2025) -** suggesting value pressure is pulling more shoppers into retailer propositions. The more interesting shift is what happens to “mixing”, ie. **those who say they buy both branded and own label fall from 27.9% (Aug 2024) to 17.3%** (Feb 2025). That drop suggests shoppers are becoming more decisive in how they approach the category, either leaning into branded cues for confidence, or leaning into own label for value, rather than flexing between the two within the same shopping mindset. **What this means for CPG strategy**: it’s not enough to assume “brand will defend itself”. Branded has to clearly justify its role (quality, occasion-fit, reassurance), because own label is expanding, and the middle ground is shrinking. ## 5. Promotions Act as Behavioural Permission (Not Just Savings) Promotions matter in every grocery category, but in alcohol they often help to legitimise the purchase. When shoppers are value-conscious, they are not only trying to save money. They are trying to feel confident that their decision is sensible. Promotions reduce internal friction, particularly for: - trade-up moments (a “nicer bottle”) - unfamiliar choices - hosting and gifting decisions - multi-buy / stocking-up missions And because promotion-seeking behaviour is consistently high (Value Tracker: **73%** always look for money off), promotions are not just a lever, they are part of how many shoppers navigate the category. **Strategy implication:** the role of promos is as much about confidence and permission as it is about price. How you frame a deal can change behaviour, not just volume. ## 6. No/Low Alcohol Isn’t a Substitute, It’s a New Mission No/low is reshaping alcohol behaviour because it solves different missions: - moderation without exclusion - weekday socialising - “control” moments (fitness, work, driving, energy) - participation without consequences The behavioural challenge is that shoppers don’t have stable mental models for how to evaluate no/low. They’re often deciding on the fly: - Is this a functional choice or a taste choice? - Is it comparable to full-strength, or a different proposition? - What’s the “right” occasion for it? Under value pressure, no/low can be even more sensitive. Shoppers are scanning for value and justification; if no/low doesn’t clearly signal purpose and benefit, it risks being overlooked, misunderstood, or seen as poor value versus alternatives. **Strategy implication:** no/low wins when it is anchored to a clear mission and made easy to interpret, not when it’s treated as a simple extension of the main block. ## 7. Why BWS Is High Risk for Assumption-Led Decisions BWS is a category where assumptions break quickly because: - occasions overlap across subcategories - switching is easy and socially acceptable - perceived risk is real (wasting money, choosing “wrong” for guests) - value scrutiny is intense - regulation and retailer constraints limit flexibility Small mismatches between shelf logic and shopper logic can shift choices in ways teams don’t anticipate. **Strategy implication:** BWS doesn’t reward “set and forget”. It rewards evidence-led clarity around the occasions you’re trying to win. ## 8. What BWS Teams Should Be Testing Next High-performing teams typically explore questions such as: **Occasion structuring** - Which occasions are most dominant in this retailer context? - Where do shoppers naturally blur between beer, wine, spirits and no/low? **RTD strategy** - Where do shoppers expect RTD to live - front-of-store, alcohol aisle, or both? - How does chilled vs ambient placement change intent and value perception? **Promotion framing** - When does a deal reassure versus cheapen? - Which cues accelerate decision-making under value pressure? **No/low strategy** - Which missions are genuinely incremental? - What context helps shoppers interpret no/low quickly? **Pack, format and ABV signalling** - What signals reduce perceived risk for hesitant shoppers? - Which formats support trade-up vs trade-down missions? **Branded vs own label dynamics** - What cues reinforce branded quality and suitability? - Where does own label set the “value frame” for the whole shelf? Testing these questions gives teams a retailer-ready story grounded in observed behaviour, not assumption, and helps avoid changes that look logical on paper but fail in real shopper journeys. ## How Behavioural Shelf Testing Strengthens Alcohol Sell-In Retailers expect evidence-based reasoning in categories as commercially significant and sensitive as BWS. Shoppers are scrutiny-led - price-aware, promotion-attentive, and balancing value with quality. Behavioural shelf testing allows CPG teams to demonstrate: - how shoppers actually navigate alcohol decisions - where confidence builds or breaks down - how structure influences switching and choice - how no/low can unlock new occasions - how recommendations strengthen performance without destabilising core missions In a category defined by context, permission, and value tension, behavioural evidence turns strategy into confidence,  and confidence into stronger retail conversations. ## How shoppers make petcare decisions, and what it means for CPG strategy | Vazen Source: /resources/how-shoppers-make-petcare-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy.md # How shoppers make petcare decisions, and what it means for CPG strategy Petcare is one of the most purposeful categories in grocery. Shoppers arrive with specific missions - caring for a puppy, managing health concerns, rewarding behaviour, supporting an ageing pet. They navigate with intent, and they expect the aisle to make sense. 13 January 2026 ## How people really behave in the petcare aisle (and what it means for your shopper strategies) Petcare is one of the most purposeful categories in grocery. Shoppers arrive with specific missions - caring for a puppy, managing health concerns, rewarding behaviour, supporting an ageing pet. They navigate with intent, and they expect the aisle to make sense. It’s also highly planned, with 83% of shoppers saying pet food purchases are completely or mostly planned (Vazen Value Tracker, Feb 2025). Yet around 45% still make switches in-aisle. That gap between planning and switching defines the category. Missions are clear, but if the fixture doesn’t match how shoppers think, small friction points redirect decisions. The reality is that petcare has evolved faster than shelf space can keep up. Life stage, function, quality tiers, formats, treat occasions, emerging subcategories - all competing for the same physical space. Even well-designed fixtures struggle to reflect the full range of shopper missions. Add in cost of living pressure - 71% cite it as a top concern, 75% say price/value drives where they shop (Vazen Value Tracker, Sept 2025) - and the stakes get higher. Shoppers are emotionally invested in their pet, but they’re scanning for value and deciding fast. This review brings together the key behavioural patterns we consistently see across petcare. Here’s what matters most when you’re designing or evolving the aisle. ### 1. Shoppers Navigate by Mission First, Brand Second Brand equity is strong in petcare, but it’s not what drives initial navigation. Shoppers move by mission first. Typical missions look like: - “I need something for my puppy” - “I need dental care” - “I want a treat for training” - “I’m looking for something more premium” - “I need to solve a health issue” When these missions aren’t clearly reflected in the fixture, shoppers slow down, misinterpret structure, and confidence drops. This matters because shoppers often arrive with a plan, but not always certainty. 80% use a shopping list at least sometimes (Vazen Value Tracker, Sept 2025), meaning many trips are planned at mission level (“get puppy food”), but not brand or SKU level. The fixture needs to convert that mission into the right product choice. When the fixture matches shopper logic, findability increases, misdirected searches fall, and exploration becomes deeper and more deliberate. One thing worth noting is that improving mission visibility often increases engagement by shifting behaviour *within* the category rather than growing it. Understanding category-level effects matters before you reshape space. There’s no single “correct” structure for petcare, but there’s always a structure that best fits the dominant missions in your retailer environment. ### 2. The Adult Block is Your Navigational Anchor Across testing, one behaviour appears repeatedly - the core adult block acts as the navigational anchor for the entire aisle. It carries the highest-frequency missions, sets shopper expectations, and helps orient the journey. When the visibility, position, or allocation of the adult block changes, effects ripple into surrounding sections. The direction and scale depend on retailer context, even small adjustments shift shopper flow. This doesn’t mean the adult block should never change. It means it’s structurally influential, and any change is worth testing before you recommend it to retailers. ### 3. Innovation Needs More Shelf Support Than Other Categories Petcare has become a hotbed of innovation, with supplements, alternative formats, functional claims, premium propositions, hybrid treat-nutrition concepts. The problem is that shoppers don’t have built-in mental models for most of these. Innovation faces two challenges: **Petcare is already cognitively loaded**\ Shoppers are balancing suitability, price, nutrition, claims, pack size, and emotional considerations. **New subcategories don’t map cleanly to existing missions**\ A supplement could sit with dental, treats, or accessories. Without context, shoppers interpret purpose on the fly. The value backdrop still matters, but petcare behaves differently to most grocery categories. While 47% of shoppers say they start their grocery decisions by looking for the cheapest option, petcare has historically been more resilient to downtrading. Shoppers are more cautious: the perceived risk of “getting it wrong” is higher. At the same time, 56% say they’re willing to spend more for better quality (Vazen Value Tracker, Feb 2025). This creates a distinctive tension in petcare, not between price and quality, but between value reassurance and emotional responsibility That’s why innovation can’t rely on shelf presence alone. New propositions need to quickly signal *why* they’re worth choosing, in terms of benefit, suitability, and outcome, before shoppers are willing to trade up. ### 4. Treats Behave Completely Differently Treats sit at the intersection of emotional reward, impulse, habitual purchasing, functional benefits, and training missions. This makes them the most behaviourally elastic part of petcare. Treats respond strongly to changes in aisle position, segmentation, visibility, adjacency, entrance vs mid-aisle placement, and signposting. This elasticity is why treats often unlock the biggest performance shifts in the category. Another nuance that shows up often: singles, multipacks, functional treats, and indulgent treats don’t behave interchangeably. Different missions drive different responses to structure. This is why treat-led tests often deliver outsized commercial clarity. ### 5. The Three Most Common Pitfalls in Petcare Resets Three issues show up repeatedly, not because of poor decisions, but because petcare is unusually sensitive: **Overcomplicating the aisle**\ Too much segmentation or visual drama slows shoppers down. Clarity beats theatricality. **Fragmenting new ranges**\ Breaking up a mission or range across multiple parts of the aisle reduces clarity. Blocked placement can drive higher engagement than dispersal. **Changing structure without updating navigation cues**\ If the fixture evolves but communication doesn’t, shoppers miss improvements or misinterpret the new logic. Simple navigation cues typically improve findability, even in already well-organised aisles. These pitfalls flatten category value and stall innovation adoption. Testing exposes friction before it hits the shelf. ### 6. What Drives Category Performance in Petcare Six behavioural forces consistently influence performance: **1. Mission-first structure** - shoppers move more confidently when the aisle mirrors how they think **2. A stable adult anchor** - the core range acts as the reference point for the category **3. Coherent treatment of innovation** - new products succeed when shoppers understand purpose and placement **4. Treat-driven impulse and exploration** - structural changes in treats unlock disproportionate gains **5. Simple, functional segmentation** - clarity outperforms complexity, especially in dense categories **6. Education for emerging segments** - shelf cues orient shoppers, education pushes them through the decision In petcare studies, removing or relocating certain SKUs shifts category comprehension - some products function as navigational anchors. ### 7. What to Test Next Teams typically explore: **Life-stage strategy**- how does reallocating space influence navigation? At what point does life stage complement or fragment the aisle? **Innovation placement**- where do shoppers expect new formats? What level of explanation supports trial? **Premium strategy**- how do shoppers interpret premium tiers in this retailer’s existing flow? **Treats optimisation**- which segmentation cues improve confidence? How do structural changes affect impulse and exploration? **Range optimisation**-  which SKUs function as navigational signposts? Where can choice be simplified with minimal risk? Testing these scenarios gives you a retailer-ready story grounded in behavioural evidence, not assumption. ### How Behavioural Shelf Testing Strengthens Retail Sell-In Retailers expect data-backed reasoning for changes to a category as important as petcare. Shoppers are scrutiny-led, with 73% always on the lookout for promotions, 69% shopping around for best prices (Vazen Value Tracker, Sept 2025). In petcare, where emotional commitment is high, value signals and clarity need to coexist. Behavioural testing lets you demonstrate how shoppers actually move through the aisle, how structure influences conversion and confidence, where opportunities and risks lie, how recommendations strengthen (rather than destabilise) category performance, and what the category gains from change, and what must remain stable. Behavioural evidence turns recommendations into confident retail conversations and in-store implementation. ## Introducing: Coplan | Vazen Source: /resources/introducing-planogram-publisher.md # Introducing: Coplan Imagine as a CPG brand if you could zoom into any grocery store and view where your product is and what it’s sat next to. 1 July 2022 Imagine as a CPG brand if you could zoom into any grocery store and view where your product is and what it’s sat next to. ## The problem: You’ve got a product for sale in a grocery store. You’ve spent loads on marketing. Your product looks great according to your latest concept tests, pack tests, taste tests, and focus groups. But where is your product featured in stores? What do your shoppers actually see? Sure, you can get a feel for it in your local store. Go in and take a look. Take a photo. What about the store a mile away? Or the store 100 miles away? Or the store 1,000 miles away? Viewing your product as your shoppers see it while being in all places at once is impossible. Or it *was* impossible. ## Today we’re launching Coplan. Vazen’s Coplan shows a retailer’s planograms to CPG brands. These planograms are made into: - **High-Resolution Images:** see your products as your shoppers see them on-shelf - **Share of Space Data:** usable share of space data with >3 years history. Key data is share of SKUs, facings, linear space and quadratic space. This is the data directly from a retailer and from the store, so both parties are singing from the same hymn sheet. Drill down to individual SKUs, individual stores, or across a variety of store clusters available. - **Maps:** denoting which plans are in which stores. ## Why can’t brands access this data already? Traditional planogram software makes it hard to share data. We’ve seen countless horror stories of big brands being sent things like margin information in error. This has led to retailers becoming wary of sharing this information with suppliers. Furthermore, the data has become more complex. There’s no such thing as a common planogram and there are many individual store-specific plans for a variety of categories. Managing this data, viewing this and making it usable is not easy. For reference, our planogram data with Tesco combines over 3.7bn rows of data. ## But where my products are in a store is publicly available information? True, you can send field sales teams out to every store under the sun to take photos and try and dissect what’s on-shelf and your key metrics, but the data’s not clean, storable, usable, or good. I.e. you can’t really *do* anything with it. And many brands do send teams out to many stores, and spend north of £200k a year for the privilege of doing so. But it’s 2022, and we should be doing better, with transparent relationships between retailers and brands combining to do a great job for shoppers. In order to do some proper category management, you need all the information. Not just your sales data. Not just your customer data. But your positional data. Your planogram data. ***Planogram data is valuable but hard to get hold of.*** Well, we’ve solved that. Now, with Coplan, you can access this data today. ## Coplan Coplan includes 3 key components: - High-resolution planogram visuals of any store or group of stores ![](/_astro/01.CJSJpYm7_Zp0Vha.webp) - Share of space KPIs: share of facings, SKUs, linear space and quadratic space ![](/_astro/02.CSB_4rc3_1dRauR.webp) - Map views: which plans are in which stores? Where do you need to go and visit? What are the commonalities between stores you’re interested in? ![](/_astro/03.D-2T8lvz_1d1emA.webp) Our CPG brand partners use this information for: 1. **Better Category Management:** identify opportunities for new products, better flows / adjacencies, space, learnings from other markets. **\*For Category Management teams\*\***.\* 2. **Better Shopper Visuals:** understand the context that shoppers actually see and present this context back to buying teams. Great for pitching new innovation. **\*For Trade Marketing / Account teams\*\***.\* 3. **Better Tracking Changes Over Time:** easily accessible, one point of truth agreed between retailer and brand, to create a repository of planogram history. **\*For Insights teams\*\***.\* 4. **Better Performance Auditing:** understand share of shelf, value of space, new product launch positioning, and tracking of competitors. **\*For Management teams\*\***.\* 5. **Better Field Sales Support:** understand best practices to support and launch in market. ***For field sales teams.*** Coplan provides a new frontier of category management. Please get in contact with me () or any of the team to get access today. ## Over half of the UK label themselves concerned about the rise in cost-of-living | Vazen Source: /resources/over-half-of-the-uk-label-themselves-concerned-about-the-rise-in-cost-of-living.md # Over half of the UK label themselves concerned about the rise in cost-of-living We’re approaching the worst recession in decades. Following on from a pandemic (or potentially into the next stage of it), supply-chain… 1 August 2023 We’re approaching the worst recession in decades. Following on from a pandemic (or potentially into the next stage of it), supply-chain crises, energy crises, climate change, labour shortages, war… people are uncertain, and uncertainty leads to concerns. We wanted to add our point of view on this gloomy outlook and provide our thinking into these concerns. So we did what we do best and asked our respondents (real shoppers) what they were doing to provide some viewpoints on, well, all of ***this*** \*gestures wildly\*. Shoppers showed us what they were doing and what they were concerned about. The top concerns were cost of living and inflation. 52% of UK households are worried about the overall cost of living, 40% are especially concerned about the cost of food. That’s no surprise. The last 2 years have left their mark on the economy and our wallets. According to a recent article published in [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/06/tesco-chair-warns-food-price-inflation-of-5-is-just-around-the-corner), Tesco Chairman, John Allan said, “Overall inflation currently stands at 5.4%, a 30-year high, and is predicted to top 6% in the spring.” This is even after back in October 2021 when the Prime Minister, a haystack of dysfunction, claimed that [inflation fears were unfounded](https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-johnson-says-inflation-fears-are-unfounded-2021-10-05/). No wonder shoppers are concerned. This groups of 52% of UK households are who we’ll be referring to as “***Cost-Concerned Shoppers***.” In the rest of this article, we’ll explore the topic of how brands and retailers can win with these Cost-Concerned Shoppers. ![](/_astro/01.BRUYW04M_1zmwMS.webp) ## What’s happening in a cost-of-living crisis? Half of UK households are worried about the rising cost of living and this number is expected to rise. This has a big impact on retail across 5 key areas which we’ll tackle one by one. 1. Promiscuous shoppers 2. Migrate from online to in-store 3. Rise of Private Brands 4. Anchoring against the cheapest 5. Motivated by value, not price ### Promiscuous Shoppers in More Stores *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* shop in more stores than those who aren’t concerned. They are deal-seeking, and need to dedicate the time to buy what can fit in their budget. In fact, *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* visit 2.2 different retailers versus 1.67 retailers visited if not concerned. In other words, **if you’re concerned about the cost of living, you’ll visit 33% more stores to complete your grocery shopping.** And these aren’t just shoppers shopping around. The additional stores they go to are typically the discounters, Aldi and Lidl, but also we’re seeing the rapid rise of the bargain stores like B\&M and Home Bargains. The “Aldi Price Match” therefore needs to be expanded to demonstrate price / value across an increased competitor set. ![](/_astro/02.DvB4LMAl_Z1IVFI0.webp) ### Migrate from Online to In-Store *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* are 50% more likely to shop in large stores as their preferred way of conducting their grocery shopping, compared to online. As more people become concerned, more shoppers will migrate their shopping away from online, and back into stores. The primary reason for this appears to be that these shoppers trust in tradition. They want to see the repertoire of products, prices and deals, and a feeling that online shopping has something (e.g. the best deal) being hidden from them. Sidenote: this isn’t just due to price / inflation of course. This is due to the online grocery shopping experience just being ***bad***. We talk a lot more about that elsewhere and it’s not the subject of this article, but get in touch if you’d like to discuss this online grocery user experience area further. ### Rise of Private Brands Understandably, *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* don’t see the value in more expensive brands versus supermarket private brands / own label. But let’s put some numbers on that. 40% of shoppers think brands are higher quality than private brand, whilst that’s over 50% of shoppers who aren’t concerned. So that means that if you’re a brand, you’re 30% less likely to be picked up by *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* (50% of shoppers). If that number continues to rise, that 30%-less-likely-to-buy figure is your risk. ### Anchoring Against the Cheapest Some more bad news for brands. Price is important for both concerned and unconcerned shoppers in equal measure. Half of all shoppers said they look for the cheapest product on the shelf. This is how shoppers anchor their decision-making. Spot the cheapest product on the shelf, pick that or use that to compare everything else against it. If my branded product is 3X more expensive than the cheapest on-shelf, will shoppers trade up from the cheapest? What’s important and, quite frankly, scary about this approach is that your product is constantly being tested and assessed by shoppers in every store, thousands of times a day against the cheapest product on the shelf. Can your product justify the comparison currently? Can your product do a better job justifying why it’s better than the cheapest than it is currently doing today? ### Motivated by Value, not Price The most important reason that shoppers choose retailers is based on “good value for money”. Not surprising, when given the context above. But it is surprising that this is more important than just “low prices”. This difference is important. It shows the opportunity for retailers and brands to work together to offer shoppers that value and win together. ![](/_astro/03.BB8rj2Zl_1tyz14.webp) ## What can retailers do about it? *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* go to more stores and will take spend away from you. You need to offer them the value of staying in your store. Bundle up those products, and make it easy to realise and calculate value. How? - Draw forward spend on bundled-up staples. Make luxury / disposable income / “treats” the battleground with competitors. - Make it an emotional mission: shoppers want things that mean something to them. “Big night in” was a roaring success 14 years ago. New ones like “family favourites”, or “party together at home” will likely be the successes this year. - “Aldi Price Match” is no longer enough. Shoppers want to see comparisons across more stores as they become more concerned and promiscuous - Your in-store approach and online approach should be different. Online shoppers are less concerned about inflation. You don’t need to push price messaging here. You need to focus on experience, luxury, and trade-up. Your battleground here is Hello Fresh, not Home Bargains. - Push private brand in-stores. *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* think this is good quality. This is where you can win against discounters. ![](/_astro/04.B3BDi_Tt_Z2c2SjL.webp) ## What can brands do about it? Brace yourself for an increase in importance and focus on Private Brands. As mentioned above, *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* are 30% less likely to buy your brand or think that it’s worth the higher price. If this number of *Cost-Concerned Shoppers* increases further, your leaky bucket of shoppers has sprouted a few more holes. But it’s not all bad news (FINALLY). You’re not just competing with price, though you are being compared to the cheapest product on the shelf thousands of times a day. So let’s get back to basics: **Why does a shopper pay more for your product?** - Do they know why? - Can they articulate it? - Is their articulation correct? - Or is it based on unconscious, system 1 thinking? **Is your brand “better” than private brand? You’re going to need to prove it to retailers and shoppers. How?