How to identify high-potential categories when your distributors don’t speak the same language

For a Category Manager, nothing is more frustrating than steering a category… without a clear vision.

Your distributors each structure their data in their own way: different formats, varying levels of granularity, definitions that change from one retail network to another.

The result? Your category view is fragmented, and identifying growth opportunities becomes a real headache.

In the field, this fragmentation translates into recurring questions:

Why is one distribution center overperforming while another is declining?

Which customer typology is truly driving the category?

Which assortments deserve a targeted activation plan?

Which products are really underperforming — and where?

It’s hard to move forward with confidence when you’re not speaking the same language as your distributors. Yet this is exactly where your strategic role comes into play: identifying, prioritizing, activating. And without harmonized data, that mission becomes almost impossible.

A Category Manager’s day-to-day reality when faced with fragmented data

In most food industry organizations, Category Managers receive heterogeneous files: Excel exports from foodservice wholesalers, retail sales reports, extracts from internal systems…

Processing data becomes a never-ending project.

This heterogeneity leads to three major challenges:

1. Impossible to compare performance across distributors

Even in sell-out, data is never structured the same way. It’s impossible to get, at a glance, a clear view of which categories are growing, stagnating, or declining across different networks.

2. No reliable view of opportunities by customer typology

Each distributor categorizes its end customers differently. Identifying high-potential segments — commercial catering, institutional catering, fast food, bakeries, independent HoReCa, etc. — requires time-consuming manual reconstruction.

3. Difficulty prioritizing activation plans

Without a consolidated view, it’s hard to know where to act: on which network, with which customer typology, on which SKUs or sub-categories.

This lack of visibility leads to missed opportunities… and sometimes poorly targeted investments.

The real question: how can you regain a unified category view?

To identify truly high-potential categories, three conditions are essential:

✔ Access to a harmonized database

Same level of detail, same construction logic, same KPI definitions.Without harmonization, you’re comparing apples and oranges.

✔ Visibility on the performance of all your distributors

No longer being dependent on Distributor A, who provides very detailed data, while Distributor B only sends a high-level summary.

✔ The ability to analyze weak signals at the right level of granularity

Category → sub-category → SKU → customer typology → warehouse.This is exactly what the KaryonFood platform enables.

How KaryonFood solves the “different languages” problem between distributors

With KaryonFood, you finally gain a consolidated category view, regardless of the formats, nomenclatures, or structures provided by your distributors.

In practice:

1. All your sell-in and sell-out data is automatically harmonized

Whatever the source, the platform applies a single, unified structure.You compare networks and sub-categories on a consistent scope — the foundation for identifying real growth drivers.

2. You instantly identify high-potential categories and sub-categories

In just a few clicks, you can detect:

• universes that are growing with some distributors but not others;

• end-user typologies that are driving the category;

• SKUs that are outperforming or declining depending on the network;

• underexploited warehouses where real opportunities exist.

These are exactly the insights that are missing when everyone “speaks their own data language.”

3. You manage category decisions using reliable, unified KPIs

No more manual rebuilding of dashboards:penetration rate, range depth, growth vs. baseline, performance by customer typology…Everything is already consolidated.

4. You increase your impact in discussions with distributors

By coming in with harmonized figures, you:

• make discussions more objective;

• clearly demonstrate growth levers;

• propose action plans based on facts;

• reduce disagreements around performance.

The immediate effect: smoother collaboration and stronger influence in category decisions.

What this changes in your daily life as a Category Manager

✔ A complete category view, with no blind spots

You no longer search for opportunities — they surface naturally.

✔ More precisely targeted activations

You act exactly where the business impact is real.

✔ Stronger collaboration with sales teams

Your regions have a clear diagnosis to prioritize field actions.

✔ An expert posture with distributors

You become the one who brings the vision — and therefore, growth.

Finally gain a homogeneous, actionable category view

When your distributors don’t speak the same language, your business vision suffers.

With KaryonFood, you take back control: one single data source, unified analysis, faster decisions, and better-captured opportunities.

👉 Want to see how KaryonFood unifies your data to instantly identify high-potential categories? Request your personalized demo.