Who is gap intelligence?

"Who is gap intelligence?" asks the person next to me in the elevator.

It’s one of my favorite questions. I hear it from friends, family, neighbors, partners, prospects, fellow leaders in my local network, and anybody else I happen upon when I’m out in the wild – including during elevator rides. (I also regularly hear it from my parents, but since they are in their 80’s I don’t mind repeating myself!)

As a firm beliver of Simon Sinek’s Start With Why, I first tell them Why:

Following Sinek’s model, next I tell them How:

My description of What we do is the only part that differs from one elevator ride to the next, and it is usually different based on who asks the question. This is because gap intelligence provides services that support an incredibly broad array of sales and marketing roles within the companies we do business with. As a result, the What we do and the value we provide are often different for the thousands of individuals who rely on gap intelligence to help them work smarter, make better decisions, and realize their business goals.

The What of gap intelligence is really the sum of all these different use cases, many of which are new to us even after 13 years in business. In full disclosure, learning about new and different ways in which our clients use our analysis and our data is one of my favorite parts of the job. Over the years we’ve heard from our clients about hundreds of user stories.

Use Cases

Here are just a dozen use cases I have heard from our client when it comes to our core market intelligence services:

1. C-level Executive

"I read gap’s Market Intelligence Report every week to stay abreast of competitive activity in my industry so that I can anticipate coming changes."

2. General Manager

"I attend gap’s market update presentations to gain context and perspective from expert industry analysts."

3. Sales Manager

"I use gap’s in-store assortment and shelf presence data to identify opportunities and grow my accounts with retailers."

4. Product Manager

"I use gap’s product, pricing, promotion, and placement data so that I can explain why my sales, and why my competitors’ sales, went up or down last week."

5. Future Product Planner

"I use gap’s specification database so that I can predict my and my competitors’ product features, and at what price points, one-to-two years from now."

6. Future Marketing Manager

"I use gap’s comprehensive street pricing data in a predictive model to estimate future net price targets."

7. Promotions Marketing Manager

"I rely on the gap team to review last year’s holiday season so that I can develop my holiday plan for next year."

8. Pricing Manager

"I use gap intelligence to identify the lowest net price in the channel each week so that I sound smart in front of my boss at our weekly team meeting."  (Yes one of you actually admitted this, and you know who you are!)

9. Brand Manager

"I use gap as an unbiased, third-party source to validate the competitiveness of my products in my marketing and advertising."

10. Marketing Manager

"I use gap intelligence to spot and communicate important trends so that I can proactively manage my business."

11. Field Marketing Manager

"I use gap’s in-store intelligence to stay informed of competitive merchandising and promotional changes on the retail floor."

12. Analytics Team

"We use gap’s API to connect its 4-P’s data to our corporate analytics platform so that we can leverage the power of gap’s 'GFD' mashed up with proprietary customer data."

This list can go on and on, but since every good blog must come to an end, so then must this list.

We Love Use Cases

We love hearing about new and different use cases! So don’t be shy and send us your own at info@gapintelligence.com. In return our team may surprise you in the not-too-distant future with a response stolen straight out of Apple’s script: “There’s an app for that!”