** - Do shoppers consider private brand first when they’re at the shelf? - Do shoppers pick up your brand automatically / split-second? Or is it considered? - Can shoppers explicitly tell you the reasons they buy your product over private brand or a competitor? Is it engrained, or is it unconscious? The moment at-shelf, the last-metre decision-making at the point of purchase is changing, for all the reasons we’ve listed above. Some brands claim they’re strong at-shelf with data from many years ago. This isn’t going to fly this year. For example, we’ve tested the old claim used by many a marketing business school that “cleaning products are purchased because their parents purchased them many years ago”. This, alongside so many old adages, is no longer true. If you want to find out the risks that cost-of-living and inflation concerns have on your brands in-store don’t forget to contact [Vazen](/) or message me directly (). We’ll identify your risks and opportunities and how to communicate the value of your brand to shoppers, consciously and unconsciously, and make sure you’re winning with shoppers in today’s volatile market and beyond. ![](/_astro/05.BqnT7jqK_Z2lRE8Y.webp) ## Retail in 2026: The Practical Shifts Leaders Say Matter Most | Vazen Source: /resources/retail-in-2026-the-practical-shifts-leaders-say-matter-most.md # Retail in 2026: The Practical Shifts Leaders Say Matter Most We asked a group of senior leaders across grocery retail and FMCG one question: what is the biggest, most meaningful shift happening in retail this year, and why does it matter? 12 May 2026 Retail is operating under genuine pressure and genuine possibility at the same time. Cost-to-serve remains high, shopper behaviour is fragmenting, health expectations are evolving, and data is becoming richer while decision cycles continue to compress. In that context, “trends” can become noise unless they translate into clear commercial implications. To keep this grounded, we asked a group of senior leaders across grocery retail and FMCG one question: what is the biggest, most meaningful shift happening in retail this year, and why does it matter? Their answers are not identical, but they do cluster around a handful of themes: the expanding role of analytics, the polarisation of shopping experiences, the rise of outcome-led missions (especially around health), the push toward more personalisation, and a renewed focus on strategy rather than activity. Below are their perspectives, shared in their own words. ## 1. Health Is Reshaping Categories - Especially in Convenience Health trends are no longer confined to reformulation or claims. They are influencing structural decisions about range, space allocation and mission priority, particularly in smaller formats where trade-offs are sharper. **Jimmy Corbett, Head of Trading - FTG & Meals, Co-op** ![Profile photo of Jimmy Corbett](/_astro/jimmy-corbett.N126oB_e_ZpaQvN.webp) “Health trends are reshaping retail across the board, but the impact on convenience is disproportionately large. When you operate in smaller formats, every decision about range and space is amplified. You can’t just layer in new health-led propositions without consequence. If you back emerging trends too heavily, you risk destabilising traditionally strong sellers that still drive volume. If you ignore them, you fall behind where shopper demand is clearly heading. That balancing act of supporting the shift towards healthier missions while protecting the core, is an ongoing tension for convenience retailers. GLP-1 medications are a good example of why we need to rethink what ‘health’ actually means within specific categories. Appetite suppression and changing consumption habits don’t just influence one aisle. Portion sizes, treat frequency, protein demand, indulgence patterns are all in flux. Retailers have to anticipate those shifts rather than react to them. Layer on regulatory and structural pressures - HFSS restrictions, long-term volume decline in BWS and tobacco - and it’s clear that relying on legacy categories isn’t a viable strategy. We have to double down on growth missions like food-to-go and meal solutions, and be prepared to make informed bets. It requires data, conviction and a willingness to evolve the space differently. The retailers who manage that transition thoughtfully, rather than defensively, are the ones setting themselves up for sustainable long-term success.” Rebecca Oliver-Mooney describes a related shift in how categories themselves are framed. **Rebecca Oliver-Mooney, Strategy and Insight Director, Hip Pop** ![Profile photo of Rebecca Oliver-Mooney](/_astro/rebecca-oliver-mooney.YPHbNfqt_1e7y4i.webp) One of the most meaningful shifts we are seeing in UK grocery is the move from “product-led” retail to “outcome-led” retail, where shoppers are not just buying items, but where they are buying solutions for how they want to live. Health is the clearest example of this. The conversation has moved well beyond low-sugar or low-calorie into gut health, fibre, protein, functional benefits, and mindful consumption, with taste often a key driver of choice. That is changing how categories need to be structured, how fixtures are merchandised and how retailers think about growth. The winners will be the ones who organise around missions such as energy, hydration, focus, sleep, gut health, rather than traditional category silos. What makes this shift so important is that it is commercially incremental. When you get it right, you are not just trading shoppers up within a category, you are bringing new consumption moments into store and into the basket. We are seeing shoppers substitute alcohol, traditional carbonates and even snacks for functional drinks that make them feel better, helping stem decline in traditional categories and helping emerging categories respond to seismic consumer behavioural shifts. For retailers, that is a growth engine. For challenger brands, it is a huge unlock. It rewards brands that are insight-led, purpose-driven and able to tell a clear story on shelf. The role of data, insight and shopper understanding has never been more critical, but equally the role of ranging with intent needs to remain central to decisions. Success stories will be defined by those who curate solutions based on where the shopper is going, not where the category has been. ## 2. Strategy Is Being Re-Centred in Category Management Execution technology has advanced significantly over the past decade. However, some leaders argue the more meaningful shift is happening earlier in the decision cycle. **Dr. Brian Harris, CEO, IntentAI** ![Profile photo of Brian Harris](/_astro/brian-harris.DMS067hp_2eQTvU.webp) Over the past decade, grocery retail has made substantial investments in execution focused technologies. Assortment optimization, pricing engines, shelf automation, and promotion analytics have delivered meaningful gains in efficiency and speed. Yet despite this progress, sustained category growth has remained elusive. The most consequential shift shaping grocery retail in 2026 is not another advance in execution capability. It is the reestablishment of strategy as the foundation of Category Management, now enabled by AI as a true decision-making layer. Category Management was originally conceived as a discipline for differentiation and growth. Its purpose was to identify unmet consumer needs, attract non buyers, and expand demand at the category level. Over time, however, the focus narrowed. The discipline increasingly centered on optimizing existing performance rather than diagnosing the underlying constraints to growth. As a result, organizations became highly proficient at answering operational questions. Which SKUs should be added or removed? How should shelves be configured? Which promotions perform best? These are necessary decisions, but they are not strategic ones. They presume that the growth opportunity is already understood. In many cases, it is not. When Category Management begins with execution rather than with demand diagnosis, the potential upside is limited from the outset. The industry has not suffered from a lack of activity. It has suffered from a gradual erosion of strategic rigor. What differentiates 2026 from prior cycles of transformation is the maturation of AI driven decision making. For the first time, it is feasible to integrate multiple sources of consumer behavior, shopper expectations, and performance data at scale, and to use those inputs to inform strategy in real time. Rather than serving primarily as a reporting or automation tool, AI is increasingly functioning as an upstream decision layer. It enables teams to identify where growth truly exists, quantify the size of those opportunities, and evaluate alternative strategic pathways before resources are deployed. Leading organizations are using this capability to re anchor Category Management around a proven next generation process: - Strategy first: defining the true sources of growth by understanding unmet needs, non-buyers, and demand gaps - Planning second: translating growth ambition into a focused, prioritized roadmap with clear tradeoffs - Execution last: deploying fewer initiatives, with greater precision and measurable impact This Next Generation Category Management process is demonstrating its ability to unlock sustainable and significant category growth. Rather than producing marginal gains through repeated optimization, it consistently expands demand by addressing the underlying reasons consumers do not buy. In practical terms, it moves organizations beyond incremental change and toward more organic category growth. The role of AI in this evolution is frequently misunderstood. Its greatest value does not lie in faster planogram generation or automated pricing adjustments. Its value lies in enabling better strategic decisions. By synthesizing complex data streams and evaluating scenarios at speed, AI allows category leaders to return to the original intent of the discipline: differentiation and growth through insight driven strategy. As competitive pressures intensify and consumer behavior continues to fragment, the limitations of execution only approaches are becoming increasingly clear. Efficiency alone cannot compensate for unclear growth priorities. In 2026, the organizations that outperform will not be those that execute more frequently or more rapidly. They will be those that reestablish strategy as the cornerstone of Category Management, supported by AI that elevates decision quality across the enterprise. The defining shift is already starting to play out. It is not technological in nature. It is being driven by a return to disciplined, strategy led Category Management, now made scalable and actionable through advanced decision-making solutions. ## 3. Physical Retail Is Polarising **Lucy Howe, Co-Founder, The Growth Factors** ![Profile photo of Lucy Howe](/_astro/lucy-howe.A5PcELur_yWjlB.webp) A shift we’re seeing in grocery retail is the increasing polarisation of shopping behaviour. Shoppers are moving towards either highly efficient, low-interaction experiences or more engaging, social ones, with little appetite for the middle ground. On one side, the physical act of grocery shopping is increasingly being delegated. Self-scan, online shopping and quick commerce are reducing friction and saving time, but they require significant investment as retailers adapt existing stores and old systems to meet demand. On the other, there is a growing desire for expertise, provenance and quality, reflected in the continued growth of farmers’ markets, artisan producers and specialist retailers. This shift matters because it requires grocery retailers to make deliberate choices about where they can create the most value and how they build sustainable competitive advantage. A focus on functional efficiency at scale could, over time, drive a seismic shift in how stores are designed and how ranges are curated, prioritising speed, flow and fulfilment for online picking and quick commerce over traditional in-store browsing. In parallel, smaller or more specialised formats may lean into experience, adapting layouts to support broader ranges, expertise and human interaction. Taken together, this could move grocery differentiation to a new level beyond price wars and towards clearer retail propositions. ## 4. Personalisation Is Becoming More Granular Expectations around relevance continue to increase. **Mike Freeman, Category Manager** ![Profile photo of Mike Freeman](/_astro/mike-freeman.DFLR0SZ4_1xhf9y.webp) “Tech is unlocking a level of hyper-personalisation that we just couldn’t realistically deliver at scale before. For years, convenience was the big battleground. Faster delivery. Easier checkout. Smarter replenishment. That’s now table stakes. The real opportunity is moving beyond convenience into genuinely tailoring products and services to individuals. Not broad segments. Not ‘young families’ or ‘urban professionals’. Actual people. You can see it clearly in the baby category, where there’s growing demand for personalised nutrition and health solutions. Parents aren’t just buying formula or food anymore, instead they’re looking for something that reflects their child’s specific needs. What started in beauty - custom blends, tailored routines, skin diagnostics - is now migrating into other FMCG categories. Consumers increasingly expect brands to recognise them, not just target them. The retailers and brands who figure out how to operationalise that - responsibly, intelligently, and at scale - are the ones who will build long-term loyalty. Because when something feels designed for you, switching becomes much harder. That’s where the real competitive advantage is emerging.” **Serena Smith, Head of Category (On Trade), Heineken** ![Profile photo of Serena Smith](/_astro/serena-smith.Cw4NO1tQ_29rQoo.webp) One of the most meaningful shifts in retail right now is the move toward truly personalised data. We’ve finally moved past the era of broad-brush recommendations, those “people like you bought…” days are being challenged as big data gets richer, smarter, and more specific. Retailers now have the ability to understand shoppers at a far more granular level: behaviour, preference, mission, even mood in some cases. And that applies whether you’re filling a trolley in grocery or ordering a round in a busy bar. The opportunity is huge, but so is the headache. With more data than ever, the challenge becomes how you turn sheer volume into something that actually feels personal, usable, and actionable for businesses. Retailers and suppliers need to take all that complexity and package it into clear, practical solutions that drive better decisions and better experiences. Whoever cracks that balance, precision without paralysis, is going to create real competitive advantage. ## 5. Analytics Is Becoming Enterprise-Wide Infrastructure Analytics is expanding beyond commercial teams into operational and strategic functions across grocery businesses. **Nick Meagher, Head of Advanced Analytics and Insights, Co-op** ![Profile photo of Nick Meagher](/_astro/nick-meagher.DPh3LewE_Z1SJ9Ex.webp) We’ll continue to see a diversification of analytics inside Grocery organisations. The skill-sets generally used to analyse and understand customer behaviour for commercial and marketing teams are increasingly becoming adopted in other parts of the organisation as we realise what this type of thinking can unlock, areas we’ve worked more on include supply chain, logistics, waste and availability, property, and colleague insight disciplines; of course many of these areas already deploy their own specialist knowledge and tools but what is happening now is much more blending across analytics teams and disciplines. This is partly in response to ever rising costs of doing business, which means the ability to move products through the operational system and efficiently run the store and meet customer demand is a constant balancing act. Retail Media is another area of diversification, as retailers are increasingly opening themselves up as media channels then the role of analytics and insight within that Grocer also evolves, how well you understand your customers, how well you can differentiate and segment your estate adds value to your offering as a media channel. ## 6. Premiumisation Is Being Rewritten for a Price-Sensitive Shopper **Charlotte Kiddle, Chief Research and Partnerships Officer, Vazen** ![Profile photo of Charlotte Kiddle](/_astro/charlotte-kiddle.cz5DL4PM_Z1dKUwk.webp) Finally, one of the most significant shifts we’ve observed is in how brands are approaching category growth. The shopper has become acutely price-sensitive but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped trading up. What it means is that the justification for buying the more expensive product now has to work harder. Brands are responding by pulling multiple levers to keep shoppers within the branded tier and move them further up it. Here’s how that’s playing out at shelf: **Shifting space and position to earn attention for premium SKUs** Sometimes visibility is all it takes. By reallocating shelf space and prominent positions to premium SKUs, and broadening range at the premium end through additional flavours and pack sizes, brands create the conditions for shoppers to notice, engage with, and ultimately trade up to better products. We’ve seen some compelling category stories built on this logic alone: the product was always there; it just wasn’t being seen. **NPD that taps into genuine emerging needs** Launching something new is easy. Launching something that actually connects with a real shopper behaviour or emerging audience is much harder, and the difference shows. Two standout examples from the past year: Vanish Turbo, which speaks directly to the quick wash occasion (now accounting for around one in five of all washes), and Nescafé Iced Concentrate, which meets a younger generation’s desire for the iced coffee experience without leaving the house. Both extend the brand into new territory and premiumise the basket. **Premium brand extensions: adjacency or autonomy?** Where the premium segment of a category is growing, established brands are increasingly launching premium variants, but the strategic question is far from straightforward. Should the extension sit alongside the core range, leveraging parent brand equity to encourage trade-up? Or should it stand closer to the premium competition, where it can steal share on its own terms? We’ve seen results go both ways, and the answer tends to come down to the relative strength and scale of the core brand versus the premium space it’s entering. Looking ahead, this momentum isn’t slowing, but the shape of it is shifting. The challenger-brand premiumisation story (Mutti, Bold Beans and their ilk) will increasingly be told by established players who have the scale to do it at volume. The ones who get it right won’t just launch a premium variant; they’ll architect a genuine trade-up journey within their category. ## What Ties This Together At Vazen, we’re always interested in (and trying to stay ahead of) the latest trends in shopper behaviour, category management, and technology. As you’ll see, the perspectives from these leaders in the retail insights, data, and technology industries cover a lot of disparate subjects. From health trends, to AI-adoption, to online shopping and analytical skills, there’s a lot that we need to be mindful of in 2026. What brings these perspectives together is that we need to move to broader, more deliberate, insight-led decision-making across the whole organisation (be that retailer, brand, or technology provider). We’re very grateful to each contributor for sharing their perspective. If any of these themes resonate with challenges you’re facing, or if you see the landscape differently, we’d like to hear all about it. At Vazen, we’re always looking to connect with people who are looking forwards in the retail industry. ## Shopper Behavior in Inflationary Times: Brands vs Supermarket Private Brand | Vazen Source: /resources/shopper-behavior-in-inflationary-times-brands-vs-supermarket-private-brand.md # Shopper Behavior in Inflationary Times: Brands vs Supermarket Private Brand Note: this article is an extract from a workshop by Vazen. If you’d like to book a workshop for your brand or category, please get in touch… 23 February 2022 In February 2022, we at [Vazen](/) surveyed shoppers to understand what they were concerned about. There was a lot going on; Brexit, the remnants of COVID-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, an energy crisis, the environment, and concerns about obesity. But what we found was surprising. Over 50% of shoppers were already concerned about inflation and the rising cost of living. From there, we started tracking this over time, and it kept increasing. Up to 58% of shoppers, up to 70% of shoppers, and in February 2023, we found it to be 73% of shoppers concerned about the rising cost of living. Not only that, but the top 3 concerns for shoppers were all related: the rising cost of living, the economy, and inflation, and they’re all on the rise. ![](/_astro/01.JjQIKKwq_1z2otR.webp) ## What are shoppers concerned about right now? Shoppers are becoming slightly less concerned about other areas than they were 6 months ago: energy shortages, COVID, Brexit, and Food Scarcity (though this was run about a week before the UK supermarkets started to put limits on the amount of fresh produce purchased). Other notable climbers in concern to be mindful of are the housing crisis, pollution, and a significant jump in concerns about equality. After a year of news in the UK with more attacks and murders of women, the jump in concerns about equality feels like an important one to call out and keep an eye on. ![](/_astro/02.B7pEfQg8_c3BOx.webp) *What are you most concerned about right now? August 2022 vs February 2023* ## What shoppers are doing right now ### Part 1: Budgets Amidst a cost of living crisis, shoppers are having their budgets squeezed, particularly on groceries and household bills. Shoppers % of outgoings on groceries and housing have increased by 7pp, with almost all other areas declining as a result, including clothing, hobbies, and holidays affected. ![](/_astro/03.cOSFgsa6_1y6CHa.webp) Shoppers % of outgoings / expenditure: *August 2022 vs February 2023* Shoppers are changing what they’re doing to cope with these inflationary pressures. 80% of shoppers have changed how they shop in the past 6 months. This change in behaviour, whether increasing more spend from out-of-home dining, keeping spend the same in supermarkets but having to change the way they shop (e.g. switching retailers, or trading down from brands to supermarket own label), or reducing spend in supermarkets altogether. ![](/_astro/04.CboQtfQK_1h8rRK.webp) - The 19% of shoppers keeping spend and how they shop the same are the wealthiest shoppers, essentially those who haven’t noticed price changes and this affects them less. - The 17% of shoppers are those trading more into supermarkets: those looking for opportunities to treat themselves and more of an experience. - The 30% of shoppers are keeping spend the same but coping with inflation by changing how they shop (e.g. switching retailers, switching into cheaper products / alternatives, more supermarket private brand). This is the key battleground for retailers and brands. - The 33% of shoppers reducing spend are trying to meet new, tighter household budgets. Some shoppers are managing by trading down in retailers, shopping around for deals, some are buying less, and, the most worrying group, 4% of people who are reducing spend in grocery stores by using food banks. ### Part 2: Shopping Around Overall, shoppers are starting to shop around ***less*** than last year. ![](/_astro/05.CRPgBBFy_1l74MW.webp) *% agreeing with each statement Feb 2022 vs. Aug 2022 vs. Feb 2023* 66% of shoppers (still a significant number) said that they shop around to get the best priced items, but this was down from 70% in August. To put this into context, 91% of shoppers visit 3 stores or fewer per week (vs 82% last year). Why are shoppers shopping around less, when so many are changing the way they shop to meet budgetary constraints? *Shoppers’ time is valuable, and they have already discovered what they believe to be their new favourite value retailer.* ![](/_astro/06.BNCAPyPT_rkX8m.webp) *Preferred retailer for value % of shoppers selected Aug 2022 vs. Feb 2023* 28% of UK shoppers said their preferred retailer for value was Aldi, up from 25% in August. And why wouldn’t they? Aldi’s free advertising in competitor retailers over the past year with “Aldi Price Match” labelled all over stores has been training shoppers that Aldi’s prices are cheapest. Now it seems that shoppers have selected their stores to visit, and shopping around is becoming less prevalent. For brands, an Aldi strategy is a must. And for brands, how can you stand out in an era of caps-lock-on “PRICE MATCH” communication? ### Part 3: Pricing It’s a hard job to communicate on price effectively as a more expensive option right now. Shoppers are actively looking for cheaper options. ![](/_astro/07.Dp5S3Jxh_p5gwD.webp) *% agreeing Feb 2022 vs. Aug 2022 vs. Feb 2023* In fact, 57% of shoppers start their decision-making by finding the cheapest product at-shelf (this has fallen slightly since August, but still accounts for the majority of shoppers). Does your product or brand justify the jump in price at-shelf? If not, shoppers will not trade up from their “cheapest anchor”. ### Part 4: Innovation and New Products The affect of budgetary constraints is that fewer shoppers are trying new products. ![](/_astro/08.B-zk_NRV_1fOW4O.webp) *% agreeing Feb 2022 vs. Aug 2022 vs. Feb 2023* Just 41% of shoppers say they are on the lookout for new products (down from 57% a year ago). Now is objectively a difficult time to launch new products, unless you can really turn heads on-shelf. We identified a group of shoppers who have tried buying a new product in-store in the past month. It’s still a significant group, totalling 45% of shoppers. The main reason that shoppers bought the new product was “because it looked interesting”. Not because it was the cheapest, but because it was able to turn heads. ### Part 5: Brand vs Supermarket Own Label One of the key takeaways of this workshop: the perception of brands vs supermarket own label is the lowest we’ve ever seen. ![](/_astro/09.KexS3jlN_Z18hPns.webp) *% agreeing Feb 2022 vs. Aug 2022 vs. Feb 2023* *33% of shoppers believe brands are better quality than supermarket own label products (down from 46% last year).* Supermarket Own Label has been chipping away at brand equity with shoppers for many years. The new focus on price and the cheapest products has meant that for many shoppers, now is the time for a complete switch to supermarket own label, and away from brands. This of course depends on the category, with some more affected than others. More on that anon. But what does this mean for brands? How can they win in a world where price and quality are interchangeable? **Communication needs to switch from brands being better quality to being better value (not price).