CASE STUDY

Cooling Off a Delist Decision: A Growing Ice Cream Brand Protects $800K

Snapshot

SOLUTION AREA

Liquid Data Collaborate

SOLUTION

POS, Loyalty

INDUSTRIES

CPG

CLIENT

Manufacturer & Retailer

The Objective

An emerging regional ice cream brand faced a potential delisting from a grocery retailer across multiple regions.

Despite having a distinct niche appeal, the brand lagged in overall sales share and growth compared to larger, more established competitors. The challenge was to move beyond traditional share and efficiency metrics to build a fact-based case that clearly demonstrated the brand’s strategic value to the retailer. The brand engaged Circana to lead this effort.

The Solution

Circana used integrated point-of-sale (POS) and loyalty data to reframe the brand’s role and performance within the category, helping to:

1. Reveal alignment with high-value shoppers

Loyalty insights showed the brand over-indexed with key shopper segments, including audiences critical to the retailer’s growth and differentiation. For example, the brand performed strongest with families motivated by health and wellness. That group also had a larger basket size — more than 30% higher than the closest other audience segment.

2. Demonstrate strong promotional return

POS data confirmed the brand's promotions were highly effective, driving a strong sales lift and reinforcing shopper loyalty in the period that followed.

During one promotion:

Sales reached 3x the pre-promotion baseline.
Loyalty strengthened with buyers directing more of their category spend to the brand (+2 points).
Share of buyers exclusively purchasing the ice cream brand rose by 1 point.
The buyer base expanded, with new buyers accounting for nearly one-half of promotion-driven volume.

3. Identify untapped potential

Analysis uncovered that the brand had been under-supported in promotional activity, limiting its ability to fully realize its commercial potential. This repositioned the brand from underperforming to under-leveraged.

Together, these insights shifted the narrative from low share to high strategic impact – grounded in measurable shopper and sales outcomes.

The Results

The data-driven approach influenced a critical business decision and protected meaningful value for both the brand and the retailer. This included:

$800K in revenue protected by preventing delisting.

$500K in potential retailer loss mitigated, as analysis showed that up to one-quarter of shoppers would have shifted spend to competing retailers.

Stronger recognition of the brand’s role in attracting and retaining high-value shoppers.

By activating the data from multiple angles, the brand successfully transformed a delisting risk into a compelling case for retention, proving that niche brands can deliver outsized impact when properly supported.

Together, the retailer and the brand emerged stronger, rebuilding performance, restoring shopper engagement, and setting the foundation for sustained mutual growth.

Liquid Data Essentials equips emerging brands with the same trusted data that retailers use so they can make a stronger case, faster.

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