The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is highly dependent on precise and prompt shopper data that is essential for pricing, promotions, distribution, and product assortment decisions. However, despite the consumer behaviour radically changing, most of Europe’s retail intelligence infrastructures are still heavily dependent on traditional household panels which are small samples of 4,000 to 20,000 consumers whose data is extrapolated to represent national markets.
These outdated systems which are managed by Kantar, NielsenIQ Omnishopper, and GfK, have problems with limited SKU coverage, slow reporting cycles, and data gaps that do not allow brands to figure out their performance in real-time. Spanish startup Algori, based in Madrid, thinks that it has the solution: a high-granularity, AI-powered shopper panel that is designed for speed, scale, and modern retail complexity.
Algori got €3.6 million of new growth funding that it announced today and the total capital that the company has raised is now around €7.5 million. The round had a host of new investors like Red Bull Ventures, Tech Transfer Agrifood (Clave Capital), Co-Invest Capital, AttaPoll, and Firstpick, along with the participation of the existing investors Shilling, Flashpoint, and Change Ventures. Besides that, the list of investors also comprises Jared Schrieber, co-founder of InfoScout and former board member of data-intelligence scale-up Numerator, which was acquired by Kantar for $1.5 billion.
A Modern Shopper Panel Powered by AI
Founded by Andrius Juozapaitis, Algori is offering FMCG brands and retailers with a resolution of SKU-level insights derived from 45,000 weekly shoppers, which is the largest consumer panel in Spain. Instead of going for retailer partnerships or manual data cleaning, Algori takes care of the situation by using its proprietary AI classification engine to process the receipts of real purchases. The engine then locates and arranges each product down to the individual barcode.
The outcome is almost real-time consumer purchasing behavior visibility which, according to the company’s own data, allows for panel data to be accessible just four days after month- or quarter-end as opposed to the industry’s several-weeks norm.
“The shopper panel industry is experiencing a structural change,” states Juozapaitis. “Manufacturers and retailers are demanding more granular data to be delivered faster, however, traditional panels are not capable of providing it at such a depth level. Our solution is a mix of AI, scale, and recency which results in a new way for the industry to get consumer behavior insight.”
Algori’s technology monitors the entire basket composition, merchandise price changes by retailer, competitor switching patterns, and category-level performance. Shoppers can discover which products they are adding or removing from their baskets, which promotions are converting, and the reasons for the migration of consumers from one brand to another.
By contrast with the likes of Kantar, NielsenIQ Omnishopper, or Receiptor AI, Algori’s AI-driven strategy results in achieving SKU-specific insights in a greater array of products without the need for retailer integrations, thus making the process much faster and more accurate.
Why the FMCG Market Needs New Data Models
The major problem with generating insights in FMCG is that the market is highly fragmented. Consumers choose different brands at different retailers, sometimes online and sometimes offline, and they even change stores every week without fail. Traditional panels are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the rising number of SKUs, private-label products, and omnichannel purchasing practices.
Retailers are progressively demanding detailed, implementable intelligence — the very kind that is necessary for the efficient planning of promotion strategies, deciding on which stores to introduce new products, and quickly responding to changes in shopper behavior. Analysts say that if FMCG brands use real-time data, they can get up to 10-15% increases in the effectiveness of promotions and better distribution decisions which, in turn, become their major competitive advantages in a low-margin sector.
Algori presents itself as the most advanced next-generation solution that is better in terms of speed, cost, details, and scalability.
Expansion Across Europe and Latin America
Currently, with its small crew of 18 team members, Algori is preparing to extend its activities beyond the Spanish market. The newly acquired capital will be used to support business activities in Poland, Germany, and France, whereas Latin America would be the next significant region in line.
“The technology developed by Algori is instrumental in providing a more detailed picture of the changing dynamics of shopper behaviour,” stated Pedro de Alava, Fund Manager at Tech Transfer Agrifood. “Such a level of insight enables brands and retailers to plan fresh launches effectively and keep sales under close monitoring at a previously unattainable depth.”
Ricardo Jacinto, Partner at Shilling Capital, continues: “Algori has been leading the FMCG data trend for quite some time. Their panel is a perfect blend of cutting-edge technology and a lean, cost-efficient model, at the same time, it is the most granular and transparent in the market.”
A New Standard for FMCG Intelligence
With a new capital injection of €3.6 million and a growing global footprint, Algori is setting itself up as a high-resolution substitute for the slow-moving, legacy panel systems. As manufacturers get under pressure from rivals and retailers change their assortments and pricing strategies, the call for accurate, real-time data is going to get even louder.
Algori is convinced that it can be the answer that the industry has been waiting for – an AI-powered, universally scalable platform that can fundamentally change shopper insight in the rapidly evolving FMCG sector.