** ![](/_astro/10.CuBoGxqB_Z2uP2fP.webp) ### Part 6: Category by Category There are of course many different factors affecting each category of products. For a full breakdown including your category, please get in contact (). The key points: - As one would expect, Shoppers are cutting back on “luxuries”, and spending more on cheaper staples. This means cutting back on alcohol, confectionery, snacks, and skin care, but spending more in Frozen Veg, Frozen Meat Alternatives, and Pet Food. - Branded products continue to dominate in areas like alcohol, pet food, and baby food, whilst supermarket private brands are starting to dominate in the frozen categories as well as the home baking area. The battleground, where shoppers are buying both branded and supermarket private brand, is in confectionery, snacks, and cleaning products. These are the areas brands need to act immediately on the value communication for shoppers. ### Part 7: Channel Shoppers are switching back to supermarket stores, at the expense of convenience stores, online delivery, and rapid delivery, as costs bite. ![](/_astro/11.FiyShwGJ_ZEuRYr.webp) How do you do your grocery shopping? Post-pandemic, shoppers feel that large stores give them the option to shop for better prices across the whole range of a category, feeling that better priced products are hidden or deprioritised online. And large supermarkets are being seen to be doing a better job at helping shoppers in this time of need. When asked “*Who’s helping you achieve your budget targets?*”, 42% of shoppers believe that supermarkets are helping them meet their budgetary constraints. There is a role for brands to do more here: just 11% of shoppers think brands are helping them. Partnering with retailers to create better value communication is the opportunity, at a brand level (not a manufacturer level). In a very telling final stat, just 7% of shoppers believe the government are helping achieve their budget targets. That is partially why we believe there’s a bigger opportunity for brands and retailers to win here. ## So what? - Shoppers are visiting fewer retailers. Aldi is ***the*** value retailer - Money-off promos, not multibuys - Now is a bad time to launch new products, unless they can turn heads - Shoppers are less focussed on quality - Fewer shoppers are only trying to buy the cheapest product from the shelf , but still 57% of shoppers anchor their decision making on the cheapest item. Does your product justify the increase? ## Who’s Already Landing the Value Message? Some brands are already doing a great job. Who are they and why’s it working? ![](/_astro/12.CZdPrq7r_12KeME.webp) **Hellmann’s: Make Taste, Not Waste** Hellmann’s are communicating that mayonnaise should be a staple in the fridge. It’s a versatile ingredient that can be added to any leftover ingredients to make a new tasty dish, and reducing food waste, as an additional sustainability benefit. This works for us for 3 reasons: 1. Helping shoppers meet their budgetary needs by quickly and easily making dishes with leftovers 2. Less food waste: a sustainability angle that shoppers care about 3. New and interesting recipes: as more shoppers switch from out-of-home dining to at-home, shoppers are on the lookout for new and interesting recipes, and even better as a cheaper alternative ![](/_astro/13.BJUJ1piW_Z1oOiVj.webp) **Tide’s “Turn to Cold”** The detergent brand have been leading with their new formulation allowing for washing on a lower temperature, thus saving on energy bills. This has been supported in a fun way, not a patronising way, with ad campaigns including Stone Cold Steve Austin and Ice-T “cold-calling” customers to educate them on the benefits. This works as we’ve seen how saving money on energy bills is a major concern for shoppers. A new behaviour has to be adopted by consumers. This is normally hard, but needs a clear message. “Save $100 a year on energy bills by using our product rather than a competitor” is a very compelling value message. ![](/_astro/14.BmO7RlKj_Z1tERxW.webp) **Imperial Leather Brand Re-Launch** Imperial Leather recently relaunched with a more premium offering with refreshed packaging. Improved formulation and fragrances mean the brand are backing up price increases put through to shoppers. Just putting through price increases as a result of material costs soaring is a sure-fire way of making shoppers switch to cheaper private label offerings. A brand justifying those price increases can still turn shoppers’ heads. ## What Should Brands be Doing? Brands need action plans across 7 different areas. 1. **Launching smaller packs** (not shrinkflation, but noticeably smaller packs) 2. **Communicate value** (servings and savings to trade up from the cheapest on the shelf) 3. **Premium Tiers** (especially when pushing through a price increase) 4. **“Interesting” new products** (new products have to stand out more in 2023) 5. **Aldi Strategy** (*the* value retailer, and they’re not going away) 6. **Brand and Retailer Partner Messaging** (being seen to “help” shoppers now has the short-term win for stemming the flow to private brand, and is necessary for long term brand equity) 7. **Money-off Promos** (we’re training shoppers to search for deals, so that’s what they’re looking for, but what’s the long term effect here?) As a brand you need a quantified approach to take to your retail customers across these areas. Shopper behaviour is changing, fast. Traditional research methods move too slowly. You need to test now to make sure your strategies are going to land with shoppers at-shelf. If you don’t more shoppers will continue switching to cheaper products, and they won’t switch back. At [Vazen](/), we’re on hand to test these strategies through testing shelf changes in front of thousands of real shoppers, completed in 3–5 working days. If you’re looking to stem the flow of shoppers to private label, or work out how to launch your innovation, contact us () to see how we can help you. ![](/_astro/15.2EYbngKW_Z23oESF.webp) *Nick Theodore is the Founder & CEO at Vazen. With leading proprietary technology, Vazen create virtual environments of stores to help retailers and brands test changes to shelves in front of thousands of real shoppers.* ## Testing times: 6 themes from Vazen testing in 2021 | Vazen Source: /resources/testing-times-6-themes-from-vst-testing-in-2021.md # Testing times: 6 themes from Vazen testing in 2021 Most years are dynamic in CPG strategy, but this year has been one of the busiest. If 2020 was defined by ‘stay at home’ orders and a rush… 3 January 2022 Most years are dynamic in CPG strategy, but this year has been one of the busiest. If 2020 was defined by ‘stay at home’ orders and a rush to online stores, 2021 was the opportunity for in-store shopping to bounce back. Considering this, it’s little wonder that Vazen has conducted 150+ research projects across the globe in the last 12 months, big and small. And throughout them all, we’ve noticed 6 key themes rising to the surface. These themes reflect back the year that retail has seen: shoppers have retained some price sensitivity, supply chains have been threatened, and health and sustainability have been common concerns for both sides of the market. If you still have unanswered questions hanging over your retail strategy for early 2022, it’s not too late to test them. Just [get in touch](/contact) with the Vazen team. Or keep reading for our insights summary of 2021’s year in retail insights. ## Range rationalization: are shoppers overwhelmed by choice? Gallup’s ‘[Global Emotions Report](https://www.gallup.com/analytics/349280/gallup-global-emotions-report.aspx)’, surveying 160,000 people in 16 countries, confirmed what most of us could have assumed: that 2020 was officially the most stressful year for the last 15 years. When asked, 40% of adults agreed that they experienced stress the previous day, a record high. And while we don’t often think of the supermarket as being a stressful place (unless you’ve got small family members in tow), consumers have long been at risk of ‘choice paralysis’, overwhelmed by the sheer quantities of options available. In 2021, we worked with a number of retail and brand owners to combat this complexity. And testing the hypothesis of range rationalization had some very interesting results indeed. We found that simplifying ranges correlated to an increase in sales and shoppers finding the category a better shopping experience. That was true across categories and markets, but in some areas reducing the number of products by as much as 20% (a significant leap) resulted in a 5+% sales increase. How could complexity of choice be minimized for your brand in 2022? ## Point-of-sale steps up Vazen has long been an advocate of in-store signage at the point of purchase. In the UK, the first week of September saw 2021’s [highest supermarket footfall](https://www.kantar.com/uki/inspiration/fmcg/2021-wp-uk-shopping-patterns-show-flicker-of-change-as-commuters-return) outside of the Easter weekend. If people return to grocery aisles as expected, brand owners and retailers need to be vying for their attention. Get your point-of-sale signage right, and it can have as much as a 12+% increase in sales for your category and a 40+% increase in brand sales. Not sure what the ‘right’ messaging is? [We can help](/contact) test your theories. ## Location, location, location Where a shopper can find your product in-store also plays an important role for standout and implicit comprehension: “Which category should my product sit in? Should we be adjacent to the rest of the brand, or with the specialty-purpose products?”. Testing is almost certainly the easiest and most accurate way to explore your options. And we’ve seen that either location strategy works well, depending on the product or NPD. The strength of your brand, the category you’re in, the purpose of a shopper’s trip and their mindset all contribute to the best solution. Do shoppers start their visit knowing they need your product or do they just need *something* that will serve a purpose? Consumer research exploring this, alongside a [real-life shelf test](/platform/testing), will usually provide an answer. ## The pricing pinch At the start of 2021, the Vazen team was busy running multiple pricing tests. Typically, this is an indicator of potential recessions or cost increases based on supply chain issues coming down the line. Sounds about right for the world we’re living in! Rounding off the year, these cost pressures have now been widely reported on, but our early insight gathering allowed brands to understand where they *can* pass on cost increases to shoppers, and where they *can’t*. Own/private label brands continue to be an appealing proposition for shoppers and price testing is a fantastic way to stem the flow and retain your place in the competitive market. ## Value: both in terms of sustainability and price We wrote earlier in the year about the sustainability trend, one that will shape 2022’s NPD and retail strategies for sure. But we’ve witnessed an increased interest from brand owners regarding on-pack sustainability messaging and reassuring on value. This comes from the brand-side push to fill “air gaps” in the boxing process: saving both on packaging materials, while also offering up a compelling low-carbon message. But how much do shoppers *really* need to know about this behind-the-scenes initiative? Vazen’s testing indicated that phrases such as “same weight, same value, less plastic” are only needed when shoppers are genuinely concerned about value. And for those instances, we expect to see supporting copy like this across a variety of packaging in 2022 and beyond. ## Health and ‘HFSS’ Unsurprisingly, health has been high on the consumer agenda in 2020 and 2021, but perhaps not in the way that some would expect. While in-store we’ve seen a boom of immunity-focused products and packaging claiming immunity-boosting benefits, the testing focus has been on another health opportunity. In the UK specifically, a new legislature will come into effect in 2022 for products with High Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS). And if you’re an affected brand owner, you need to make a plan. Vazen has tested the impact of a reduction in promotional space, promotional mechanics and different shelf locations across categories associated with HFSS, and we can help you navigate the coming change. This legislation is arriving at a time where shoppers are *actively* avoiding less-healthy items, where better-for-you products are receiving a promotional boost, and are starting to *look* tastier! The result? We’re expecting one of the most seismic shifts in grocery for the last 50 years. Have you honed your messaging and strategy for HFSS? ## There’s still time to test in 2021 If you have 3 to 5 days, then we can get you answers. Vazen performs CPG smart-shelf testing, range rationalization, strategic assortment changes, and more. We have access to 22 million consumers across the globe and tests really can be completed in as little as 3 working days. [Get in contact today](/contact). ## The AI Opportunity Hiding in Your Planogram Data | Vazen Source: /resources/the-ai-opportunity-hiding-in-your-planogram-data.md # The AI Opportunity Hiding in Your Planogram Data The hidden cost of ignoring shelf data, and the upside of fixing it. 5 August 2025 ***Written by Joshua Evans, CTO & Co-Founder, Vazen*** AI promises to revolutionize retail - but only if it’s grounded in the right data. For most, that foundation is incomplete. While retailers invest heavily in AI-powered personalization, pricing, and supply chain optimization, one of the most commercially critical areas remains underutilized: the shelf. Planogram data is a foundational enabler of AI. Yet in many organizations, it remains siloed, unstructured, and disconnected from the broader data ecosystem. If your organization is investing millions in AI but overlooking the quality of your foundational data assets, you’re building advanced capability on unstable ground - and limiting its ability to deliver meaningful, scalable impact. ![](/_astro/01.C5fUx0K-_Z1qkrOF.webp) [The AI Hierarchy of Needs by Monica Rogati](https://hackernoon.com/the-ai-hierarchy-of-needs-18f111fcc007) ## The Shelf Is Still a Data Blind Spot Retailers have built sophisticated data infrastructure across loyalty, supply chain, and online commerce. But in the physical store - where 70–80% of purchasing decisions are made - **planogram systems still operate in isolation**. This disconnect is driven by three longstanding challenges: - **Legacy planogram platforms** not designed for integration, scalability, or collaboration - **Unstructured and inconsistent planogram formats**, making them difficult to query or visualise - **Sensitive commercial data** embedded within files, limiting shareability - **A lack of archiving and history**, meaning data is being discarded rather than collated into a valuable asset   - **Planogram data was not built to be stored historically**, meaning only the ‘live view’ is available with no history to train any datasets The result? The shelf is left behind. Teams make assumptions where there should be evidence. And AI applications - which rely on structured, dynamic data - are unable to operate. ## Shelf Data As Infrastructure for AI AI is only as effective as the data it receives.\ Structured, current planogram data is the foundation for a wide range of high-impact applications: 1. **Predictive Space Planning** AI models can analyze historical sales, footfall, seasonality, and weather to suggest space adjustments at the category or store level - optimizing layouts in advance of demand shifts. 2. **Generative Simulation** Planogram variants can be tested virtually using generative models, identifying potential improvements before physical execution - reducing costs and increasing speed to shelf. 3. **Operational Agility** The original ambition for store-specific planograms was deep personalization - aligning assortments to each store’s shopper profile. But in recent conversations with retailers, that goal is being reconsidered. The real benefit, they’ve found, isn’t hyper-personalization - it’s operational flexibility. Retailers are realizing that store-level planograms make it easier to customize shelves more frequently, keep up with category trends, and move faster - without being locked into one major assortment reset per year. It’s not about getting every store perfectly tailored, and instead, it’s about enabling agile execution across the estate. Each of these requires shelf data that is structured, examinable, and accessible. Without it, AI strategies remain disconnected from a core revenue driver. ## The Operational and Commercial Costs of Inaction Failing to unlock planogram data has knock-on effects across the organization: - **Inefficient supplier collaboration**, with repeated requests for store-level data ​​can cost retailers and suppliers millions in lost time and delayed activation - with McKinsey estimating that poor execution driven by data gaps results in up to 20% lost sales for CPG partners annually - **Increased in-store labor burden**, with teams chasing non-compliance without visibility - **Misaligned commercial planning**, as JBP sessions rely on estimates, not evidence - **Underperformance at the shelf**, where layout and execution lack optimization at scale burns tens of millions: planogram non‑compliance typically costs retailers a staggering **$1 million to $30 million per store annually** - **Missed bottom line revenue,** from an existing dataset collecting dust These are not theoretical losses. In large-scale operations, small improvements in planogram accuracy, compliance, or adaptability can drive multi-billion-pound impacts in revenue and cost savings. ## What Leading Retailers Are Doing Differently Retailers like Tesco have already changed their approach. By systematically sharing structured, non-sensitive planogram data securely with suppliers, they’ve: - Reduced pressure on internal commercial and insights teams - Increased the quality & depth of collaboration with CPG partners - Created a foundation for more agile, AI-driven planning - Enabled in-store teams to execute the plan better - Built a foundational data source capable of powering future AI models & applications This shift has allowed Tesco to move beyond manual workflows and into scalable, insight-led shelf execution - while improving data governance and control. ## How Vazen Supports This Transformation Vazen’s Coplan enables retailers to make this shift without overhauling existing systems. How we drive real change, really fast: - Connect directly to your current planogram infrastructure - Extract and standardize key data fields (excluding margin or other sensitive inputs) - Maintain and refresh visual shelf images across the estate - Provide suppliers with controlled access via a secure browser-based interface - Feed clean, structured shelf data into AI-ready formats - Provide a secure repository of planogram history for tracking The platform creates a dynamic view of what’s planned, what’s executed, and where opportunities lie - at scale. This is not about digitizing old processes. It’s about **enabling a new operating model for the shelf.** ## Retailers Who Act Now Will Lead the Next Phase of AI Adoption The competitive gap is already widening. CPGs are investing heavily in AI-led category growth. Those who can bring structured shelf data to the table will set the terms of collaboration, and the pace of innovation. Conversely, those who continue to treat planogram systems as internal-only tools risk falling behind in areas ranging from store performance to strategic partnerships. The shift to AI at the shelf is not a matter of if - but when. And the retailers who move first will realize the benefits fastest. ## Top 5 Shelf Execution Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them) | Vazen Source: /resources/top-5-shelf-execution-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them.md # Top 5 Shelf Execution Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them) The executional blind spots costing brands sales at the shelf. 1 February 2026 Landing a spot on the shelf is just the start. Getting it seen, picked up, and purchased? That’s a different game entirely. In our work with CPG brands and retailers, we’ve reviewed thousands of in-store and virtual shelf scenarios, and see the same patterns emerge. While every brand has its own challenges, the same executional blind spots show up again and again. Here are five of the most common mistakes category, insights, and trade teams make, and how to avoid them. ## 1. Assuming visibility = presence Being on the shelf doesn’t mean being seen.\ We’ve tested SKUs placed in “prime” locations that get completely ignored, while less obvious products drive surprising sales because they’re clearly communicated. **The fix:** Test for visibility, not just placement. Ask: - Does the product catch the eye among competitors? - Can shoppers identify what it is in under 2 seconds? - Is the price or message clear at a glance? ## 2. Overloading the pack with too much messaging This is a big one - especially with new product launches or rebrands.\ We often see packs trying to say everything at once - functional claims, emotional benefits, sustainability cues, price comparisons, certifications, lifestyle language, and more. The result? Nothing lands. Or worse, shoppers skip it entirely. **The fix:** Simplify. Prioritise one message and make it count.\ In one Vazen test, a pack with a simple 3-word benefit outperformed a version with layered claims by 17% on conversion. ## 3. Ignoring the context of the shelf Products don’t live in isolation. They sit among competitors, distractions, promotions, signage, and price tags, and those things change how they’re perceived. We’ve seen great packs underperform because they blended in too well. And others outperform because they stood out just enough. **The fix:** Always evaluate performance *in context.*\ That means testing the product in realistic shelf conditions, not a standalone pack mockup on a white background. Behavioral data will tell you how well the product performs when it’s surrounded by noise, which is the real test. ## 4. Using the wrong promotional mechanic for the category “Price promo” isn’t a one-size-fits-all tactic.\ In some categories, multi-buys drive volume. In others, they confuse. A “2 for £5” can outperform a “save £1.50” (or vice versa) depending on what the shopper expects from the category. We’ve run tests where two nearly identical discounts performed dramatically differently based on how they were framed. **The fix:** Tailor the mechanic to your shopper.\ Test different offers with real behavior, not just preference surveys. The best-performing promo isn’t always the deepest discount. It’s the one that feels the most valuable *in that moment.* ## 5. Failing to pressure-test planograms before rollout Too often, range changes and layout decisions get finalised in static PDFs or spreadsheets. Then they go live, and that’s when problems surface. Poor flow, hidden SKUs, illogical adjacencies, missed opportunities. **The fix:** Simulate the planogram before committing. Whether it’s for a new category vision, range reset, or fixture of the future, test it virtually first. See how real shoppers navigate the layout, where they pause, where they switch, and which SKUs get left behind. A small tweak in shelf order or product spacing can drive outsized results, but only if you catch it early. ## The common thread? Assumptions. Most of these mistakes happen when teams rely on intuition, legacy data, or internal consensus instead of real behavior. Most category reviews are fast, political, and resource-constrained. But that’s exactly why behavioral evidence matters more than ever. With virtual shelf testing, you can learn what works (and what doesn’t) before you go live. It’s fast, flexible, and far more realistic than focus groups or post-mortems. ## Final Thought Shelf execution is just as strategic as it is operational. And in a market where budgets are tight and shelf space is tighter, the teams that test, iterate, and learn in advance will win more consistently and waste less. Want to see what your shelf strategy looks like through shopper eyes? Let’s test it virtually, with real decisions, not just opinion. ## Unlock the Value of Planogram Data: A New Frontier for Retailer and CPG Collaboration | Vazen Source: /resources/unlock-the-value-of-planogram-data-a-new-frontier-for-retailer-and-cpg-collaboration.md # Unlock the Value of Planogram Data: A New Frontier for Retailer and CPG Collaboration Over the past two decades, the value of shared data at the retailer-CPG interface has been proven time and again. Data-driven retailers… 4 July 2023 Over the past two decades, the value of shared data at the retailer-CPG interface has been proven time and again. Data-driven retailers consistently outperform their peers, leveraging transactional, customer, and inventory data to make smarter decisions across their value chain. On the supplier side, CPGs that effectively utilize data from their retail partners achieve better execution in-store, translating into measurable sales growth and operational efficiency. Winning CPGs (those growing faster than their competitors) are 2.2X more likely to use store-level insights according to [research by McKinsey](https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/consumer%20packaged%20goods/our%20insights/winning%20in%20consumer%20packaged%20goods%20through%20data%20and%20analytics/a-tight-race-in-consumer-packaged-goods-how-to-break-out-and-win-with-big-data-tools-and-insights.pdf). ![](/_astro/01.wXps6LcW_Z2cGfju.webp) However, those store-level insights have not been made available from retailers for brands in the past leaving a gap in the data-driven category management process. Despite its importance, planogram data is rarely shared between retailers and their supplier partners. This leaves significant untapped potential for both sides. Today, individual store-level planograms are designed based on localized shopper insights and can change week to week, from store allocations to product, assortment and space changes. This data is the key to unlocking better execution, increased efficiency, and stronger sales growth. ## The Hidden Value in Planogram Data For most retailers, planogram data has been a hidden asset. But when shared in a consistent data model to create shelf visuals, planogram analytics, and store mapping, it transforms into: 1. **A new revenue stream:** Generate $millions in additional vendor funding by sharing a high-value, hard-to-get dataset, 2. **Accelerated innovation:** Suppliers can use this data for faster and more effective testing of new products, layouts, and promotions. 3. **Enhanced retail media integration:** Planogram data sets the stage for highly targeted retail media campaigns, aligning shelf space with shopper marketing strategies. 4. **Infrastructure for AI capabilities:** Building predictive analytics from a consistent data model This is where retailers can (and are) starting to leverage their competitive advantage. There are a number of reasons why retailers haven’t shared this previously. 1. **Planogram software systems were not designed for category management collaboration.** These systems often contain sensitive information such as margin data making it challenging to extract and share only what’s relevant for suppliers. 2. **The complexity of the data.** With thousands of plans multiplied by stores, products, and dimensions, planogram data can easily grow into billions of rows. Managing and updating this at the frequency required, daily or weekly, demands the advanced computing power of modern cloud-based infrastructure. 3. **There hasn’t been a better alternative.