Does the future of insights lie at outlet level?
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
For a long time, brands have managed the on-trade using aggregated indicators. They monitored performance by country, region, channel, or category, with a broad enough view to track major trends, but often too distant to understand what was really happening inside outlets.
This approach was useful for a long time, as it helped structure the analysis of a complex market. But today, it is showing its limits. In an environment where consumption behaviours are changing fast, budgets need to be better justified, and activations must prove their impact, brands need a more precise, more operational view that is closer to the field.
This is where the outlet level becomes strategic.
The question is no longer only what is happening in the market, but where it is happening, in which types of outlets, with which consumption dynamics, and with which opportunities for action.
The limits of an overly aggregated view
Aggregated data makes it possible to identify general trends, but it tends to smooth out differences between outlets. Yet in the on-trade, these differences are often decisive.
Two outlets located in the same city can have very different consumption profiles. A city-centre brasserie, a neighbourhood bar, a premium restaurant, or an outlet with heavy tourist traffic do not follow the same commercial logic. They do not have the same consumption moments, the same key products, the same price sensitivities, or the same activation levers.
Yet when analysis remains at national or regional level, these differences become difficult to read. A category may appear stable overall, while growing strongly in some segments and declining in others. A brand may show strong average performance without revealing precisely which outlets are driving that growth. An activation may seem effective, while its impact is actually concentrated in a very specific part of the outlet base.
The risk, then, is making decisions based on an overly average view of the market.
This view may be reassuring, but it is not always enough to take action.
The outlet as an entry point for a more detailed understanding of the market
Analyzing insights at outlet level does not mean getting lost in the detail. On the contrary, it means starting from the most concrete point in the market: the outlet where consumption actually takes place.
This is where commercial decisions take shape. This is where a product is either available or absent, where an activation is visible or not, where a price influences an order, where a consumption moment develops, and where a staff recommendation can guide the customer’s choice.
The outlet level therefore makes it possible to reconnect marketing analysis with operational reality. It is no longer just about knowing that a trend exists, but about understanding in which contexts it appears and how it can be activated.
This granularity can, for example, help identify the outlets where a brand is already strong, those where it is underperforming despite high potential, those that respond well to certain promotional mechanics, or those that could become priorities in a development strategy. Insight then becomes much more than an observation. It becomes a starting point for action.
Better outlet-level insights for better field decisions
The value of the outlet level is particularly strong when it helps brands segment opportunities more effectively.
A brand may want to grow its presence in cocktail bars, strengthen a category during afterwork occasions, identify the outlets where premium performs best, or understand why some outlets sell more of a specific reference than others. In each of these cases, an overly broad view risks masking the most useful signals.
With an outlet-level view, teams can better prioritize their efforts. They can distinguish high-potential outlets from those where the opportunity is weaker, adapt sales messages according to the profile of the outlet, measure the effect of an activation more precisely, and build more targeted action plans.
This approach also changes the way marketing, sales, and field teams work together. Marketing no longer provides only general trends; it delivers actionable insights. Sales teams no longer rely solely on their local knowledge; they can strengthen it with objective data. And decisions become more aligned, because everyone is looking at a more precise reality.
The outlet level therefore makes it possible to move from a coverage-based approach to a relevance-based approach.
Granularity is only useful if it remains actionable
Granularity, however, only has value if it helps teams make decisions. Accessing more data is not enough; it must also be made readable, comparable, and directly usable by teams.
The risk with the outlet level would be to create additional complexity for brands. If every outlet becomes a data line that is difficult to interpret, the analysis quickly loses its value. The challenge, therefore, is not to accumulate information, but to structure it in a way that brings the right signals to the surface.
This means being able to group outlets according to relevant criteria, compare similar outlets, track changes over time, and translate results into concrete recommendations. Outlet-level data should support a smarter reading of the market, not create heavier reporting.
This is precisely what makes the topic so strategic: the future of insights does not lie only in greater granularity, but in granularity that can inform decisions.
Towards more precise management of the on-trade
The outlet level opens up a new way to understand and activate the on-trade. It enables brands to move beyond averages, identify the real drivers of performance, and build actions that are better adapted to field realities.
This evolution does not replace aggregated analyses, which remain essential for tracking major trends and managing an overall strategy. It complements them by providing a more detailed, more operational reading that is more directly connected to commercial decisions.
In a fragmented market, the most useful insights will increasingly be those that do more than describe what is happening overall. They will be the ones that help brands understand where opportunities are, why they exist, and how to activate them.
The future of insights therefore does not rely solely on the outlet level. But it will be difficult to build a truly actionable view of the on-trade without it.
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