Data Foundations
What is syndicated data?
Syndicated retail data — from providers like SPINS, NielsenIQ, and Circana — tracks what actually sells across thousands of stores, aggregated and sold to brands and retailers as a shared view of the market.
How it works
Retailers share their point-of-sale scan data with syndicated providers under licensing agreements. The providers aggregate this data across thousands of participating stores, normalize it into a consistent schema (UPCs, categories, weeks), and sell access to brands and category managers as a subscription.
The result is a weekly view of units sold, dollar sales, and prices — broken down by product, retailer, geography, and time — across a panel of stores large enough to be statistically representative of the market.
Brands use it to understand their own velocity, distribution, and promo performance. Retailers use it to benchmark categories, evaluate vendor performance, and make planogram decisions. The data is the shared language of the buyer-vendor relationship.
The main providers
SPINS
The leading syndicated data provider for natural, specialty, and wellness CPG. Tracks weekly POS scan data across natural, conventional, and club channels. Strong coverage of Whole Foods, Sprouts, Natural Grocers, and independent natural retailers.
NielsenIQ / Circana
Broad conventional channel coverage across grocery, drug, mass, and club. NielsenIQ and Circana (formerly IRI) merged their panel businesses; both still operate distinct POS data products used widely by large CPG and retailer category teams.
Retailer Portals
First-party data direct from the retailer: Walmart Retail Link, Target POL, Kroger Stratum, Whole Foods 8451, Costco IRMA. More granular and fresher than syndicated data — but scoped to one retailer and formatted differently across each portal.
Key metrics to know
ACV (All Commodity Volume)
A measure of a store's total annual sales across all categories. Used to weight distribution: a product in stores that represent 50% ACV has weighted distribution of 50%. Higher ACV stores are higher-priority accounts.
TDP (Total Distribution Points)
The sum of a product's ACV-weighted distribution across all SKUs. A brand with 3 SKUs each at 30% ACV has 90 TDPs. TDP measures how broadly a product is available at the store-and-SKU level.
Velocity
Units or dollar sales per point of distribution per week — a normalized measure of how fast a product sells regardless of how many stores carry it. High velocity with low ACV is a classic expansion signal.
Baseline vs. Incremental Lift
Baseline is the sales a product would have done without a promotion. Incremental lift is the additional sales attributable to the promo event. Syndicated data can estimate baselines using pre-promo trends; panel data adds household-level context.
Want to go deeper? Read our full guide to SPINS data →
What syndicated data doesn’t tell you
Syndicated POS data tracks what sold — not who bought it or why. It can’t distinguish between a shopper stocking up and a shopper trying a product for the first time. For household-level behavior, you need panel data (SPINS panel, Numerator, NielsenIQ Homescan).
Coverage gaps are real. Not every retailer participates in every syndicated program. Kroger has its own data ecosystem (Stratum / 84.51°) that brands often license directly. Regional and independent grocers may not appear in syndicated panels at all.
For retailers, syndicated data reflects their category within the broader market — useful for benchmarking and vendor conversations — but their own first-party loyalty and POS data is more granular and up-to-date for internal decisions.
Scout works with all of it
SPINS, NielsenIQ, Circana, retailer portals, and your internal data — harmonized into one AI retail analytics platform your team can actually use.
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