** Retailer teams either get overwhelmed in tactical requests from suppliers, or simply opt to withhold the data altogether. By addressing these challenges, Vazen provides retailers with a secure, scalable, and effortless way to share planogram data, unlocking its full potential for mutual benefit. ## Tesco: Leading the Way in Planogram Data Sharing Tesco, widely recognized as a pioneer in leveraging and sharing data, has taken the lead in the industry by partnering with dunnhumby and [Vazen](/) to systematically share store-level planogram data with their supplier partners. This forward-thinking approach is driving better collaboration with CPGs by enabling them to: - See shelves as your shoppers do, with high-resolution shelf images, for any store - Perform deeper store-back analysis to identify actionable opportunities. - Make data-driven recommendations that improve execution and shelf performance. - Reduce inefficiencies and costs related to manual store visits by relying on accurate, real-time planogram data. - Innovate faster by testing and optimizing in-store activations with greater precision. - Secure more CPG resource by starting with an agreed-upon transparent dataset - Support JBPs by working together to improve the category On top of this, the commitment to the data layer provides even further opportunities for the future. ## The Future: AI and GenAI Opportunities As AI and generative AI technologies continue to reshape retail, planogram data will serve as critical infrastructure. Imagine automated systems that: - Predict optimal shelf layouts and space dynamically based on sales trends, weather, and promotions, even down to time of day. - Generate hyper-localized recommendations tailored to individual store demographics. - Test and iterate layouts in virtual environments before implementing them in physical stores. Retailers who unlock the potential of planogram data with their CPG partners will be positioned to win in the future, leveraging cutting-edge AI tools for competitive advantage. ## What Next? Retailers that partner with [Vazen](/) to systematically share their planogram data with suppliers will unlock immediate value while laying the foundation for future innovation. The IT integration with your existing planogram system is seamless. We guide you through setting up the data feed, and from there, we handle the rest. To learn more about how to unlock the value in your planogram data, contact Nick at [Vazen](/) (). ![](/_astro/02.DWdvrDYW_sdlUg.webp) ## Vazen Is Heading Stateside | Vazen Source: /resources/vst-is-heading-stateside.md # Vazen Is Heading Stateside We've opened our first U.S. office in Bentonville, bringing our shelf-first approach to one of the most important hubs in global retail. 1 January 2025 Over the past few years, Vazen has grown around a simple belief that the shelf is one of the most important (and most underused) sources of data in retail. Every category decision eventually shows up there. Range changes, new products, promotions, pricing, spacing, allocation. Yet historically, teams have had limited visibility into what’s actually happening on shelf, and even less ability to test ideas before they go live in stores. Vazen was built to change that. And today we’re taking the next step in that journey. We’ve officially opened our first U.S. office in **Bentonville, Arkansas**. ## Why Bentonville If you work in grocery retail, Bentonville needs no explanation. It’s home to Walmart and one of the most important hubs in the global CPG ecosystem. Category teams, insights leaders, suppliers, agencies, and retail technology companies all operate here, shaping how products show up in stores across the United States. For Vazen, it’s the natural place to expand. Over the past several years we’ve built strong momentum in the UK and Europe, working with global brands including Nestlé, Unilever, Reckitt, Mars, Heineken and Danone to help them test merchandising strategies, validate new product launches, and understand how shoppers actually behave at the shelf. Opening an office in Bentonville allows us to work much more closely with U.S. teams making those same decisions. ## What Vazen Does Vazen exists to help brands and retailers win with shoppers. We focus on the shelf itself, helping teams see what’s happening there, test what should change, and deliver execution that drives category growth. Two core technologies sit at the centre of that work. **Smarter Shelf Testing** allows teams to test in-store changes in virtual, shoppable environments built from real planogram data. Layout changes, new product launches, packaging, pricing, signage and promotional mechanics can all be tested with real shoppers before implementation. What traditionally took months through physical trials can now be tested in days, giving teams robust, retailer-ready evidence before decisions are made. **Coplan** tackles the challenge of visibility. Planogram data is one of the most valuable datasets in retail, yet it’s often locked away in static files or difficult systems. Coplan ingests that data, visualises it and makes it accessible to the teams who need it - category managers, insights teams, shopper marketers and field sales. Coplan launched in 2022 with Tesco in the UK and today covers a large proportion of the UK grocery market. This year we also launched the platform with Co-op, further expanding retailer participation. Dozens of CPG companies now use the platform every day to understand distribution, space allocation and shelf layout. Together, these products allow teams to both see the shelf clearly and test how it should evolve. ## Why the U.S., and Why Now Many of the brands we already work with operate globally, and increasingly their U.S. teams have been asking how these capabilities can support their category work here. At the same time, retailers are exploring how better access to planogram data can support collaboration with suppliers and unlock new value from existing assets. Being based in Bentonville allows us to work much more closely with those teams - in the same time zone, in the same ecosystem, and often in the same room. It also gives us a base to grow relationships across the Northwest Arkansas retail community, which has become one of the most important centres of gravity in the industry. ## The Next Chapter for Vazen Opening a U.S. office is about bringing the capabilities we’ve built in Europe to a market where the scale of retail and the pace of decision making is enormous. We’re excited to begin this next chapter from Bentonville and to work alongside the retailers, brands and partners shaping the future of grocery retail in the U.S. And like everything we do at Vazen, the focus remains the same - helping brands and retailers win with shoppers. If you’re based in the U.S. and interested in how Vazen could support your category, insights or merchandising work, we’d love to [talk](/contact). ## VST is now Vazen: the retail data AI platform | Vazen Source: /resources/vst-is-now-vazen-the-retail-data-ai-platform.md # VST is now Vazen: the retail data AI platform Same company, same team, same nine years of category evidence. Wider frame. 30 July 2026 **VST is now Vazen.** Nine years ago we set out to make store trials virtual. Since then, with a lot of help from our clients, we’ve grown into something wider: the retail data AI platform behind category, shelf and commercial decisions at some of the world’s biggest brands and retailers. Today the name catches up. Same company. Same team. Same partners. Same nine years of category evidence. Wider frame. Here’s what changed, and why it’s a step forward for the category teams, retailers and partners we work with. ## Nine years of unglamorous work We started in 2017 with a straightforward idea that store trials should not have to happen in real stores. Testing a shelf or a pack meant weeks of setup, real fixtures and real cost. We built a way to put virtual shelves in front of real shoppers instead, in controlled conditions that isolate what actually drives a response. That work never stopped. It also grew into something wider. To test shelves properly, we had to ingest planogram and shopper behavioural data at scale from the retailers and brands who trusted us with it. We had to clean it, structure it and run primary research on it to turn it into evidence people could act on. Somewhere along the way, “Virtual Store Trials” stopped describing the whole company. It described one thing we do well. The curated data layer we had built underneath had no name at all. ## What changed this year For most of those nine years, the hard part was the data. Retail feeds arrive messy, inconsistent and out of date. The value was in the years of curation, cleaning and structuring that turned them into something a team could trust. This year, that groundwork paid off in a new way. AI became good enough to reason reliably over curated retail data. Point a model at a messy feed and you get confident nonsense. Point one at nine years of structured, row-level-verifiable data and you get analysis your team would usually wait weeks for, delivered in minutes. That is what earned the new name. Vazen (say it “Vay-zen”) is the layer underneath: the data and AI foundation that shelf and commercial decisions are built on. ## One platform, four products Vazen is the retail data AI platform. It brings retailer data, brand data and open source context together in one secure layer, handling ingestion, curation and security for everything above it. Four products sit on top. **Coplan** is where brands and retailers plan together, working from the same shelf and sales data instead of emailing files back and forth. If you knew it as Planogram Publisher, this is the same tool with a name that fits the platform. It is live with Tesco and Co-op today. **Studio** is for scenario planning, forecasting and predictive modelling. Model a range change, a new pack format or a shelf reset, and see what it would do to your numbers before you commit to any of it. If you knew it as Fixture Visualizer before, it is the same tool with added capabilities. **Testing** is the shopper research work that has been core to us for nine years: virtual shelves and packs in front of real shoppers, with expert-led research when a category authority needs to weigh in. For many clients it remains the initial way they work with us. **Ask Vazen** is our latest release. It answers the analytical questions you would usually wait weeks for, in minutes, grounded in curated retailer data. Every answer is traceable to the specific rows that produced it, so your team can verify the evidence before acting on it. Your data stays segregated to you, and we never train models on your data or your queries. We are rolling it out with a small set of strategic pilot clients first. ## What shared data changes The decisions that shape a category are worth millions in either direction: range plans, shelf resets, launches, forecasts, pricing, promotions, packaging. Too many of them are still made from data scattered across hundreds of spreadsheets, half of them out of date, with brands and retailers each working from their own version. The step forward is shared data both sides trust, applied at a scale people alone cannot reach. When a brand and a retailer plan from the same evidence, the conversation changes. The decisions get better, the execution gets easier, and the shopper gets a better experience at the shelf. The technology is only half of it. The development, training and ongoing support from our team is what has helped clients win with shoppers, and that does not change. ## What this means for existing clients If you already work with us, nothing you rely on has moved. Same team, same contracts, same pricing, same account manager, nothing to re-sign. Your logins carry across on launch day. Our storetrials.com addresses forward for at least six months so nothing gets missed. From now on, you will find us at vazen.com. Our company and tax registration numbers remain the same, so any commercial agreements are unaffected. ## Bring us a question If you want to see what this changes, bring us one. Pick a category question you have been trying to answer: a range review, a launch readout, a competitor shift. We will show you the evidence behind the answer. [Explore the platform](/platform) or [get in touch](/contact) to see it work on your own category. ## Vazen partners with Co-op to unlock planogram data for suppliers | Vazen Source: /resources/vst-partners-with-co-op-to-unlock-planogram-data-for-suppliers.md # Vazen partners with Co-op to unlock planogram data for suppliers For years, planogram data has existed quietly in the background of grocery retail - essential, operational, but rarely accessible to the people who need it most. 1 October 2025 ## Vazen partners with Co-op to unlock planogram data for suppliers For years, planogram data has existed quietly in the background of grocery retail - essential, operational, but rarely accessible to the people who need it most. That’s starting to change. We’ve partnered with **Co-op** to give the retailer’s branded suppliers direct access to verified, store-level planogram data through Vazen’s Coplan platform. Resulting in clearer visibility at shelf, faster decision-making, and better collaboration between Co-op and its supplier base. ### What’s launching The partnership will begin with a four-week trial involving five suppliers, before rolling out more broadly across the Co-op supplier estate. Through Coplan, suppliers will be able to: - See exactly **what’s listed, where it’s placed, and how it’s executed** across Co-op’s store estate - Replace fragmented, manual processes with **one live source of planogram truth** - Align category decisions, activations and field execution with real store layouts For Co-op, opening up planogram data supports its wider ambition to deliver a best-in-class buying experience for suppliers - removing friction, improving transparency, and enabling smarter, faster commercial conversations. ### Why this matters now Planogram data is one of retail’s most under-utilised assets. It sits at the intersection of category strategy, store operations, retail media and execution - yet it’s historically been locked away or slow to access. By making planogram data available to strategic supplier partners, Co-op is enabling: - Better-informed investment decisions - Faster activation of in-store initiatives - More effective collaboration across commercial, category and insights teams - Stronger category outcomes at shelf As retailers face increasing pressure to move faster, reduce inefficiencies and unlock new revenue streams, shelf data is becoming foundational infrastructure, not a back-office afterthought. ### A step forward for supplier–retailer collaboration > “For years, planogram data has been an underused asset in retail,” said Nick Theodore, CEO & Founder, Vazen. “We’re excited to announce our launch of Coplan in partnership with Co-op. It’s a big step forward in making Co-op’s planogram data available to their most strategic CPG partners to unlock category growth across their stores.” Tom Bradley, Commercial Director at Co-op, added: > “As the leading UK convenience retailer, our aim is to run the best small shops providing quality products and great value for our members and customers, and to do that we need cutting edge processes and data access behind the shelf edge. This new partnership will give brands direct sight of planogram data which will remove friction, and create transparency, enabling smarter conversations and more agile execution.” ### What Coplan enables Coplan brings live planogram data into one shared workspace, making it usable, searchable and actionable for both retailers and brands. It gives commercial, category, insights and field teams: - A clear view of on-shelf reality across stores - Faster alignment between strategy and execution - A foundation for more effective retail media, range reviews and in-store optimisation This partnership reflects a wider shift in the industry - retailers are beginning to operationalise and monetise shelf data, and brands are demanding tools that help them act with confidence. If you want to learn more about Coplan and how it’s being used to unlock value from shelf data, get in touch with us directly at . ## What is a retail data AI platform? A guide for CPG brands and retailers | Vazen Source: /resources/what-is-a-retail-data-platform.md # What is a retail data AI platform? A guide for CPG brands and retailers What the category does, how it differs from BI and planogram tools, and what to ask when evaluating one. 18 August 2026 A retail data platform brings retailer data, brand data and open-source signals together in one governed layer, so that category, insights and commercial teams work from a single version of the truth instead of hundreds of spreadsheets. It handles the unglamorous work: ingesting messy feeds, cleaning and structuring them, connecting them to each other, and making them securely accessible to people, software and AI. That is the short answer. The longer answer is about why this category of software exists at all, and it starts with a problem every CPG team recognises. ## The problem: retail data arrives broken Most brands already have the data they need. Planogram exports from one retailer, EPOS from another, syndicated panels, their own shipment numbers. What they do not have is a place where any of it agrees with itself. Every retailer names products differently. Product codes differ. Store estates change shape mid-analysis. So the first week of any serious piece of category work is spent merging files into a spreadsheet, and by the time the merge is finished, the data is stale. The analysis that follows inherits every inconsistency the merge missed. The result is familiar to anyone who has sat in a range review or assortment change: a brand and a retailer looking at two different versions of the same shelf, debating whose numbers are right instead of what to do about them. A retail data platform exists to remove that debate. It does the reconciliation once, correctly, for everyone, so the conversation can move from whose data to trust to what the data says. ## What a retail data platform does Six capabilities define the category. A genuine platform does all of them; a tool that does one or two is something narrower wearing the name. **Ingest.** It takes feeds as they arrive: planogram files, EPOS extracts, sales data, survey outputs, open-source context. Arrival formats are the platform’s problem, never the user’s. **Govern.** Every product, store and week is mapped to one master definition. Duplicates are resolved, gaps flagged, changes versioned. Governance is what makes an answer defensible in front of a retail buyer. **Connect.** Shelf data joins sales data joins shopper data. This is where most stacks fail: planogram software holds the shelf, a BI tool holds the sales, a research agency understands the shopper, and nothing joins them. The insight lives in the join. A shelf change means nothing without the sales movement behind it, and a sales movement means little without knowing what the shelf looked like when it happened. **Model.** Cleaned, connected data supports modelling: forecasting a range change, simulating a shelf reset, predicting what a new pack format does to the category. **Secure.** Retailer data carries commercial sensitivity. A platform enforces segregation, so each brand sees its own view and a retailer’s data is shared on the retailer’s terms. **Access.** People query it, software builds on it, and AI reasons over it. If the data is trapped inside one application, it is an application, and applications do not compound. ## Retail data platform vs BI tool vs planogram software A **BI tool** draws charts on top of whatever data you feed it. It does nothing about the week you spent making that data agree with itself. Point a BI tool at unreconciled feeds and you get beautiful charts of contradictory numbers. **Planogram software** builds and manages shelf plans. Essential, but it typically holds only the shelf. The sales and shopper evidence that justify a plan live somewhere else. A **retail data platform** sits underneath both. It is the layer that makes the charts trustworthy and the shelf plans evidence-led, because everything above it draws from the same governed data. The test when evaluating: ask the vendor what happens when two retailers describe the same product differently. A platform has a specific, boring, engineering-shaped answer. A dashboard changes the subject. ## Why AI made the data layer decisive Until recently, a messy data foundation was an inefficiency. Teams absorbed it with analyst hours. In 2026 it is a hard limit, because AI has become good enough to reason reliably over retail data, but only over retail data that has been curated first. Point a language model at a raw retailer feed and you get confident nonsense: fluent analysis of numbers that were never reconciled. Point one at structured, row-level-verifiable data and you get analysis a team would usually wait weeks for, delivered in minutes, with every answer traceable to the rows that produced it. That traceability is the line between AI a category team can act on and AI it cannot. If an answer will be repeated in a retailer meeting, someone has to be able to check where it came from. The platform is what makes the checking possible. This is why the data layer, rather than the AI on top, is where an evaluation should start. The models are increasingly commoditised. The nine years of curation underneath them are hard. ## What to look for when evaluating one 1. **Is it live with named retailers?** Retail data platforms earn credibility through production deployments, because retailer integration is the hard part. Vazen’s platform is live with Tesco and Co-op today; whoever you evaluate, ask for the equivalent. 2. **Can every answer be traced to source rows?** If an output cannot be verified against the data that produced it, it cannot be used with a buyer. 3. **Does it join shelf, sales and shopper data?** These are one problem. A vendor treating them as three is selling you the fragmentation the category exists to remove. 4. **How is data segregated?** Ask specifically how one brand’s data is kept from another, and whether your data or queries are used to train models. The acceptable answer to the second is no. 5. **Does it feed your tools, or replace them?** A platform should make your existing stack smarter through access, exports and integrations. Rip-and-replace is a warning sign. ## How Vazen approaches it Vazen is a retail data AI platform built over nine years of doing the unglamorous part: ingesting, cleaning and structuring planogram, sales and shopper data at scale for some of the world’s biggest brands and retailers. Four products sit on the shared foundation. [Coplan](https://www.vazen.com/platform/coplan) shows what is on every shelf, [Studio](https://www.vazen.com/platform/studio) designs what should be there next, [Testing](https://www.vazen.com/platform/testing) validates it with real shoppers before anything is committed, and [Ask Vazen](https://www.vazen.com/platform/ask-vazen) answers category questions in plain language, with every answer traceable to the rows behind it. The results are the argument. Princes rebuilt the ambient tomato fixture on shared shelf and sales evidence and lifted category sales 12%. Red Bull’s field team went from shelf-checking blind to walking into stores knowing exactly what to fix, worth 7% in compliance improvement and 5% in category sales. Both stories are in [our results](https://www.vazen.com/case-studies). If you want to see what a governed data layer changes, [bring us a category question](https://www.vazen.com/contact) you have been trying to answer. We will show you the evidence behind the answer. ## Frequently asked questions **Is a retail data platform the same as a data warehouse?** No. A warehouse stores data; a retail data platform understands it. The platform ships with the retail-specific logic a warehouse leaves to you: product matching across retailers, week alignment, store hierarchies, planogram structures. Many platforms run on a warehouse underneath. **How is it different from syndicated data?** Syndicated data is one input, useful but aggregated and identical to what your competitors buy. A platform combines syndicated feeds with your retailer-direct data, your own numbers and open-source context, which is where a differentiated view comes from. **Who owns the data in a retail data platform?** The parties who contributed it. Retailer data stays the retailer’s and is shared on their terms; brand data stays the brand’s. The platform’s job is governed access across that boundary, never ownership of it. **What does AI change about the category?