The data gap in Nigerian FMCG
One of the most common frustrations expressed by Nigerian FMCG brand managers is operating without reliable data about what is happening in their store accounts. Brands may know their total sales to a distributor or directly to a supermarket chain, but they often do not know: which specific stores are selling well and which are underperforming, whether the product is in its correct shelf position, what competitor products have entered the category in the last month, or whether the agreed retail price is being maintained across accounts.
This data gap creates a decision-making environment where brand strategy is based on aggregate numbers and intuition rather than store-level evidence. Brands that know only their total sales to a chain cannot distinguish between 10 stores performing at 150% of target and 30 stores performing at 50% of target. Both situations produce the same aggregate number, but they require completely different responses.
What DALA reports contain
Sample: Weekly Account Report — Store View
Report generated from DALA field visit data. Updated weekly per store.
Portfolio-level view
Beyond individual store reports, DALA brands see portfolio-level aggregations that allow them to identify patterns across their account base. The portfolio view shows: the distribution of OSA scores across all accounts, the percentage of accounts at or above the reorder threshold, the stores with pricing deviations, and the stores where competitor activity has been logged in the category.
This portfolio view answers the questions that are genuinely useful for brand strategy: which geographic areas are performing best, which store types generate the highest velocity, and which accounts are persistently underperforming and may warrant review.
What brands do with this data
The operational decisions that DALA store report data directly enables include: prioritising replenishment to accounts approaching stockout before they actually run out; investigating pricing deviations before they erode brand value; responding to competitor activity by alerting the sales team to check whether the competing product has been given shelf space that was previously allocated to DALA brands; and identifying high-performing accounts that are candidates for additional facing or secondary display investment.
