Case Study
With Crisp, Flax4Life is reinventing gluten-free once again.
Flax4Life uses Crisp to track down retail data and pull reports in an instant.
Situation
Retail trends change, but retail data doesn’t
From the first gluten-free baked goods to the first compostable packaging, Flax4Life has been on the cutting edge of gluten-free, better-for-you baking for over 21 years. But while demand for gluten-free treats continues to grow, so has the number of brands entering the market – so Flax4Life has to continually evolve and innovate, from product development to sales to merchandising.
Data is Flax4Life’s secret ingredient to keeping up with the market, but Sales and Marketing Specialist Sarah Bishop struggled with retail data that was scattered, raw, and difficult to use in daily decisions. Even answering a simple question like “where are we sold in the Midwest?” would take hours aggregating reports and spreadsheets to answer. So when she heard that UNFI was partnering with Crisp to make data more accessible, she jumped at the opportunity.
Solution
Using data to make healthy choices
Now, Sarah can access the latest data from all of Flax4Life’s retail partners in an instant, saving 10-15 hours per month on report pulling alone. From there, Flax4Life’s sales team uses Crisp dashboards to track sales performance, identify trends, and build a case to expand to new locations. To ensure those stores stay successful, they use Crisp’s Voids Dashboard to detect any issues that keep products from selling. Sarah’s team also tracks the success of new product launches: for example, they recently optimized pricing and packaging for a new cookie product to reflect consumer preferences and unlock sales growth. To keep bakery products fresh and limit spoilage, Flax4Life’s operations team also gets access to the Crisp platform to track month-to-month sales.
On the marketing side, data is critical to helping Sarah effectively allocate trade and media spend. For in-store promotions, she prioritizes stores with either existing momentum or lower brand awareness, then monitors sales lift to evaluate the ROI. Outside of stores, Sarah also uses Crisp data to identify priority markets. For instance, with a heat map of the company’s distributor accounts, she found that Flax4Life had a stronger presence in the Midwest than she realized. With this information, she opted to invest in the Midwest market, and then watched the sales lift at each store. As the team continues to develop the next great gluten-free treat, Crisp data is here to help them stay on top of the market.
Hearty results:
• Saved 10-15 hours per month on raw data manipulation
• Built a data-driven case to expand to new stores
• Spotted and corrected voids across retail locations
• Used data to refine marketing, promotions, and product launches
Favorite Insight:
Velocity Dashboard:
Tracks units sold per store per week across a product’s distribution.
“We wouldn’t have time to do all the data manipulation, so we wouldn’t get the insights that we needed. But now, we have concrete evidence behind our decision-making.”
Sarah Bishop
Sales & Marketing Specialist
Always be Data Ready with Crisp
Crisp allows food brands and retailers to stay ahead of rapidly evolving consumer behavior, identify potential supply chain disruptions, track inventory and product performance. It’s easy and quick to get started so you can be Data Ready.