** AI turns data quality from an efficiency question into a capability question. Analysis that took an analyst weeks now takes minutes, but only where the underlying data has been curated to the point that a model’s answers can be verified row by row. ## What Is Shelf Testing - and Why It’s Replacing In-Store Trials | Vazen Source: /resources/what-is-shelf-testing-and-why-its-replacing-in-store-trials.md # What Is Shelf Testing - and Why It’s Replacing In-Store Trials From opinion to evidence: testing shelf decisions before they go live. 17 September 2025 The way shoppers make decisions hasn’t changed much. They still walk into a store, scan the shelf, and make snap judgments based on price, pack, familiarity, and whatever catches their eye. But what’s changed dramatically is *how* brands and retailers are learning from those decisions. Until recently, the answer was slow and often painful: in-store trials, post-launch performance reviews, or (at best) highly structured market research. But in today’s world of rapid retail resets, shrinking budgets, and escalating competition, that model no longer works. That’s where virtual shelf testing comes in. ## What is Virtual Shelf Testing? Virtual shelf testing is a research method that replicates the in-store environment using virtual technology. It gives category, insights, and marketing teams the ability to test how real shoppers behave when faced with product choices in a realistic shelf scenario. It’s a full rehearsal for your in-store execution. Participants navigate virtual shelves on desktop or mobile. They’re presented with different layouts, pricing, packaging, signage, or product mixes - and their behaviors are tracked in detail. What do they notice? What do they skip? What drives switching? What slows them down? It’s not a survey. It’s behavioral research - at scale. ## Why traditional methods fall short Real-world testing is expensive, slow, and often inconclusive. In-store trials can take months to plan, weeks to run, and more time still to interpret. Meanwhile, you’ve got promotions to plan, retailer conversations to prep for, and category reviews happening every quarter. By the time results land, it’s too late to act on them. And while qual research and diary studies have their place, they’re not built for speed or for behavioral proof. The say-do gap is real. People aren’t always aware of why they do what they do, and what they say in a focus group doesn’t always translate to what they’ll do in the aisle. Shelf testing shifts you from reacting to results to proactively shaping them. ## The behavioral edge The decisions that matter most happen in seconds. We’ve seen shoppers skip a well-priced new product launch because it was on the bottom shelf. We’ve seen a 3-word claim drive more conversion than a detailed pack rebrand. We’ve seen layout tweaks boost share of spend for premium brands without touching price. Shelf testing lets you see the moments where decisions are won or lost - in context, not in isolation. That context is everything. No pack exists in a vacuum. Shelf testing evaluates product performance surrounded by competitors, distractions, signage, and the kind of real-world pressure that traditional research just can’t simulate. ## When teams use Virtual Shelf Testing It’s not just for new product launches - although that’s a common entry point. Here are some of the most valuable use cases: - **Range reviews:** Identify which products to keep, cut, or reposition without damaging sales. - **Planogram decisions:** Find the optimal layout before rolling out at scale. - **Packaging updates:** Test whether changes help or hurt recognisability. - **Pricing strategy:** See how much shoppers will stretch for trade-up options. - **POS validation:** Check if new signage actually improves visibility and selection. - **Retailer conversations:** Bring behavioral data to sell-in meetings and strategy sessions. - **Strategic planning:** Run ‘fixture of the future’ studies to inform team-wide roadmaps, ranging standards, and best-practice playbooks. In short, it’s about learning *before* you launch - not just measuring after. ## Why this matters now Three things are true across every brand we work with: 1. Budgets are tighter than ever 2. Speed to impact is everything 3. There’s zero room for wasted shelf space You can’t afford to launch blind. And you don’t have months to wait for answers. Shelf testing gives you the confidence to act - and the speed to stay ahead. It’s also one of the few tools that *unites* marketing, insights, and category teams. Everyone gets the same behavioral truth. And suddenly, the internal debate moves from theory to evidence. ## What the best teams are doing differently They test early. They test often. They use shelf testing to reduce uncertainty - not to avoid it. And they show up to retailer meetings with behavioral proof, not just opinions. They understand that great strategy doesn’t live in spreadsheets. It lives on the shelf. They’re not using shelf testing to replace instinct or experience. They’re using it to sharpen it. Shelf testing isn’t about being trendy or tech-forward. It’s about giving your team better inputs - so you can make better decisions, faster. If you’re managing a category or launching into one, this isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s your competitive edge. ## Does it actually work? We’ve pressure-tested our virtual shelf environment against real-world results and the alignment is strong. In side-by-side studies with retailer partners, Vazen’s test findings have been validated against in-store trials, real new product launches, and actual sales data. Across these comparisons, we’ve seen up to **96% accuracy** in predicting real shopper behavior. The large panel sizes we use (typically in the thousands) consistently deliver results with **90–98% statistical confidence**. And when it comes to identifying which test cell performs best - whether it’s a pack format, layout, or pricing mechanic - our environment has shown **100% accuracy** in predicting the winning option and explaining why. For clients, that means decisions aren’t just faster -they’re validated. And they hold up in-store. ## What's In-Store 2025: Key Learnings | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-2025-key-learnings.md # What's In-Store 2025: Key Learnings A roundup of our key learnings from 2025's What's In-Store Event 27 October 2025 Last week, we hosted What’s In-Store at the Museum of Brands in London. Over 30 category and shopper marketing leaders from CPG brands came together to talk about how shoppers are changing and what that means for the industry. The opening keynote started with something unexpected. Grocery is cool. Not in a “let’s say grocery is cool” marketing way, but actually cool. Shoppers are defining themselves by what and where they buy. Paul Mescal photographed with a Sweetgreen bag caused a stir that led to a flurry of footfall and demand for the bags themselves. It became a Halloween costume. Trader Joe’s bags have become fashion statements. Being photographed shopping at the right place or carrying the right grocery bag has become a form of social currency. TikTok is glamorising grocers and legacy products - the “fridge cigarette” is a thing (look it up). Brands are creating communities of followers who’ll pay extra and become evangelists. It’s not just about what you eat anymore. It’s about the identity you project through where you shop and what’s visible in your shopping bag or fridge. And then there were the sperm worms (stick with us) - a testosterone-boosting gummy product that somehow captures how divided and strange shopper trends have become. Beneath all the cultural weirdness, something more fundamental is shifting. For the first time in over three years, more shoppers are increasing their spend in supermarkets than trying to reduce it. This isn’t because the cost of living crisis has disappeared - 71% of shoppers say it remains their number one concern. It’s because shopper behaviour has fundamentally shifted, and the groups doing different things have never been more divided. Here’s what we learned from Vazen data, brands and retailers about what’s actually working. ## Value has become personal The “new value equation” came up repeatedly across our panel with Mike Freeman from Nestlé, Nicola Gray from Reckitt, and Jimmy Corbett from Co-op. Shoppers are making trade-offs - cutting in some areas, investing where they see personal return. Value is no longer a single thing. Some prioritise convenience, others health or experiences. Even premium products are growing in convenience retail. ![Panellists in conversation at What’s In-Store 2025](/_astro/01.C28si7XP_22cP23.webp) Shopper behaviour shifts by mission and occasion. The same person buying a meal deal drink behaves completely differently when buying a bulk bottle. As Nicola put it, even in inflation, shoppers surprise by paying premiums for immediacy and convenience. The question isn’t whether shoppers will pay more - it’s whether the benefits are clear enough to justify it. Jimmy shared how Co-op is laser-focused on what constitutes value within the mission they need to show up for in each category. Top-up missions are becoming more value-oriented and moving into big box and discount. They’re re-evaluating who they’re competing with outside of just convenience, with increased focus on the role of own-brand. ## The shelf is still the battleground Even in pet food - the most planned purchase category - 45% of shoppers will make changes in-store. In confectionery and snacking, that figure reaches nearly 80%. Shoppers are influenceable at the point of decision, even when they think they’ve already decided. Planogram data tells you where products sit, how much space they have, what’s adjacent. But it doesn’t tell you how shoppers will actually behave when they’re standing at the fixture. Different shopper groups react differently to the same changes. Testing with real shoppers before you land a change is the only way to know what will actually work. How shoppers make decisions has shifted. In 2022, 61% of cost-concerned shoppers were searching for the cheapest product at-shelf. That’s now dropped to 47%. They’re still identifying the cheapest product first - not necessarily to buy it, but as their anchor point. Your product needs to justify the price increase from that anchor. This is the journey we’ve been tracking. It started as price versus price. Then it became value versus price - where experience, convenience, and ethics played a role. Now it’s benefits versus price. Shoppers will pay more, but only when the benefits are clear enough to justify moving away from their anchor. ## Health trends are divided (and misunderstood) Obesity is one of the lowest concerns for shoppers in the UK. Yet industry talk is dominated by GLP-1 drugs and impending doom for grocery. The reality? More people are looking to boost testosterone - 30% of shoppers, particularly younger males - than are interested in GLP-1s. GLP-1 awareness is growing (46% are aware), but it’s still relatively low. The more interesting trend is testosterone boosting, because it’s so much less catered for. Or is it? The industry has been labelling everything as protein - cereal, drinks, wraps, even popcorn. But if we think about selling benefits rather than features, many shoppers are using protein to boost testosterone. We expect more explicit steps forward on guiding shoppers toward testosterone boosters in the coming year. At the same time, some of these health-focused shoppers are also driving the boom in nicotine pouches and energy drinks. Different shopper groups are doing opposite things simultaneously - and sometimes the same shoppers are doing opposite things. This creates a challenge for retailers, particularly in convenience. Co-op talked about the tension of backing health trends through range and space whilst protecting traditionally strong sellers. HFSS impacts, BWS and tobacco volume declines require increased focus on other growth missions - food to go, meals - and taking an educated leap for long-term success. ## The alcohol moderation myth 53% of people say they’re aiming to drink less alcohol. At face value, that sounds like people are turning away from drinking altogether. In conversation with Aly from Diageo, the reality proved more nuanced. It’s not a myth that people are drinking less. The myth is why. “It’s not simply ‘health’ - it’s cost of living and less disposable income,” Aly explained. Alcohol penetration has gone back to pre-COVID levels, but the occasions people drink have gone down massively. Moderation doesn’t mean stopping. It means “better, fewer” - fewer premium pints instead of many cheap ones. There’s been a big shift to experiences like Flight Club and Clays. People are also drinking other types of functional drinks - Kefir, Trip, Huel are all seeing massive growth. ![The audience at What’s In-Store 2025, Museum of Brands](/_astro/02.C81IKoTD_1GgU2n.webp) The Guinness phenomenon captures this perfectly. “The scale of what happened with Guinness, especially on 0.0, has been absolutely amazing to see,” Aly said. “The brand has firstly got the quality absolutely right, which has been an issue with other no or low products in the past, but in addition they have really captured that social experience and led with that aspect first.” It helps when Ed Sheeran and Kim Kardashian are showing off a perfectly poured pint on social media, but there’s been a massive cultural shift. ## No/low is normalised, but execution is unresolved A big trend we are starting to see is people starting with alcohol, switching to 0.0, then back again. Switching is normalised. Beer is ahead in quality foundations versus spirits, where there’s still an education gap. The taboo around drinking no/low has disappeared - people own it now. Tesco have really leaned in on their support of low / no fixtures. But the execution question remains unresolved: should low/no sit alongside alcohol, or be kept separate? ![A speaker addressing the room at What’s In-Store 2025](/_astro/03.C4FOas9I_2iJXbb.webp) The data says it’s mostly the same consumer buying both the alcohol variant and the no/low variant. Asking them to shop from two different locations isn’t optimal for the shopper mission. But there’s a moral view about potential confusion. The future might be a happy medium where packaging is dramatically different enough to easily distinguish, or a universal sign that denotes no/low. ## Sustainability is real, but not at the expense of price Only 20% say sustainability influences store choice. Consumers say they care - but when they’re at-shelf, price wins. Diageo has a 2030 Spirit of Progress plan with innovation like the Johnnie Walker Blue Label ultra bottles. Innovation exists, but cost is the barrier. The challenge is making sustainable packaging affordable. There’s also a perception barrier. Boxed wine is more sustainable, but it’s seen as low-brow. Sustainability needs to be done quietly as the right thing, not as a commercial lever - unless the brand can make it affordable without passing cost to shoppers. ## What this means for you The conversations at What’s In-Store - from the opening keynote through the brand-retailer panel to the Diageo discussion - kept circling back to the same tension. Shoppers are divided into groups doing fundamentally different things. The number reducing spend has halved in three years. More are maintaining or increasing. But they’re all still anchoring decisions on the cheapest product at-shelf. This creates a genuine challenge. If you change your offering to appeal to one segment, does it reduce appeal for another? A merchandising change that works for deal seekers might alienate premium buyers. A health-focused NPD launch might miss shoppers looking for indulgence. The fundamentals haven’t changed - get the right products on the right shelves at the right prices with the right space, kept in-stock, communicated to the right shoppers. But which shoppers are you looking to win with? The practical advice from both retailers and brands was consistent: test your changes before you land them. Planogram data tells you what’s there. Shopper testing tells you how people will actually behave when they’re standing at the fixture. Different shopper groups will react differently to the same change. On partnerships, the message was equally clear. Build around category growth, not brand growth. Keep the shopper at the centre. Bring insight retailers don’t already know - be their eyes and ears on the market. Speak their language, rooted in common customer data. The strongest relationships come from transparency, objectivity, and demonstrating incremental benefit for the category. The event reinforced something we see in our testing every week: the shelf is where strategy meets reality. Understanding how divided shopper groups are, and testing how they’ll respond to changes, is the difference between landing a change that drives category growth and one that just shifts share around. If you’d like to discuss how these shifts affect your categories, or want to test changes before they hit shelf, [get in touch with the team at Vazen](/contact). ## What's In-Store: April Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-april-2026.md # What's In-Store: April Update Hello, welcome to our April newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 April 2026 *Hello, and welcome to our April newsletter.* *This month: a €1bn acquisition, a rumoured €30bn mega-merger, a reality check on ChatGPT commerce, and protein pizza.* *We also feature a longer read on the retail trends of 2026 to look out for from leaders across the industry.* *We’re also building up to our event, Vazen “What’s In-Store” hosted in Manchester, UK on 23rd April. You can sign up below.* *As always, hit reply - we’d love to hear what category challenges you’re navigating.* [**Attend What’s In-Store**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=d050120c44\&e=85ecf80064) ## March’s Interesting Things ![Article content](/_astro/01.DijoKJEf_Z2a1RVn.webp) - [**Huel Acquired by Danone for €1bn**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=326259afd7\&e=85ecf80064) **-** In a significant win for UK entrepreneurship and CPGs globally, Danone acquired Huel - the meal supplement. This is a big bet by Danone predicated on 2 elements - GLP-1s affecting consumer needs for simple nutrition, and the need for D2C capabilities. Couple this with Danone’s global reach, this could be a huge win for both parties. It’s also a great signal of grit and hustle for a category creator, with limited capital raised (something close to our hearts at Vazen) and just a wholly impressive, efficient CPG business started from the ground up. - [**Walmart’s Sparky / ChatGPT**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=d4a1c190ec\&e=85ecf80064) **-** In this month’s reality check of Silicon Valley’s push for “everything belongs in ChatGPT”, Walmart has ended its trial of offering 200,000 products through the “Instant Checkout” function in ChatGPT. The Instant Checkout function converted shoppers to buy at ⅓ of the rate of click-out transactions. Trust is an issue here, and maybe we don’t all want to live entirely in ChatGPT (yet). - [**PROTEIN NEWS - Pizza -**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=f0c1607b2a\&e=85ecf80064) Whilst shoppers look to up their protein game, Yough, a new protein-rich pizza, has announced a significant funding round. Featuring the first frozen pizza dough made with greek yogurt. A unanimous agreement with the Vazen offices of 100% “will try”. - [**Unilever Food Business Sale**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=323cb9c7c7\&e=85ecf80064) **-** There’s a mega-merger on the horizon as Unilever looks to sell its Food Business, with McCormick looking the likely buyer for \~€30bn (or 30 Huels, if you will). This makes sense, allowing focus and splitting growth versus profit-driving categories with different supply chain needs and capex. Will be interested to see where this lands - I don’t expect McCormick to be the only bidder. - [**GLP-1s and Chocolate -**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=5950a2123c\&e=85ecf80064) For anyone who claimed GLP-1s may be destroying the “less healthy” categories in-store, Lindt released a study with Circana to show that GLP-1 users are trading up to buy more premium products along the “less is more” philosophy we’ve also seen in other categories. Given most GLP-1 users stop using within the first year, it will be interesting to see if this premiumisation is a lasting habit (something tells me it won’t). ## Vazen “What’s In-Store” Event - Manchester, UK - 23rd April ![Article content](/_astro/02.Cj9jZOGU_1u6gJq.webp) We’ve announced our lineup for our next “What’s In-Store” event at The People’s History Museum in Manchester, UK on 23rd April. We’ll be featuring case studies from Müller, Weetabix, and Co-op, and making this a practical display of how to make category management work between brands and retailers in 2026. We’ll even be letting my co-founder / CTO / work-husband tell us all about the state of AI and what we can expect this year. If you’re working on range reviews, planogram decisions, or trying to work out how AI actually fits into category management and insights, this event is for you. For the full lineup and to sign up, click below. [**View Full Lineup**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=a5bccbed65\&e=85ecf80064) ## What Does Your Category Look Like On-Shelf? ![Article content](/_astro/03.BAdF7zbE_Z174B3X.webp) Most planogram decisions are still being made on gut feel and outdated and limited assortment data. Vazen’s planogram and shelf test data lets you see exactly how your category performs in the real world and make the case for change with evidence, not opinion. If you’re heading into a range review, or just tired of guessing, we’d love to show you what we’re seeing in your category. Book some time in and we can show what the data tells us for your category. [**See What’s On-Shelf**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=dac4980609\&e=85ecf80064) ## Retail in 2026: The Practical Shifts Leaders Say Matter Most ![Article content](/_astro/04.D2IB9YHI_Z1y7l2w.webp) We asked a group of senior leaders across grocery retail one big question: what is the biggest, most meaningful shift happening in retail this year, and why does it matter? Featuring inputs from Jimmy Corbett (Head of Trading, Food to Go & Meals, Co-op), Rebecca Oliver-Mooney (Strategy & Insight Director, Hip Pop), Dr Brian Harris (IntentAI), Lucy Howe (Co-Founder, The Growth Factors), Mike Freeman (Category Manager, Nestle), Serena Smith (Head of Category On-Trade, Heineken), here are their perspectives, shared in their own words. We’re very grateful for each contributor for sharing their perspective. At Vazen, we’re always interested in (and trying to stay ahead of) the latest trends in shopper behaviour, category management, and technology. As you’ll see, the perspective from these leaders in the retail insights, data, and technology industries here cover a lot of disparate subjects. From health trends, to AI-adoption, to online shopping and analytical skills, there’s a lot that we need to be mindful of in 2026. What brings these perspectives together is that we need to move to a broader, more deliberate, insight-led decision making across the whole organisation (be that retailer, brand, or technology provider). If any of these themes resonate with challenges you’re facing, or if you see the landscape differently, we’d like to hear all about it. At Vazen, we’re always looking to connect with people who are looking forwards in the retail industry. ***And if there’s a category challenge on your mind that didn’t make this newsletter, please hit reply. I read everything!*** ## What's In-Store April: Key Learnings | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-april-2026-key-learnings.md # What's In-Store April: Key Learnings A roundup of our key learnings from April's What's In-Store Event 27 April 2026 Last week, we hosted the second What’s In-Store at the People’s History Museum in Manchester. 60+ category, shopper insight and commercial leaders from across CPG and retail came together to talk about how shoppers are really behaving, and what that means at-shelf. The opening keynote came bearing bad news. Or so it seemed. “The grocery industry is dying,” Charlotte Kiddle, Vazen’s Chief Research and Partnerships Officer, told the room. At least, that’s what you hear if you read the news about GLP-1s. The death of snacking. The death of soft drinks. The death of alcohol. The death of confectionery. People buying less. People consuming fewer calories. But we’ve been here before. Charlotte walked the room through the diet pill boom that ran from the 1950s to the 1990s - fen-phen, rainbow pills, what we’d now call amphetamines. At its peak, 80,000kg of amphetamines were being distributed across the US. Around 5% of the population were on them. Side effects included hair and teeth falling out, abnormal heart rhythms, and death. Grocery survived. Today’s GLP-1 number is 1.6m UK prescriptions, or roughly 2% of the population. Also 2% of the population: people over 85, vegans, and viewers of an episode of Channel 5’s Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly last year. The point isn’t that GLP-1s don’t matter. They do. The point is that the headline trend is too flat to be useful on its own. Beneath the noise, something more interesting is happening - and it took the rest of the morning to unpack it. Here’s what we learned. ![](/_astro/01.DyhgMJCo_ZdbK7k.webp) ## Shoppers contain multitudes The dominant narrative in CPG right now is health. GLP-1s, clean ingredients, anti-UPF, protein in everything. The reality is messier. While health is unquestionably growing, so is the opposite. Charlotte called it “un-health” - categories like BuzzBallz cocktails, ZYN nicotine pouches and energy drinks, all growing fast against the dominant story. Sometimes it’s different shoppers doing opposite things. Sometimes it’s the same shoppers doing opposite things at different times. This isn’t a contradiction to be resolved, rather the shape of how people shop. Vazen’s State of the Nation tracker, run twice yearly with a sample drawn from a base of 2,000+ UK shoppers, shows that “supporting long-term health” is what most shoppers actually mean by being healthy. GLP-1s can be part of that. So can drinking less alcohol. So can eating more protein. But so can having a BuzzBallz on a Friday. The brands and retailers who lean into one trend at the expense of others are flattening shoppers into a shape that doesn’t exist. ## Function, not features If shoppers contain multitudes, how do you actually win with them? Charlotte’s argument was that the brands cutting through right now are leading with function, not features. TRIP doesn’t sell sparkling water with adaptogens. It sells calm. Poppi doesn’t sell a soda with prebiotics. It sells gut health. Barebells doesn’t sell a high-protein drink. It sells protein, full stop. Even the Kardashian/Jenner CPG launches - Kylie’s KO, Kourtney’s Lemme, Khloe’s Khloud - lead with what the product does for you, not what’s in it. Function-led marketing isn’t new. What’s new is the scale of it, and how directly it cuts through the increasingly crowded language of “clean,” “natural,” and “high in.” When a shopper can’t easily parse one feature claim from another, what they’re left with is the question: what does this actually do for me? That question - what does this do for me - turned out to be the throughline of the morning. ## Headline trends miss what’s actually happening Lisa Manning, Customer Category Development Manager at Weetabix, opened the second half of the event with a stat that captures the gap between trend reports and reality: the cereal aisle is a £1.7bn category with 94% household penetration, present in nearly every UK home, and its layout is essentially unchanged from 15 years ago. ![](/_astro/02.B_rxfBPV_Z2kmvGl.webp) Meanwhile, protein cereal has grown 37% year on year - the fastest-growing area in the category. 