Asda has launched Asda Xpert, a new platform that allows listed brands to access e-commerce-specific data analytics directly from the supermarket.

The grocery retailer said the initiative aims to help the retailer and its suppliers better understand and more effectively meet the needs of its online Customers.

The online category management platform aims to provide brands with advanced data-driven insights, enabling them to optimise product performance, monitor market trends and improve decision-making for Asda.com.

This move is the result of a strategic partnership between Asda and eStoreBrands, a British platform that provides e-commerce analytics and digital shelf solutions for consumer goods brands to ultimately help brands grow online.

On Thursday, eStoreBrands confirmed to Retail Systems that Asda Xpert has been launched and is already available to brands that supply Asda.

The service offers category performance dashboards designed for joint business review, benchmarking insights that aim to inform range and merchandising decisions, opportunity identification based on shopper gaps and category potential, and joint growth planning supported by shared data and insights.

The firms said the initiative aims to address the challenges British retailers face in today's market, with data aimed at offering solutions to problems such as why certain SKUs perform well in stores but struggle on retail websites, providing category insights to spark strategic conversations with retailers.

Barney Burgess, vice president online at Asda, commented on the partnership: “Leveraging an eCategory Management approach, ASDA Xpert will enable brands to identify new insights from our data, driving more informed actions which will accelerate growth for the brands as well as Asda.com.”

eStoreBrands said that the data behind the new platform isn’t scraped or based on estimated metrics, instead it is “authentic retailer intelligence”.

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