Small Businesses Deserve the Same Level of Data as the Big Corporations

Small to medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our country’s economy. From the family-owned boutique roasters that produce the great tasting single origin beans in our capital cities and beyond to the artisan cafes that serve the best lattes all over Australia - they’re all highly valuable to the hospitality industry’s success.

Historically though, these SMEs have lacked quick access to important industry data; data that could help them transform their business and produce better products for their customers.

For too long, they have been kept in the dark about the many interesting insights into our growing hospitality sector - the effects of seasonality, the needs of the customers, and their unique drinking habits, to name just a few. Up until now, this kind of data has only been reserved for large businesses and multinational manufacturers through expensive scan, panel, and card data reports.

Grocery giants Coles and Woolworths, for example, have been using big data for years to better understand the behaviour of their consumers. In 2013, Woolworths teamed up with data analytics company Quantium with the belief that data-driven insights will assist the transformation of their business. According to CEO Grant O’Brien, through their investment in Quantium, they have been able to clearly identify the needs of their customers and thus deliver a better shopping experience.

Now just like these big industry players, small businesses also deserve to be on the receiving end of big, meaningful data so they too can make smarter business decisions and compete in an increasingly competitive food and beverage market. As Consulting Company McKinsey suggests in their article ‘How Retailers Can Keep Up With Consumers’,  utilising analytics and data for decision making is an absolute must for food and beverage suppliers.

“Forward-thinking retailers are leveraging the vast amounts of data they possess and building analytical muscle to enable targeted marketing, tailored assortments, and effective pricing and promotions. Gathering and analysing data to understand the needs, preferences, and attitudes of growing consumer segments... will be especially important, as will understanding individual consumers and customizing offers on a one-on-one basis.”

Thankfully, Australia’s leading digital B2B hospitality platform, Ordermentum, has created an industry first coffee index that aims to empower small to medium-sized coffee businesses with game-changing data and insights.

The Ordermentum Coffee Index is a real-time indicator of the volume and price of wholesale specialty coffee sold across Australia. Calculated weekly and based on B2B orders from cafe to supplier, it analyses the impact of weather and holiday periods on sales, indicates what price coffee shops are paying, and provides unique insights that allow businesses to have a greater understanding of the week-to-week ups and downs in the wider market.

All this information can then be used to forecast orders accurately, improve processes, better manage stock and production levels, and develop new products to increase sales.

The data from the coffee index is reliable and LIVE and Ordermentum has invested heavily in a data science team with some of the best in the game. The insights and information from their index have been curated from 12% of all specialty coffee roasters in Australia who are using the Ordermentum platform - this equates to more than 10% of all coffee traded in the country. Importantly, all the data is presented anonymously so no roaster or supplier can ever be identified in the data set.

.Small businesses are product-first businesses, so it's important for them to get the same level of data the large corporations have at their fingertips. With the Ordermentum Coffee Index, the information that was once reserved for the big players is now more accessible to wider sectors and that can only be a game-changer.

Ordermentum’s goal is to make small businesses the market leaders in technology. If you want to get access to the industry first coffee index and see the first set of impactful data, register here

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