21% of UK shoppers say they plan to eat more protein in 2026. Yogurt has spent the last five or six years rebuilding its fixture around health cues, creating in-store destinations that make it easy for shoppers to understand what each product does. Cereal, broadly, hasn’t moved. Lisa walked the room through how Weetabix used Vazen to make the case for a dedicated protein bay for UFIT - its £65m, 20%-growing protein RTD brand expanding into cereal. The fixture data, the retailer conversation, the bay itself going live. Two of the top four UK retailers have now made fixture changes. The opportunity, in Lisa’s framing, is bigger than what’s already happened. ## The retailer conversation is the work A category insight that doesn’t land at a retailer is a category insight that doesn’t matter. Multiple sessions came back to this. Mahrie McLean of Momentum Insights opened her workshop with a simple flip: “Don’t sell your strategy. Start building theirs.” Most CPG teams arrive at retailer meetings with a deck already polished and a strategy already built. By the time anyone’s in the room, it’s a sales pitch. Mahrie’s three-step alternative: be curious about the retailer’s reality, stop presenting and start collaborating, keep showing up after the meeting, because the follow-up is the work. ![](/_astro/03.EtN32TJi_xOXpg.webp) The Co-op panel - Charlotte Waring (Senior Category Manager, Co-op), Leanne Ainger (Category Manager, Müller), and Vazen’s Christian Martin - took the same idea into the buying room itself. The unusual context is that Müller supplies Co-op’s own-label milk and sells branded products in the same chiller. What works is shared shopper understanding, shared evidence, and a category captain relationship that’s actual ongoing work rather than a label. Jack Edwards and Niamh Quinn from Vazen landed the same point in a different shape. They closed the morning with a live walk-through of how a CPG team would actually build a retailer-ready category case from scratch, using Vazen throughout. To make it concrete, they invented a brand: GoodPup, a fictional pet food challenger spotting a real-world gap. UK dogs are getting heavier (1 in 2 are now overweight), vet costs are up, walks are down, owners feel guilty - and the pet food fixture hasn’t caught up. GoodPup’s response was a new health-led NPD called SlimPup, sized at a £20.5m RSV opportunity. The walk-through structured itself around the four questions every retailer asks: Where’s the evidence this grows the category? What space would it take? What comes out? Where does it go on shelf? Live, on stage, Jack and Niamh used Vazen to answer each one - pet fixture analysed, £6.8m category growth opportunity surfaced, three test fixtures designed and run with real shoppers, three findings retailers could act on. The point of the session wasn’t really about dog treats. It was a working demonstration of what Vazen does in the real world: turning a category insight into a retailer-ready case, end to end, in the time it takes to deliver a 30-minute talk. ![](/_astro/04.DlY0h0U2_F76tU.webp) ## The data foundation is the unlock If the morning had a single technical answer to all of the above - how do you actually engage with messy shoppers, build retailer-ready cases, and move at the speed of a category that’s shifting under you - it came in Josh Evans’s session. Josh, Vazen’s CTO and co-founder, started with a simple observation. CPG brands are sitting on enormous quantities of data. Planogram data, fixture data, sales data, shopper behaviour data, ranging history. The information needed to answer almost any category question already exists inside these businesses. It just isn’t usable. The data lives in different systems, different formats, different teams. Pulling a single clean answer out of it - “what’s our share of dedicated protein space in the top four UK grocers, and how has it shifted in the last six months?” - typically takes a data analyst, several days of manual reporting, and a senior stakeholder asking nicely. By the time the answer arrives, the question has often moved on. This is the problem Vazen has spent the last few years quietly solving. The work has been less visible than the front-end tools, but it’s the foundation underneath all of it: organising the messy data inside the world’s biggest CPG brands into clean, structured, queryable datasets - so that anything built on top can actually deliver answers in seconds rather than days. ![](/_astro/05.CCMX02H3_1vRjnr.webp) What that unlocks is meaningful. Lisa’s UFIT protein bay case, Weetabix’s retailer conversation, the SlimPup walk-through Jack and Niamh did live on stage, the post-implementation review work Müller is doing with Co-op - none of these would be possible at the speed they’re happening without the data foundation underneath. Josh demonstrated what happens once the foundation is in place: a category team can ask a question of their shelf in plain English and get a structured, accurate answer back, drawn directly from their own data. Not generic AI commentary. Not a hallucinated dashboard. Their actual planogram, fixture, and sales data, interrogated in real time. He was deliberate about where this is genuinely useful (preparing for retailer meetings, surfacing fixture patterns, understanding the impact of a range review the day after it happens) and where it isn’t (anywhere the underlying data isn’t trustworthy, or the question itself is too vague). The AI is only as good as the data it’s sitting on. The data foundation is the actual unlock. The bottleneck for most CPG teams isn’t more data. It’s the time and effort it takes to interrogate what they already have. Removing that bottleneck is what changes the conversation. ## What this means for you The conversations across the morning - from Charlotte’s opening through Mahrie, the Co-op panel, Lisa, Josh, and Jack and Niamh - kept coming back to the same tension. The headline trends in FMCG flatten what shoppers are actually doing. Health and un-health both grew last year. Protein cereal up 37% in an aisle that hasn’t moved in 15 years. The category captain relationship that works is ongoing, not transactional. ![](/_astro/06.DXUHQ4K5_2hS6ku.webp) The brands and retailers winning are the ones engaging with the messiness rather than reaching for the simplest version of the story. And the ones moving fastest are the ones whose data is set up to support that. Three practical takeaways from the morning: Build for function, not features. Shoppers don’t buy grams of protein, they buy what protein does for them. They don’t buy adaptogens, they buy calm. Lead with the benefit and let the feature support it. Treat retailer conversations as ongoing work. A retailer-ready category case takes evidence the retailer doesn’t already have, framed in their language, and answered against the four questions they always ask. Then it takes showing up after the meeting. Get your data foundation right. Most CPG teams have more planogram, fixture and sales data than they can interrogate in any reasonable time. The brands moving quickest aren’t the ones with more data - they’re the ones who’ve organised what they have so it can actually answer the questions they need to ask. The shelf is still where strategy meets reality. And as the morning made clear, reality is more interesting, more contradictory, and more workable than the trend reports suggest. The work, as ever, is in being able to see it clearly enough to act on it. *What’s In-Store will be back for round three. If you’d like to be on the list, drop us a line.* ## What's In-Store: August Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-august-2025.md # What's In-Store: August Update I’ve been in Bentonville for most of July having fun and drinking some excellent coffee. Thanks to everyone who took the time to really delve into what’s driving US retail with me. Good to be back in the UK for summer and getting out to some stores. Safe to say that I’m pretty out of touch with the Children’s Health industry. 1 August 2025 I’ve been in Bentonville for most of July having fun and drinking some excellent coffee. Thanks to everyone who took the time to really delve into what’s driving US retail with me. Good to be back in the UK for summer and getting out to some stores. Safe to say that I’m pretty out of touch with the Children’s Health industry. ![A Viagra Connect promotion under the Children’s health sign in Boots](/_astro/01.D-K5qRwB_1aX4l4.webp) **July’s Interesting Things** 1. [**Ferrero Buys WK Kellogg for $3.1bn**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3d1m2kjk93o) - Following the split of Kellogg’s businesses in 2023 into Kellanova (snacks - bought by Mars for $36bn last year), and WK Kellogg (breakfast cereals), Ferrero have used the acquisition to continue to expand their portfolio. Nutella Frosted Flakes, anyone? 2. [**UK Grocery Inflation is Surging Again**](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicktheodore_latest-british-grocery-market-share-data-activity-7353342975956926464-kvpt/) - inflation is up >5% YoY according to the latest Worldpanel numbers. Most interestingly, this inflation figure isn’t the whole story, with shoppers still splashing out over the summer. Champagne sales are double-digits up, along with strawberries, Iced Coffee, and Kombucha as the big winners. 3. **Ingredients are Important** - as health becomes more prevalent in the news, and the influence of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), more shoppers are becoming more health aware, and more products that may have once been niche are being launched into the mainstream. The latest launches that caught our attention are below: - [**David’s Protein Cod**](https://davidprotein.com/products/cod) - I’ve done the research, but probably didn’t need to. This is the first protein bar that has expanded into selling frozen fish. Assuming this is a limited edition to demonstrate how much protein is in their core bars versus competitors. But David’s wild caught pacific cod is still available to buy online right now (unlike their out of stock bars, at the time of writing). - [**Prebiotic Pepsi**](https://www.pepsico.com/our-stories/press-release/pepsico-launches-first-ever-prebiotic-cola-in-traditional-cola-category07212025) - Just two months after the purchase of prebiotic soda brand, Poppi, for a cool $1.95bn (AKA ⅔ of a WK Kellogg), PepsiCo are releasing their first prebiotic cola. With 3g of Fiber in every can, this is Pepsi joining Poppi in the “modern soda” era. - [**Caffeine Crisps / Chips**](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/caffeinated-chips) - On the wilder side, caffeine has been a driver in the rise of coffee and energy drinks, but now… snacks? Bangers Snacks has launched a new caffeinated chips product - each bag contains the equivalent of two cups of coffee. And requires you to stay as close to the bathroom as possible following consumption (my suggestion, not theirs). 4. [**Morrison’s Launches GLP-1 Subscription Service**](https://clinic.morrisons.com/weight-loss-service) - UK-based retailer, Morrison’s has set up a subscription service for GLP-1 injections. At £129 per month ($171 USD), this is a first step to see the UK availability of GLP-1s in the mainstream. 5. [**The Future of Delivery is… Underground?**](https://www.therobotreport.com/pipedream-labs-deploys-underground-robotic-delivery-system-texas-drive-thru/) - Pipedream Labs launched their new food delivery system via underground pipes. With the aim of making deliveries autonomous, there’s still a long way to go, but always interesting to see someone focused on the less-sexy infrastructure side for the future. 6. [**New Consumer Trends Report**](https://newconsumer.com/trends/consumer-trends-2025-mid-year-report/) - The 2025 mid-year update from The New Consumer is here. Particularly focused on AI, Health, and a subject close to our hearts - the humanization of pets. As we’ve been tracking how shoppers try and save money in-store, 96% of shoppers are planning to spend the same or more on pet food in the year ahead, compared to ⅓ of shoppers looking to trade down across the rest of the store. **AI In Retail** For too long, planogram data has remained siloed, and the shelf is still a data blind spot. Whilst AI promises to revolutionise retail, the data foundation is incomplete. There’s plenty of investment going into AI-powered personalisation, pricing, and supply chain optimisation, but one of the most commercially critical areas remains underutilised: the shelf. ![The data science hierarchy of needs](/_astro/02.BcrtO08f_ZBTLhL.webp) To illustrate this point, we go back to the data science hierarchy of needs (above). The top of the pyramid is where everyone focuses - it’s the “sexy” bit - but if you’re investing big in AI whilst overlooking the quality of your foundational data assets, you’re building advanced capability on unstable ground. Our CTO & Co-Founder has written more about [the AI opportunity](/resources/the-ai-opportunity-hiding-in-your-planogram-data) - one that requires clean, structured shelf data in AI-ready formats. If you’d like to find out more on this (either from retailer or brand), please either reply to this email or pick up with your Vazen contact. ## What's In-Store: August Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-august-2026.md # What's In-Store: August Update Hello, welcome to our August newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we've spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 August 2026 Hello, and welcome to our August newsletter. And here you’ll see a change. Last week, we rebranded. VST has become Vazen. We’re the same team, the same work, the same data flowing through - but the name has caught up with the business we’ve become. I write more about this at the bottom of this message, but for now… on with the show! This month: a summary of big M\&A consolidation deals in CPG and retail that signal strapping in for headwinds in the late 2020s, a look at AI missing a trend it shouldn’t have, and new products in a post-protein world. And lastly, a survey on how you’re using AI (anonymous, if you wish!). As always, if you see anything you like, dislike, or just simply have a way better opinion than mine, please hit reply. ## July’s Interesting Things ![Creatime protein bar and gochujang Spam product launches](/_astro/new-product-launches.DDjKiv4X_Z38UOo.webp) - [**2026 CPG Deals Up Driven by Big 3**](https://us.list-manage.com/_5alIVDFmxQ?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** The Food Institute reports that CPG deal values doubled in the first quarter of 2026 versus the previous year, reversing a four-year decline. Why the change? Well, 3 monster deals. Kimberly-Clark buying Kenvue, McCormick buying Unilever’s Food business, and KDP buying JDE. This is real structural realignment, which makes me sound like I’m doing an MBA. What’s more interesting is that it feels like brands are aligning their portfolios around efficiencies in manufacturing and supply chains, after decades of organic growth that have created a messy set of brands that do not benefit each other in some cases. As always, we go back to “only play where you can win” - and I expect CPGs are strapping in for headwinds likely to last throughout the late 2020s. - [**Kroger Acquires Giant Eagle for $1.65bn**](https://us.list-manage.com/MvonCXBMUCf?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** Kroger announced the agreement to acquire the Pittsburgh headquartered family-owned grocer. This would give Kroger a significant footprint (197 supermarkets, before a small number of store divestitures) across the Pittsburgh, Upper Midwest and Mid-Atlantic region, where it’ll stand up against Albertsons, after their $25billion merger collapsed in 2024. The article below suggests a tougher time for brands to come, where Kroger will push a more sophisticated Private Label onto the shelves, but we also know how brands can win with Kroger through customer loyalty programmes and shopper understanding. Opportunities, certainly - though likely not for another 24 months yet. - [**AI Missing Trends?**](https://us.list-manage.com/HOQHny5h6Jy?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** At Cannes Lions, the festival where marketers go to create fun LinkedIn videos about how hard life is, P\&G’s Chief Brand Officer bucked the AI trend by sharing the need for human creativity in brand building. The example of Dawn’s PowerWash, brought from the US to the UK which initially flopped because AI missed a trend. “AI could have analysed millions of data points on cleaning habits, but it would not have understood the deep-seated cultural ritual of soaking dishes in the UK.” Ignoring the fact that I clearly need to hand in my British passport for having also missed this cultural ritual, if the right data inputs were included, modern AI functionality would have absolutely spotted this. Human creativity is important, just not for this reason. - **New launches** ## We have rebranded ![VST becoming Vazen](/_astro/vst-is-now-vazen.BVHWr1kl_Z25hGdl.webp) VST is now Vazen. Nine years ago, we started VST with a straightforward mission; take store trials virtual, to save our clients money by launching better changes, faster. The idea being that applying modern software techniques would benefit FMCG retailers, CPG brands, and shoppers. What I didn’t predict in 2017 was where this would take us. Ingesting planogram data and shopper behavioural data at an industrial scale from retailers and CPGs. We gradually built a set of software products with our client partners based on their requests which organically led to us receiving millions of rows of data, every single week. It’s unstructured, often messy data, that we’ve spent years curating and honing into very specific data tables. It’s not glamorous, and it’s something that makes me not-very-fun at dinner parties, but organising planogram and shopper data together has changed shelves in major retailers across the globe now. Somewhere along the way, VST became more than Virtual Store Trials, though changing a name was something we kept pushing away. But earlier this year, something did change. AI got good. Well, it got really good when sat on top of highly curated data tables reliably and securely. I joke that when we first tried our conversational analytics model on top of our datasets that I became the best category manager in the world. But it’s the biggest step forward I’ve seen in my time in the industry – tech-enablement for teams at its absolute pinnacle. It gives you analysis that you’d previously wait weeks for, insights at a scale humans can’t reach alone, and decisions grounded in nine years of data that you can trust. It feels like the right time for a new name. Last week, VST became Vazen. It’s the same company, with the same team, the same independent ownership, the same partners, and the same nine years of evidence and data behind us. The name is just catching up with what we’ve become. There’s a lot more detail on how this related to our clients (in short, nothing for you to do!), but there is an update to our product names, and a more detailed blog explaining where we’re going next. [**Find out More**](https://us.list-manage.com/fP0crjuOUOu?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## Take our AI Survey At an event in June, every conversation we had seemed to start with CPG brands telling us, “well, it feels like we’re a little behind on AI adoption” - and not every brand can be behind, can they?! What this points to is actually that the hype surrounding AI is bigger than the reality of actually using it. But we believe it’s time to catch up. We’re looking to understand how you’re using AI within your business today so we can help you reach your goals faster. If you can spare 5 minutes for a survey, please follow the link here. Answers will be kept anonymous, but if you’d prefer to have a conversation rather than complete the survey, please feel free to hit reply to this email. Warning: you will have to speak to me. We’ll be collating these answers and sharing a route forward with the group over the next couple of months. [**Take Survey**](https://us.list-manage.com/M_UD7Lym5N5?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## And if there’s a category challenge on your mind that didn’t make this newsletter, please hit reply. I read everything! ## What's In-Store: December Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-december-2025.md # What's In-Store: December Update December’s here! And with it, a packed out newsletter featuring some of the interesting things from the world of CPG mostly falling into two camps important on the minds of both shoppers and the wider industry right now - AI and Health. 1 December 2025 December’s here! And with it, a packed out newsletter featuring some of the interesting things from the world of CPG mostly falling into two camps important on the minds of both shoppers and the wider industry right now - AI and Health. Plus, we’re doing a webinar on December 11, 2025. We’ll be talking through how to build and test shelf strategies before you launch, including some live demos and case studies (more below). [Register here to attend](https://www.crowdcast.io/c/shelf-testing-vst-webinar). **November’s Interesting Things** ![](/_astro/01.Cxv2iH3b_Z12y9P8.webp) 1. **Kimberly Clark Agrees to Buy Kenvue for $48.7 billion** - This will create a giant CPG force with annual revenues of \~$32 billion. Since Kenvue was spun out of J\&J in 2023, the share price has fallen 35%. Back in the 90s, the Netscape CEO said before their IPO that there were two ways to make money in software; bundling and unbundling. It seems to be the same now in CPG - whilst Kimberly Clark, Ferrero, PepsiCo, and Mars are “bundling” right now with mergers and acquisitions, others are focused on unbundling (Reckitt, Unilever, Coca Cola’s coffee split, and KDP’s planned split), to make themselves focused and leaner. Bundling tends to only work when there are synergies - Kimberly Clark has focused these synergies on a science and technology play, rather than manufacturing, marketing, or distribution. Though the market doesn’t seem to agree with me - Kimberly Clark’s share price dropped 14% on the news. 1. 2. **AI** ![](/_astro/02.oLepwV5a_Z1aC2qh.webp) 1. **AI Eats the World** - Benedict Evans released his latest update on the state of AI. This provides a balanced view between the AI-evangelism and the doom & gloom right now, covering everything from the exciting stuff (the most significant platform shift since mobile), to the potential dangers of energy consumption, capex, and what this might end up being (TL;DR - it’s really good for very specific use cases right now, but with some limitations) 1. 2. **Perils of AI Content in CPG** - A, quite frankly, bizarre story of UK-based peanut butter brand, ManiLife, who had a startup copy a bunch of their marketing content (including a photo of the ManiLife founder touched up with AI and recreated in the startup’s branding). On the creepy vs cool scale of AI content, this is heavily in the creepy, and a sure fire way to lose any authenticity for the startup brand. Stu Macdonald’s (founder of ManiLife) story about it is a very entertaining read: 1. 3) **Health** ![](/_astro/03.B7WaiWwz_ZdwbjV.webp) 1. **Naked Doritos** - PepsiCo announced their response to the food dye stigma going around the US by removing any artificial flavours or dyes from Cheetos and Doritos, and making them completely colourless. Cynical-me suggests this is about “getting ready” for any fast changes to unpredictable government legislation rather than what shoppers are looking for, but I’ll be interested to try these and see the effects of looks on flavour. 1. 2. **Perelel Raises $27m to Reimagine Women’s Health** - The hormonal supplement business focused on supporting women’s different hormonal life-cycles, and crucially, founded by doctors (not influencers!). Great growth success story for focusing on a huge, but under-served demographic. 1. 3. **Trip Raises $40m** - The CBD drinks brand raise is to help support growth into the US (notably Walmart). With revenues expected to top $100m (profitably!), Trip seems to be leading the way in meeting shoppers’ new functional soft drinks desires. 1. 4. **Circana on GLP-1s** - Circana’s interesting findings on GLP-1s in the US right now shows 23% of US households have at least 1 person using a GLP-1. Is it the end of the food industry as we know it? No - post-usage boomerangs show shoppers going back to their old ways on foods, beverages, and even tobacco. Or my favourite stat - people on GLP-1s over-index on “eating fries with lunch.” Sounds like I’m going to need some GLP-1s in my life soon. 1. **Webinar - Test Your Shelf Strategy Before You Launch It - 11th December, 2025** ![](/_astro/02.B5T0WEhj_yBOG3.webp) When we ran our What’s In-Store Event in October, we focused all of our content on talking insights, trends, and what works on-shelf. We forgot to mention what it is we actually do and how we help our client partners (not really, but you get what I mean). So we’re going to rectify that with a webinar featuring a live product demo and some case studies. Sign up below: ## What's In-Store: February Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-february-2026.md # What's In-Store: February Update Hello, welcome to our February newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 February 2026 Hello, welcome to our February newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. Featuring CPG collabs (the good and the bad), acquisition news, the “Everything Must Have Protein” trend continuation, a booze-related (but not fuelled) long read, and 3 absolutely must-attend events. **January’s Interesting Things** ![](/_astro/01.CEYlwdwy_YiLOr.webp) 1. **In Collaboration News** 1. **Absolut Collab with Tabasco** - Absolut continue the trend of collaborations (notably with Heinz a couple of years ago). But this one caught everyone’s eye in the office last month. This nails a common cross-shop; Vodka and Tabasco, without the pre-mix. This works as solving a mission for shoppers (see our longer read on why this is important in alcohol below). Great for both brands (plus the images are ace). 1. 2. **Coca-Cola Launch… Makeup?** - A limited edition drop of Coca-Cola beauty products in collaboration with influencer, Bruna Tavares. This is an interesting experiment crossing into a totally unrelated category. I expect this to do well in marketing case studies, but shoppers don’t seek “Sensory Translation of Brand Equity” when they buy makeup. 1. 2. **In Acquisition News:** 1. **P\&G Acquires Wonderbelly** - We’ve seen the boom in Digestive Health in Soft Drinks (see Olipop, Poppi), but in its more natural home, the “Free From” digestive relief startup Wonderbelly was acquired by P\&G, sitting naturally alongside its portfolio like Pepto and Metamucil. Strong benefits to both brands here - more distribution, younger consumers - should be a winner. 1. 2. **Kroger Acquires The Good Crisp Co.** - MPearlRock (Kroger’s partner Private Equity arm) acquired The Good Crisp Company - a gluten-free, non-GMO “canister crisp” (don’t say “Pringles”). Likely some Private Label benefits here, but expect other retailers to quietly limit distribution now it’s Kroger-adjacent. 1. 3. **In “Everything Must Have Protein” News** 1. **Beyond Meat Launches Protein Drinks** - We’re presenting a case study at an event in London in a few weeks about how to launch innovation that crosses categories - this most certainly is not it. Beyond Meat is launching “Immerse Protein Drink” - 10 grams of pea protein, a giant cognitive leap for shoppers who know them for burgers, not beverages. 1. 2. New High Protein Drink - *Pure Genius* launched a drink containing 23 grams of protein (around 4 boiled eggs, for those wondering). Feels like we’re in a race for the most protein-dense claim out there at this stage, and will probably fly off the shelves for exactly that reason, whether anyone needs 23 grams in one shot or not. 1. **How Shoppers Make Alcohol Decisions** ![](/_astro/02.IO8sO6DT_1agBEd.webp) Speaking of missions and occasions in alcohol (see: Absolute x Tabasco above), we released a longer read article on how shoppers buy into the alcohol category, and what brands need to be doing to meet these needs. Beer, Wine & Spirits is one of the most context-driven categories in grocery. Shoppers rarely enter the aisle thinking in brands or SKUs. They arrive with an occasion, a mood, or a constraint in mind - tonight, the weekend, guests, gifting, unwinding, moderation. Alcohol purchases are often intentional, but rarely rigid. In the Vazen Value Tracker, Beer/Wine/Spirits sits in the “mostly planned” camp: 67% say purchases are completely or mostly planned (Sept 2025). That’s high intent, but it doesn’t mean fixed choice. Many trips are planned at an occasion level (“get wine for dinner”), but not locked to a specific brand or SKU. This flexibility has become more commercially important under sustained value pressure. In the Vazen Value Tracker (Sept 2025), 71% cite cost of living as a top concern, and 75% say price/value drives where they shop. At the same time, shoppers are not simply buying the cheapest option: 56% say they’d rather spend more for better quality (Feb 2025), while 47% say they try to buy the cheapest products on shelf (Sept 2025). That tension between trading-down in some moments and trading-up in others  is exactly the environment BWS teams are operating in. This category review brings together the behavioural patterns that shape alcohol decision-making and the strategy questions that matter most for CPG teams navigating growth, innovation, and retailer conversations. Continue reading: [Read the alcohol category analysis](/resources/how-shoppers-make-alcohol-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy) ## Events February is the start of conference season for us - sign-up or come and say “hi” at any of the events below! **Shopper, Retailer & Category Insights Conference - London, UK - 12th Feb** ![](/_astro/03.DPOlrX8m_Z1lyUU2.webp) We’ll be speaking at the Shopper, Retailer & Category Insights conference in London on the 12th Feb. During this session, we’ll be sharing how to launch true innovation to expand a category. If you’d like to join us there, you can [get tickets](https://shopperinsightconference.com/), or let us know if we can help out by replying to this message. **CMA | SIMA Conference - Las Vegas - 15th-18th Feb** ![](/_astro/04.3ZvzcuRe_Z2sQaUz.webp) We’ll be attending the CMA | SIMA conference in Las Vegas in February. Let me know if you’d like to join, or if we can meet up whilst there. Tips for locations outside of casinos always welcome! **Vazen What’s In-Store - Manchester, UK - 23rd April** ![](/_astro/05.DVkxILl3_2571p7.webp) We’ll be running our second ever “What’s In-Store” event in the UK on 23rd April. You can expect some case studies and interactive panels on **making better decisions for the shelf - faster, and with less friction**. You can [sign up to attend](https://emails.storetrials.com/whats-in-store-manchester-sign-up). ## What's In-Store: January Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-january-2026.md # What's In-Store: January Update Stepping into 2026, slowly remembering how to “do work”. January’s here, and with it comes the latest slice of interesting things happening around the world of retail. 2 January 2026 Stepping into 2026, slowly remembering how to “do work”. January’s here, and with it comes the latest slice of interesting things happening around the world of retail. We cover everything from The New Consumer’s latest trends report, to Mars completing its acquisition of Kellanova, and another step forward (and backwards) for AI in merchandising - this time in vending machines. We also ran a webinar last month looking back at a case study from Reckitt and a demo of our Fixture Visualizer software. You can [watch it](https://emails.storetrials.com/webinar-test-your-shelf-strategy-before-you-launch-it), or read more below. **December’s Interesting Things** ![](/_astro/01.Cbv5rFy6_1Bh1SR.webp) 1. **The New Consumer** - The latest *New Consumer Trends Report* looks into how US consumers are behaving and thinking. There’s a lot to unpack, but the section on GLP-1 users (from slide 82) is well worth some time. It shows 80% of GLP-1 users believe it’s making their lives better. They’re spending more in CPG than before, and trading up across every category surveyed. They’re buying better quality, not just less volume. Whilst 90% of users say they’re interested in new food brands designed specifically for them, stated interest doesn’t always translate into purchases. My expectation is continued growth in higher-quality options within existing categories rather than a flood of new brands. 1. 2. **Thrive Market Goes Dry** - The US online grocer bails on booze, eliminating alcohol entirely from its marketplace. It will instead replace the category with non-alc beer, wine, and cocktail options. Whilst alcohol sales are in decline in the US, this feels more like a simplifying-logistics play (servicing alcohol in different states is hard), wrapped in a health-messaging blanket. 1. 3. **Mars Completes Kellanova Acquisition** - The combination of Candy and Snacking giants is big and gives the combined businesses a chance to dominate the “fun” sections of the store. And the announcement video gives us a good idea of where the marketing of the brands is headed. 1. 4. **Kroger on Robotic E-Commerce Fulfillment** - Kroger announced it was shutting down its robotic fulfillment centres - ultimately not predicting the future of e-commerce would be rapid delivery and needing to be located in high-population density areas to be commercially viable. Instead, its turning its attention to third party delivery companies and store-based fulfillment. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but an expensive mistake to make, to the tune of $2.6billion. 1. 5. **Claude AI Tries Vending Machines** - The Wall Street Journey let an AI agent powered by Claude run their vending machine. As a conversational chatbot, the journalists found ways of changing what it should order, including a live fish and a Playstation, but also how much it should charge for it (often - free!). A fun experiment (and an excellent read!) on the perils of AI autonomy, but the lack of nuance from LLMs show how far off we are from AI autonomy in many practical applications. 1. **Webinar - Test Your Shelf Strategy Before You Launch It** ![](/_astro/02.B5T0WEhj_yBOG3.webp) We ran a webinar in December demonstrating how we test and validate shelf strategies and win retailer buy-in. Featuring a real case study from Reckitt, a live demo of our Fixture Visualizer - the fastest way to build and test shelves. You can [watch back](https://emails.storetrials.com/webinar-test-your-shelf-strategy-before-you-launch-it). If you’d like to learn more, then please simply reply to this email or contact any member of the team. **Predictions** ![](/_astro/03.CTMwbs1c_fXRNg.webp) A couple of years ago, we ran a predictions quiz on what was going to happen in the year. Now we’re bringing it back. It’s mostly shopper-trends related (we are who we are), but also with some more general trends. There will be a prize. I don’t know what that is yet, but I promise it’ll be something good. [Make your predictions](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBUTGgyesYEJF46W5uCbHOog8U2dhKWOM1vHXo0xL5etAYqw/viewform). ## What's In-Store: July 2025 Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-july-2025.md # What's In-Store: July 2025 Update Read on for the interesting things happening in retail and CPG last month, including an anti-competitive ingredients purchase, “Fridge Cigarettes”, and the wildest set of Celebrity CPG launches I think we’ve ever featured (warning; do not read with your breakfast). 1 July 2025 *Read on for the interesting things happening in retail and CPG last month, including an anti-competitive ingredients purchase, “Fridge Cigarettes”, and the wildest set of Celebrity CPG launches I think we’ve ever featured (warning; do not read with your breakfast).* ![Article content](/_astro/01.6pK9eDlP_Z1zODpR.webp) ## June’s Interesting Things - [**UK Retail Sales Dip**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=b1a6f07141\&e=85ecf80064) - Retail volumes fell -2.7% in May, with grocery retailers particularly feeling the decline in alcohol and tobacco as people pull back on spending. We saw this uncertainty for shoppers in the economy back in March, and now consumer confidence is dropping. An interesting “one-to-watch” - supposedly 4% of UK households now have a person taking GLP-1s. As this grows, there’s further risk to the alcohol and tobacco categories as well. - [**David Buys Ingredient Creator**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=4f53a39b14\&e=85ecf80064) **-** The energy bar brand raised $75m and spent it on acquiring Epogee, creators of a plant-based fat alternative used by many energy / snack bar brands. David’s first move post-acquisition - cancel all contracts with competitors. Very interesting way to corner the market, and legal disputes focusing on the “anti-competitive move” are already in motion. - [**Diet Coke, or Fridge Cigarette?**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=81dcca7b6e\&e=85ecf80064) **-** The latest TikTok trend is not a functional, healthy brand you’ve never heard of, but actually a crisp can of Diet Coke. Seen as an act of rebellion against the “better for you” movement whilst still not being as bad for you as a cigarette, younger generations have coined the term of describing a Diet Coke as a “fridge cigarette” - now common parlance in our office because we are all super-young-and-still-culturally-relevant. This is, of course, a hard one for Coca Cola to capitalise on - lean in and you’re admitting you’re part of the “bad-for-you”club, but don’t lean in and you’ll miss an important viral cultural moment. They don’t come around often. **Celebrity CPG** - [**Sydney Sweeney’s Bathsoap**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=9844285d30\&e=85ecf80064) - Another celebrity beauty product? Well, with a twist. This soap contains her own bathwater. $8 a bar and sold out immediately because people are the absolute worst. - [**Ozzy Osbourne’s DNA Sold in Liquid Death Cans**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=b4a1489dcf\&e=85ecf80064) - “What?”, I hear you ask? Liquid Death are selling a limited edition iced tea can containing traces of Ozzy Osbourne’s DNA. $450 a pop, and comes in a lab-quality display container, because you wouldn’t want to spoil your Ozzy Osbourne DNA, would you? ## Coming up I’m in Bentonville for most of July. If you’re in town, let’s grab an incredibly good coffee? ## Unlock the Power of Planogram Data ![Article content](/_astro/02.CJPw-n7M_72VTF.webp) We’ve been talking about the power of planogram data for many years now. The way to transform this under-utilised data asset into something useful and usable for category management, insight, shopper marketing and field sales teams in both retailers and CPGs. Now we’ve released a handy guide showing: - What CPGs need from retailers - How some retailers are leading the charge - The commercial upside these leading retailers are experiencing: better compliance, faster collaboration, securing more resource, and category growth [**Read all about it**](https://storetrials.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=23560aef1207ce1e48cbf2e38\&id=eba619df22\&e=85ecf80064) To have a chat about anything above, [email Nick](mailto:nick@vazen.com) or [visit Vazen](/). *Be excellent to each other.* *Nick Theodore* ## What’s In-Store: July Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-july-2026.md # What’s In-Store: July Update Hello, welcome to our July newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 July 2026 *Hello, and welcome to our July newsletter.* *This month: a multitude of Celebrity CPG launches (from the sublime to the ridiculous), Ranch Dressing going viral at the World Cup, the myths around alcohol’s decline, and some longer reads on the impact of AI on category management, and practical steps on how to turn your teams into the best category analysts in the world.* *As we talk more about the impact of AI in the industry, we’re setting up a separate technology-in-CPG newsletter. We’ll still be feeding in the most significant updates in this monthly newsletter, of course, but for those of you interested in the more technical updates, please register your interest  below.* [**Register Interest**](https://us.list-manage.com/GOoSSRQenF_?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## June’s Interesting Things - [**Ranch Goes Viral with International Fans at World Cup**](https://us.list-manage.com/qfhSx2O8TSE?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672)\*\*-\*\*Kraft got all over the viral trend of international fans at the World Cup filming themselves trying Ranch Dressing by releasing a TSA-compliant Ranch travel kit. Now to watch this ranch trend go global! So much for that “GLP-1 to take over the world” trend, eh?! - [**Sports & Energy Drinks Bigger Than Cola**](https://us.list-manage.com/8cqzEmYtIIs?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672)\*\*-\*\*In the UK, Sports & Energy drinks have overtaken Cola as the biggest segment in Soft Drinks in value sales. The shift shows shoppers looking for benefits from their food and drink - and those benefits are often more than just “great taste”. I’m off to launch my Double-Caffeine-Pre-Biotic-Zero-Sugar-Extra-Fibre-Extra-Peptides Cola. Be right back. - [**GLP-1 CPG Boost, but Not Where You Think**](https://us.list-manage.com/fWZYh1MEMKf?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672)\*\*-\*\*Recent research from Strat7 shows that 79% of GLP-1 users across Europe were experiencing side effects from the drug, including changes to skin, hair loss or dryness, and digestive problems. This is being seen by these shoppers transferring some of their food spend to Skin Care, Hair Care, and Digestive Health categories. One to watch out for as we expect to see more new products targeted at GLP-1 users outside of the food space. - [**The New Consumer on Alcohol Trends**](https://us.list-manage.com/ApHNyoAMTEt?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672)\*\*-\*\*As ever, The New Consumer’s latest release is excellent. This time on whether alcohol is really the new tobacco. This goes into extra detail on the misconceptions on the premature predictions of the downfall of the alcohol industry. The majority of US drinkers are drinking the same or more, across all generations. Gen Z, in particular, are aging into “normal” drinking behaviour - though younger drinking (e.g. in high-school) has been consistently declining over the past 30 years. Plenty of things to be optimistic about in the alcohol sector. - **Celebrity CPG - it’s BACK - June seemed to revitalise the world of Celebrity Backed Brands. From the ridiculous to the sublime…** ## Insight Innovation Competition at IIEX Europe 2026 Winners Vazen took both the Audience Favourite Award and the Industry Impact Award at the Insight Innovation Competition at IIEX Europe 2026, sharing a vision of the future. ***“Can supermarket shelves talk?”*** Read the pitch that won the room below. [**Read Pitch**](https://us.list-manage.com/11UfexTg1G0?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## IGD London, Technology’s Impact on the Future of Category Leadership I spoke on a panel about AI in Category Management. How to launch, what to be mindful of, and the ready-made solution that can turn your teams into the best category managers in the world. Thanks to my fellow panelists for joining and sharing an honest view of executing AI strategies and building team capabilities in this emerging space. You can read a summary of what we talked about below. [**Read Summary**](https://us.list-manage.com/13n3ZJWpccd?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## Further Reading from Vazen - [**How to fix availability for a beer brand in 30% of stores by spotting just one error on shelf**](/case-studies/how-we-helped-a-beer-brand-fix-availability-in-30-of-stores-by-spotting-one-shelf-error) - [**How much a pack size can reduce before impacting brand share**](/case-studies/pack-size-testing) - [**Pet Care - How shoppers make decisions in the most planned purchase in grocery**](https://us.list-manage.com/RKx2np1P3uB?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## And if there’s a category challenge on your mind that didn’t make this newsletter, please hit reply. I read everything! ## What's In-Store: June 2025 Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-june-2025.md # What's In-Store: June 2025 Update Positives and negatives from the month of May for UK retail. Where we’ve seen positives (hopefully!) in trade deals with the US and the EU that should help ease complexity and cost pressures on the industry, cyber security divisions are on red alert after hackers infiltrated systems at M\&S, Co-op, and, Harrods. 2 June 2025 *Positives and negatives from the month of May for UK retail. Where we’ve seen positives (hopefully!) in trade deals with the US and the EU that should help ease complexity and cost pressures on the industry, cyber security divisions are on red alert after hackers infiltrated systems at M\&S, Co-op, and, Harrods.* *Read on for more interesting things to have occurred in retail and CPG this month, from more major M\&A deals, to Paris Hilton’s new skin care brand.* ## May’s Interesting Things - [**UK Trade Deals**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgvp0wlnl3o): The UK announced trade deals with the US and EU in May and, whilst details are mostly still few and far between, signs are positive with retail bosses believing this will help lower costs on one of the sources of food price inflation from recent years. Will we see these savings passed on to shoppers? Given current retailer price wars, *possibly*, though I’d far more hang my hat on food prices not rising as quickly, rather than dropping. - [**Cyber Attacks on M\&S, Co-op, and Harrods**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgr5nen5gxyo) - The largest hack affecting UK retailers came to light this month. Systems were supposedly infiltrated in February, before sensitive data was reportedly stolen and ransomware disrupted their infrastructure. M\&S said this is likely to cause disruption until July, and will hit profits in the region of £300m. The hackers (though identities are unconfirmed) are reported to be attacking US retailers next according to Google’s cyber security division. - **Big M\&A**: [**Church & Dwight have continued their acquisitions**](https://investor.churchdwight.com/Investors/news/news-details/2025/Church--Dwight-to-Acquire-the-Touchland-Brand-for-700-million-Plus-Earn-out/default.aspx) into new healthcare spaces, this time acquiring Touchland hand sanitizer. Launched in 2018, the brand made hand sanitizer products that looked good, got lucky with their timing for an urgent customer need, and now can benefit from the distribution and scale of expertise from Church & Dwight. - [**Roblox Enables Creators to Sell Physical Products in Virtual Stores**](https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/15/roblox-now-lets-creators-sell-physical-products-within-their-experiences/) - partnering with Shopify, shoppers can now buy both physical and virtual products. AKA purchasing in-platform so you can now buy and wear clothes that match your avatar. - **Celebrity CPG:** [**Paris Hilton announced her new skin care brand**](https://parivie.com/) - absolutely on point with her brand from naming, packaging, to even product names. However, being unaware of Paris Hilton’s recent fame, has this launched 20 years too late? ## We’re attending IIEX Europe, 2025 We’re attending IIEX in Amsterdam on 17th-18th June. If you’re attending, please let us know! Always at the forefront of innovation for the CPG insights space, Charlotte Kiddle and Jack Edwards will be attending from Vazen, so please come and say hi. ## What is Virtual Shelf Testing and Why It’s Replacing In-Store Trials The way shoppers make decisions hasn’t changed much. They still walk into a store, scan the shelf, and make snap judgments based on price, pack, familiarity, and whatever catches their eye. But what’s changed dramatically is how brands and retailers are learning from those decisions. [**Read full article**](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-shelf-testing-why-its-replacing-real-world-trials-ebjae/?trackingId=MnyiPFLYR52b5NxAB%2FSeJg%3D%3D) To have a chat about anything above, [email Nick](mailto:nick@vazen.com) or [visit Vazen](/). *Be excellent to each other.* *Nick Theodore* ## What's In-Store: June Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-june-2026.md # What's In-Store: June Update Hello, welcome to our June newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 June 2026 *Hello, and welcome to our June newsletter.* *This month: the most expensive strawberries ever grown, the new way to consume supplements, Walmart’s in-store beauty associates, Energy Drinks flying off the shelves in the face of “the health movement”, and how to innovate in a 155-year old brand.* *As always, if you see anything you like, dislike, or have a way better opinion than me, please hit reply. We’d love to hear what category challenges you’re navigating.* ## May’s Interesting Things ![](/_astro/01.Dk_tPx7a_Z23p9JK.webp) - [**Patches - the new Health Gummies?**](https://us.list-manage.com/1BgT0xB0p_n?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** Last month we wrote about Gruns, the vitamin gummy brand, being acquired by Unilever. Well move over gummies, it seems patches are the new way to take your supplements. Barriere has just completed a fundraise and launched into Walmart. The scientific bit of patches > gummies - supposedly easier to absorb and less gets lost in your gut / digestive system. The real reason these will do well - imagine wearing your wellness routine so that others can see it. Yes, obviously I think that sounds awful and couldn’t imagine anything worse BUT, In the social media age, these things matter to people who are, unlike me, actually culturally relevant. - [**Walmart In-Store Beauty Associates**](https://us.list-manage.com/SUz6Zvu8hj2?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** Walmart is expanding its Beauty expert associate roles from 22-stores to 425 stores by the end of this year. These can be such huge drivers of shopper experience and proven trade-ups in-store. For all of the praise on Walmart’s tech-focused achievements, the store is still its heartland and where it can compete with Amazon most effectively. These sorts of initiatives cement their position. To put some exact numbers on it, a previous trial in another grocer showed that adding in-store associates in a wine aisle increased category sales by +30%. It’s rare to find that significant a category driver. - [**Monster Energy Drinks in Strong Growth**](https://us.list-manage.com/hz6cuXxvFV9?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** Total sales increased by 27%, driven by international growth of +45%. Impressive numbers, but why should we care? Energy drinks are a sort of microcosm of the industry right now. Whilst much of the industry is focused on GLP-1s, Make America Healthy Again, and avoiding seed oils, there is still a huge shopper base for easy, less healthy options. Energy drinks still have “healthy shoppers” (hello, gym bros!) and “less healthy shoppers” (hello, gamers!). But this is still a big market and it’s growing significantly. - [**Vaseline - How a 155-Year Old Brand Keeps Innovating**](https://us.list-manage.com/ThQblfkQoVL?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** Co-creation with influencers, virality on platforms like TikTok. I was initially sceptical of Unilever’s claimed 50% of ad spend to go “digital with content creators”, which sounded nice as a press release but missed a lot of the “how and when”. It turns out, this has already been happening, and the practical reality is very smart, with the results to show for it. - [**Oishii Raises $150m for Indoor Smart Farm Model**](https://us.list-manage.com/QVnc3LOkMTw?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) **-** This latest fundraise takes their total amount raised to $320m. I’ve been negative in the past about the capex involved in AI companies, but that’s based on a promise of huge potential of the disruption of work and leisure. So far, this platform has used the technology to grow and sell strawberries. Yes, there’s a robotics play here, and I’d love to see the long-term vision, because so far, they grow and sell strawberries. At a valuation of what I assume is north of $1billion, that’s a lot of strawberries. ## Upcoming Events ![](/_astro/02.FehhedrT_d6Nvc.webp) I’m excited to be speaking at IGD’s Future of Category Leadership Conference in London on 23rd June. If you’re planning to be there, let me know. We’ll be sharing our latest AI-powered conversational analytics data platform in-person for the first time, and it is a game-changer. I’ll be joining the panel on technology’s impact on category leadership, where I’ll be talking about what horses, chess, and gramophones have in common with Retail Data AI Platforms. You know, the usual. Tickets for the in-person part of the conference have sold out, but you can sign up to join virtually here. [Join Virtually](https://us.list-manage.com/Du5bzx7K3Se?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## Webinar: Unlocking Visual Impact and Insights for CPGs ![](/_astro/03.D2ovBZC4_Z1cp4NV.webp) Vazen’s Ruby Wright joined dunnhumby and Unilever for a webinar on how to use visual impact to unlock great shopper insights. There are some great practical case studies on using Coplan to drive real changes in-store, including: - Matching better shopping missions via tag mapping / heatmapping functionality on-shelf. - Space to sales ratios for subcategory growth and reduction recommendations - New product innovation visualisations - Macro-space recommendations across superstore and convenience formats Tune in whilst you can! [Watch Replay](https://us.list-manage.com/KlnoU0pvKCk?e=85ecf80064\&c2id=52cc3fdf022b7b2970a5323548ea0672) ## And if there’s a category challenge on your mind that didn’t make this newsletter, please hit reply. I read *everything*! ## What's In-Store: March Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-march-2026.md # What's In-Store: March Update Hello, welcome to our March newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 March 2026 Hello, and welcome to our March newsletter. Read on below for February’s interesting things, including 72% of US shoppers visiting Walmart, new Protein Doritos, and a robot dog climbing your stairs to deliver your dinner. We’re building up to our event, Vazen “What’s In-Store” hosted in Manchester, UK on 23rd April. You can [sign up](https://emails.storetrials.com/whats-in-store-manchester-sign-up). As always, hit reply - we’d love to hear what category challenges you’re navigating. **February’s Interesting Things** ![](/_astro/01.Dxt-KyYP_1Kj5ly.webp) 1. **Diageo’s Customer Experience Commitment** - New Diageo CEO, Dave Lewis, had his first earnings call in February and there was a lot to like. His focus on customer experience (and not just leaving it to the retailers) will have partnership conversations opening up across the off-trade. The most striking stat - 60% of Diageo’s customer orders are still entered manually. Whilst many in the industry are starting to see the benefits of AI transformation, there are still a lot of basics that need to be done by harnessing technology. 1. 2. **Walmart’s Record Grocery Penetration** - dunnhumby’s latest Consumer Trends Tracker posted a number of interesting factors amongst US shoppers. People feel squeezed and many are changing their habits. Most interestingly, 72% of US shoppers have shopped in a Walmart this year - a rise of 6%. 1. 3. **Everything Must Have Protein** - The protein train continues with the latest launch - Doritos. Interested in following this as the health trend starts to blend into the less healthy categories. Does this go in snacks, or with the gym-goers health / wellness protein-enhanced products? I’ll be on the hunt! 1. 4. **Robot Dog Delivery** - In the UK, food delivery service Just Eat launched robot dog delivery service. Gimmick or actually interesting? Unlike previous robot delivery services, the robo-dogs can tackle a robot’s biggest nemeses - stairs, closed gates, and *actual-real-life-dogs™*. 1. 5. **Category Management Association Event Summary** - We attended the annual CMA | SIMA Elevate conference. A big focus on planograms, space, and virtual store testing. There was a lot of AI talk, and we’re starting to see some practical applications, particularly in the use of LLMs for data analysis. For a quick summary of what was covered, see below. 1. **Vazen “What’s In-Store” Event - Manchester, UK - 23rd April** ![](/_astro/02.Bw7kaLTe_2lXV5S.webp) We’re running our next “What’s In-Store” event at The People’s History Museum in Manchester, UK on 23rd April. If you’re working on range reviews, planogram decisions, or trying to work out how AI actually fits into category management and insights, this event is for you. Spots are limited, so please [sign up](https://emails.storetrials.com/whats-in-store-manchester-sign-up). ## 8 Key Shelf Merchandising Principles ![](/_astro/03.BSSbtQqF_Z1eerlR.webp) Eye level is not always buy level. Our studies with >100,000 shoppers across the globe last year showed that sometimes moving to eye level can even harm your brand. Testing across different categories, shelf layouts, and countries gave us a view of the wider principles of how to get noticed and picked up at-shelf. Read the full merchandising principles here: ## How Shoppers Make Pet Care Decisions (and what it means for CPG strategy) ![](/_astro/04.CnRpfK0K_V7TOL.webp) Pet Care is one of the most important categories to get right in-store. As a retailer, if you don’t get your Pet offering right, you risk losing an entire basket as shoppers abandon their trip. So much so, that Pet Food is the most purposeful trip for shoppers. It is the most planned purchase across the grocery categories, whilst still leaving \~45% of shoppers influenceable at-shelf. The tension between planned vs influence-able is where brands win or lose. We delved deeper into Pet Care as an extreme category as an example of what other categories could do to follow it. Read the [full Pet Care analysis](/resources/how-shoppers-make-petcare-decisions-and-what-it-means-for-cpg-strategy). **What category challenge is keeping you busy this month? Hit reply - I read *everything*!** ## What's In-Store: May Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-may-2026.md # What's In-Store: May Update Hello, welcome to our May newsletter, diving into the most interesting things we’ve spotted from the world of retail and CPG over the last month. 1 May 2026 *Hello, and welcome to our May newsletter.* *This month: a >$1bn acquisition, municipal grocery stores, me trying to talk about THC without sounding like a nark, and the BIGGEST Celebrity CPG launch of all time.* *We also feature a run-down of our What’s In-Store event hosted last week and the shopper trends covered.* *As always, hit reply - we’d love to hear what category challenges you’re navigating.* ## April’s Interesting Things ![](/_astro/01.CLAmiBhx_1hMWB5.webp) 1. **Gruns Acquired by Unilever for $1.2bn** - VMS Gummies brand, Gruns, has been acquired by Unilever. Unilever is deploying its capital raised from selling off sections of the food business into more premium health care lines. With a youth focus, slick D2C operations, GLP-1 future-proofing, this seems a strong match whilst Unilever will be able to support better distribution and growth. Sidepoint - Gruns launched in 2023, which makes it one of the fastest (non-tech) billion-dollar growth stories. Very impressive. 1. [**Read the Unilever announcement**](https://www.unilever.com/news/press-and-media/press-releases/2026/unilever-to-acquire-us-greens-supplement-company-gruns/) 2. **NYC Municipal Grocery Store** - We wrote about this last year, but plans are starting to take shape for NYC’s first ever municipal grocery stores. Social media extraordinaire / NYC’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani announced the plans for 5 stores to go live during his tenure to tackle the affordability crisis. It’s a philosophical alternative to reliance on SNAP benefits. Will it work? Well, if you’re reading this, you know running stores is hard. Managing costs, having an effective supply chain, and at a volume of just 5 stores is going to be really difficult. But it’s often the people running this that will make it work - will the best retail team be recruited? And most importantly for me, who’s building their planograms? 1. [**Read the Grocery Dive report**](https://www.grocerydive.com/news/new-york-city-owned-grocery-store-manhattan-mamdani/817381/) 3. **4/20 Celebrations** - For those of us not based in the US, we may have missed the rapid growth in the THC-holiday special known as 4/20, or “weed day” (and already I sound like a nark). But it has knock-on effects on CPG globally. The legality of THC, whether purchased from legal sites, brick-and-mortar stores, or even now retailers like Target (in Minnesota, anyway) and Total Wine, the industry is now worth an estimated $28bn, and has grown up a lot in recent years. So much so it’s impacting other areas of retail (notably - alcohol). This is a case study closely monitored in Europe - will legalisation happen? Will the same trends occur? Not soon, by any proposed legislation. If anything, there’s more risk of a reversal in the US than legalisation in Europe. Last November’s spending bill to end the government shutdown included a provision that would outlaw 95% of existing hemp products with drastic reductions in dosage needed - with timelines looking at months, not years. There are further “opt-out” proposals state by state that offer hope, but wow - this is a complicated category further complicated by political dealings. We stand on and watch with interest, whilst the brands in the middle do their best to stay compliant and keep serving their very-loyal customers. 1. [**Read the Straight Arrow News report**](https://san.com/cc/4-20-underscores-americas-cannabis-paradox/) 4. **Instacart Going Global, Acquires Instaleap** - Instacart are making moves outside of North America, acquiring fulfillment services platform, Instaleap. The acquisition immediately gives them presence in 30 new countries across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Even as a retail media play, this feels like a smart move, and quite possibly a quick $$ win (without knowing the exact financial terms of the deal). 1. [**Read the Instacart announcement**](https://investors.instacart.com/news-releases/news-release-details/instacart-acquires-instaleap-accelerate-global-expansion-its) 5. **The Biggest Celebrity CPG Launch Yet** - And possibly the worst? Widely considered “the-biggest-band-in-the-world-right-now”, K-Pop boyband BTS launched their CPG brand last month. The brand, ARIH, has launched straight into Walmart with 28 SKUs across packet and cup Noodles, Postbiotic Sodas (what?), and Dual Biotic Soda (what?). BTS have gone big, but this feels closer to a private label launch, with limited-to-no connection to the b(r)and. It’s probably still going to do really well, isn’t it? I feel old. 1. [**Visit ARIH**](https://arih.com/) ## Vazen “What’s In-Store” Event Summary ![](/_astro/02.plNswW88_1H1WeT.webp) Last week we hosted the second What’s In-Store at the People’s History Museum in Manchester - a great venue, even if it did make us feel slightly guilty talking about shelf-simplicity surrounded by labour movement history. 60+ category, shopper insight and commercial leaders from across CPG and retail came together to talk about how shoppers are really behaving, and what that means at-shelf. We covered GLP-1s (less scary than the headlines suggest), functions over features, the beauty of shelf-simplicity, and much more. Read the [full event summary](/resources/whats-in-store-april-2026-key-learnings). If you’d like to attend the next event, please let us know, either by messaging me here or contacting any of the team. We’ll be running these bi-annually in the UK (I mean twice a year), with the next event in October in London (and our first US-based event coming soon!). ## What Does Your Category Look Like On-Shelf? ![](/_astro/03.P4zrbt57_ZRO9jn.webp) Most planogram decisions are still being made on gut feel and outdated and limited assortment data. Vazen’s planogram and shelf test data lets you see exactly how your category performs in the real world and make the case for change with evidence, not opinion. If you’re heading into a range review, or just tired of guessing, we’d love to show you what we’re seeing in your category. Hit reply and we can show what the data tells us for your category. ***And if there’s a category challenge on your mind that didn’t make this newsletter, please hit reply. I read everything!*** ## What's In-Store: November Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-november-2025.md # What's In-Store: November Update If you’re reading this on Monday, Halloween will have been and gone (sadly, given the wealth of excellent in-store displays), and we now canter towards the end-of-year holiday season. 3 November 2025 If you’re reading this on Monday, Halloween will have been and gone (sadly, given the wealth of excellent in-store displays), and we now canter towards the end-of-year holiday season. Read on for last month’s interesting things including Walmart & ChatGPT’s partnership, Protein in Everything (and why some people think that’s bad), Convenience trends, and a roundup of our first “What’s In-Store” event. ![](/_astro/01.5KMJuj2Q_Zmcavm.webp) **October’s Interesting Things** 1. **Walmart & ChatGPT Partnership** - The partnership will allow customers to complete purchases from Walmart directly within ChatGPT. A lot of work has been done in the industry behind the scenes of AI usage (e.g. enhancing product catalogues), but the ChatGPT-As-A-Platform is particularly interesting consumer-facing lens. And if Walmart can dominate this ahead of Amazon, it could develop a significant moat. 1. 2. **Protein in Everything** - The protein trend keeps on trucking. This time, Pop Tarts - boasting nearly 2 boiled eggs-worth of protein in one serving. 1. 3. **Protein UK Backlash** - Opposing the above, fitness coach and UK lockdown superstar, Joe Wicks, introduced a “Deathly Protein Bar” to highlight the dangers of Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) and health claims. His bar has 19g of protein (double a protein Pop Tart, if you’re asking), 27 vitamins and minerals and over 200 health benefits, but also filled with additives linked to cancer and early death. Interesting concept to generate awareness of UPFs - though I can’t imagine I’m the only one who’s actually very interested to try it. 1. 4. **Ten Hot Trends in Convenience** - The hottest trends for US Convenience retail are dominated by energy drinks this year (I’d suggest this is one trend, but I’ve also had to stretch things to a list of ten in the past), but with a nod to fiber, gut health, and small packs (actually about affordability). 1. 5. **The History of Trader Joe’s** - This 3.5 hour podcast (bear with me) dives into Trader Joe’s - the retailer seemingly going against the 21st century trends, but often beloved by customers, and not only in the US. I started our event last month talking about the cult of Trader Joe’s - this year, they even became a fashion statement, with their bags seen all over the UK as a must-have item (even though they have no stores in the UK). Wild. 1. **Vazen - What’s In-Store Event, 2025** Last month, we hosted our first What’s In-Store event. I spoke on the theme of “grocery is cool” (yes, me), and why that matters. An excerpt covering the key learnings is below. Thanks to those of you who attended, our guest speakers from Nestle, Reckitt, and Diageo. Last week, we hosted What’s In-Store at the Museum of Brands in London. Over 30 category and shopper marketing leaders from CPG brands came together to talk about how shoppers are changing and what that means for the industry. The opening keynote started with something unexpected. Grocery is cool. Not in a “let’s say grocery is cool” marketing way, but actually cool. Shoppers are defining themselves by what and where they buy. Paul Mescal photographed with a Sweetgreen bag caused a stir that led to a flurry of footfall and demand for the bags themselves. It became a Halloween costume. Trader Joe’s bags have become fashion statements. Being photographed shopping at the right place or carrying the right grocery bag has become a form of social currency. TikTok is glamorising grocers and legacy products - the “fridge cigarette” is a thing (look it up). Brands are creating communities of followers who’ll pay extra and become evangelists. It’s not just about what you eat anymore. It’s about the identity you project through where you shop and what’s visible in your shopping bag or fridge. And then there were the sperm worms (stick with us) - a testosterone-boosting gummy product that somehow captures how divided and strange shopper trends have become. Beneath all the cultural weirdness, something more fundamental is shifting. For the first time in over three years, more shoppers are increasing their spend in supermarkets than trying to reduce it. This isn’t because the cost of living crisis has disappeared - 71% of shoppers say it remains their number one concern. It’s because shopper behaviour has fundamentally shifted, and the groups doing different things have never been more divided. **Podcast** We released a podcast on the future of category management and the role that planogram data plays in unlocking growth for CPGs. Check it out here. I’m on Episode 4, but we’ve also got loads of practical examples from Danone, Reckitt, Red Bull, Heineken, Tesco, and dunnhumby. Episode 4 - Customer First Radio (All Episodes) - ## What's In-Store: October Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-october-2025.md # What's In-Store: October Update Read on for September’s interesting things including Kraft Heinz’s decoupling, Whiny Baby’s acquisition, more CPG, and a podcast featuring ME (and others). 1 October 2025 Read on for September’s interesting things including Kraft Heinz’s decoupling, Whiny Baby’s acquisition, more CPG, and a podcast featuring ME (and others). **September’s Interesting Things** ![](/_astro/01.Bs78x9JF_ZNkVmF.webp) 1. **Kraft Heinz to Split** - The bundling and un-bundling of CPG continues, this time with Kraft Heinz to split its groceries and sauces / spreads business. Share price is down 60% since the 2015 merger - a rare write-down for Warren Buffett. Bad timing - with the rise of Private Label, a mix of brands that’s hard to make operational efficiencies on, a cost of living crisis, and - with hindsight - brand-building spend needed to go up, not down (without sounding like a pseudo-Ross Johnson demanding my new private jet). 1. 2. **Whiny Baby Acquired** - The US Gen-Z wine brand has been acquired by Gallo just 5 years after starting. The wine aisle has often been seen as confusing to new entrants to the category (AKA young people) - Whiny Baby has been very successful at opening up the category to Gen-Z. Crucially, the founder is staying on with Gallo as an innovation consultant. And with names like “OMG!?! Fizzy Rosé” and “Obsessed Red Blend”, I feel old. 1. 3. **Tylenol PR Crisis** - After President Trump described Tylenol as “not good” last week, linking it to (unsubstantiated) causes of autism, Kenvue’s share price dropped by over 10% (at the time of writing). Mark Ritson’s take in this article is a good one, and a rare thing for us - do nothing and wait for it to pass. All we know is that this is a nightmare for any brand team to wake up to on a Monday morning. 1. 4. **Amazon Closing UK Stores** - Of Amazon’s 19 UK grocery stores, five will be converted into Whole Foods stores with the other 14 closing. This marks a big shift in strategy from wanting to be the biggest in-store retailer just a few years ago, to now focusing on the space it owns best; online and delivery. Amazon’s partnerships with Morrisons, Co-op, and Iceland give it good reach here, without the overheads of store premises and its checkout-less “technology” (AKA people watching what shoppers do in-stores - an example of “AI” that really stands for “Actually Interns”). 1. 5. **Celebrity CPG - Stiller’s Soda** - Ben Stiller has put his name to a new low-sugar, low-calorie soda brand, with a can that “evokes nostalgia” - sure. 1. **Podcast** We released a podcast last week on the future of category management and the role that planogram data plays in unlocking growth for CPGs. Check it out here. I’m on Episode 4, but we’ve also got loads of practical examples from Danone, Reckitt, Red Bull, Heineken, Tesco, and dunnhumby. Episode 4 - Customer First Radio (All Episodes) - **Events** **What’s In-Store - London - 16th October** We are hosting an event to tackle how shopping behaviour is changing the way we need to display products, how to land better changes in-store, and what retailers need from CPGs right now. We’re basically at full capacity now, but if you ask really nicely, I reckon we can squeeze a couple of extras in. ## What's In-Store: September Update | Vazen Source: /resources/whats-in-store-september-2025.md # What's In-Store: September Update A happy Labor Day to those in North America! At the time of writing from the UK, I can say it’s not just the “unofficial end of summer”, as I look out onto another day of rain. Anyway, I’ll be back in Minneapolis and Bentonville for most of September - let me know if you’re around. 1 September 2025 A happy Labor Day to those in North America! At the time of writing from the UK, I can say it’s not just the “unofficial end of summer”, as I look out onto another day of rain. Anyway, I’ll be back in Minneapolis and Bentonville for most of September - let me know if you’re around. Read on for more on shopper trends, including creatine, nicotine, and sustainability, and the history behind the British staple, Bovril. We’ve also got two events upcoming - the Category Management Association in Minneapolis on 10th / 11th September, and our own “What’s In-Store” event on 16th October in London ([register](https://www.linkedin.com/events/what-sin-store7366419133082525696/)). **August’s Interesting Things** ![](/_astro/01.CxCEMPwo_ZQY41b.webp) 1. **Man Cereal** - A new breakfast cereal is launching, dubbed “the world’s first creatine cereal.” The stripped back packaging is described to appeal to the “man-aissance” (🤮) for the category. First reaction was that this was an AI-powered joke, but given the way this flew around our office and the conversation it created, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a new gym-bro staple. 2. **The Nicotine Trend** - Despite traditional smoking rapidly falling globally over the past 20 years (roughly a \~40% reduction), alternative nicotine sources (vaping, heated tobacco, nicotine pouches) have exploded. This has occurred alongside growth in demand for energy drinks. Smash the two together? New nicotine energy drinks. 3. **AI in Everything** - In a rare swerve in subject matter from this newsletter, this is not purely a CPG / FMCG related trend, but more broadly an interesting [report from MIT shows 95% of GenAI pilots are failing](https://fortune.com/2025/08/18/mit-report-95-percent-generative-ai-pilots-at-companies-failing-cfo/). And yes - failure rate should be high because they are pilots, but we have also seen a lot of AI snake oil out there (powered by spreadsheets is not powered by AI). However, when these are grounded in very specific use cases to automate manual workloads, these pilots can be successful and keep improving. This month, see [Unilever’s move to support their digital creative](https://digiday.com/marketing/inside-unilevers-ai-beauty-marketing-assembly-line-and-its-implications-for-agencies/), and [Walmart’s AI agents to support store associates](https://www.retaildive.com/news/walmart-artificial-intelligence-ai-super-agents-retail-associates/753996/). 4. **Sustainable Packaging** - We’ve shown in many studies that whilst shoppers say sustainable packaging is important to them, very few (<2%) actually switch products as sustainability ranks lower in importance to them than price, promotions, brand, or other product attributes. However, the plastic bag tax in the UK introduced in 2015 was one of the most successful sustainable initiatives created. After launching a 5p charge in 2015, single-use plastic bag demand dropped by 98%. Latest figures, though, show that the number of single-use plastic bags sold in England has risen by 7% in the past year - the first time since its introduction. Why? More use of these bags in online shopping (and often returned), but also more shoppers doing smaller, unplanned shops, and possibly a signal that environmental priorities are shifting even lower in the minds of shoppers, despite them saying otherwise. 5. **A History of Bovril** - Bovril (for those outside of the UK) is a dark, salty paste made from beef extract used in cooking or as a hot drink (the only acceptable drink consumption in a football stadium on a February evening). However, this article goes into the roots of the product from the 1870s, and how the name was influenced by the most popular sci-fi book of its time. I focus a lot on CPG being influenced by popular culture, and now very much by celebrities - nice to see popular culture influencing food brands for >150 years ago. If you’d like to see the 1875 version of this newsletter, let me know. **Events** **Category Management Association - Minneapolis - 10th / 11th September** We are sponsoring the “Excellence in Retail Space” Category Management Association event on 10th and 11th September in Minneapolis. I’ll be there, and you can [register](https://arcsummitseries.com/minneapolis/). **What’s In-Store - London - 16th October** We are hosting an event to tackle how shopping behaviour is changing the way we need to display products, how to land better changes in-store, and what retailers need from CPGs right now. We’ve got some excellent guests confirmed and it’s at the fantastic Museum of Brands. We’ve got a small number of spaces left to attend. If you’d like to join, you can register via the link below, or reply to this email and I can add you to the list. ## For Retailers | Vazen Source: /retailers.md For Retailers # A modern platform for category data sharing. The retail data AI platform enabling modern category data sharing. Share shelf and sales data with your supplier partners on your terms, with the commercial models to back it. Built with Co-op. Trusted by Tesco. [Talk to partnerships](/contact)[See the technical model](/platform) ## Trusted by ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ## Trusted by - ![Co-op](/_astro/co-op.BYKzUp1i.svg) - ![Tesco](/_astro/tesco-uk.u-pII70c.svg) ## Three things modern retailers do on Vazen. ### Modern infrastructure Cloud-native. API-first. AI-ready. The planogram and category management software the industry has been waiting for, built to plug into the data stack your team already runs. [Explore Studio](/platform/studio) ### Supplier data sharing that works Share the data your suppliers need to grow your category, securely and on your terms. Granular access controls. Audit trails. The end of spreadsheets bouncing around inboxes. [Explore the Vazen AI Platform](/platform) ### Revenue from your data Data monetisation built into the platform, not bolted onto it. Suppliers pay for the access that helps them invest in your category. You share in the upside. Skin in the game on both sides. We win when your category grows. ## We work the way modern retailers want to work. ### Cloud-native, API-first, integration-ready Your data stays on your terms. Vazen connects to the cloud and BI tools your team already runs. ### Commercial models that match the relationship Data revenue share, supplier-paid access, joint propositions. We design the model around what works for your category, not the other way around. ### Proof you can talk to Co-op partnered with Vazen to rebuild the way they share shelf data with brand teams. Tesco data powers Coplan for thousands of category managers across the supplier ecosystem. Leanne Ainger from Co-op walked through the model at our Manchester event in April 2026. ## Why retailers choose Vazen. ### Built for retailers, not retrofitted The architecture was designed for the way retailers share data with suppliers. The model wasn’t adapted from a tool that started somewhere else. ### You stay in control Granular permissions, audit logs, full transparency on who sees what, when, and for how long. Your data, your rules, our infrastructure. ### You grow your category The commercial model is built around shared growth. We win when your category grows. That changes how the technology gets built, and how the team behaves around it. ### Operational cost down, not up Modern category management software run as a service, not deployed and maintained in-house. Procurement, security, and data teams don’t have to fight to fit Vazen into their environment. Proof ## The Co-op build is the proof. Co-op partnered with Vazen to rebuild category collaboration with their supplier partners. Ask us to walk you through how the model works. FAQ ## Questions retailers ask before they partner. How is the commercial model structured for retailers? Different from the CPG side. Partnership-led, often involving data revenue share, joint propositions, or supplier-paid access. The right model depends on your data, your category, and what you’re trying to unlock. We’ll talk it through. How do you handle data security and supplier access? Granular permissions and audit controls built into the platform. Your data stays under your governance. Suppliers see what you’ve authorised, when you’ve authorised it, for the duration you’ve authorised it. Which retailers currently work with Vazen? Co-op and Tesco in the UK, with active conversations in the US and continental Europe. How is this different from a retail media network? Retail media networks monetise advertising. Vazen monetises data and category collaboration. The two are complementary, and many retailers run both. What does the technical integration look like? API-first. We connect to your existing data infrastructure rather than asking you to migrate. ## Start the partnership conversation. Tell us where you want category collaboration to go. We’ll tell you how Vazen gets you there. 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[Get the report](#get-the-report) ![Cover of the 2025 UK Shopper Trends Report](/_astro/uk-shopper-trends-report-2025.DI_yvbNa_Z1xfHHm.webp) What’s inside ## Evidence for the decisions happening at the shelf The report tracks changing priorities, pricing sensitivity, brand preference and what shoppers actually do in store. - The top concerns driving UK grocery decisions in 2025 - What shoppers say compared with what they actually do in store - Why brand perception has not declined, and how brands can regain ground - What works in store, and how to optimise the final five seconds at the shelf ## Get the full report Share your details and we’ll email the report to you. Something went wrong. Please try again or email . First name Last name Company name Job title Work email Send me the report We’ll use your details to send the report and handle your request. Read our [Privacy Policy](/privacy). ## Check your inbox Your report is on its way. It may take a few minutes to arrive.