% ACV Distribution

http://www.cpgdatainsights.com/distribution/2nd-most-important-part1/

You probably consider dollars the most important measure and it IS the bottom line.  But the number one driver of dollar sales is distribution.  After all, shoppers cannot buy something that’s not in the store!

Used properly, % ACV Distribution will give you the answer to crucial business questions like:

• Are there any retailers that are not carrying our #1 item?
• Are we meeting the distribution goals we set for our new product?  Which retailers are selling at least one of the new items?
• My broker is saying sales are down because we are losing distribution.  How can I tell if this is true?  What is really happening in the stores?

So what exactly does % ACV Distribution mean and how is it calculated?

% ACV Distribution is often just abbreviated “% ACV,” especially when talking about it verbally.  It can generally be thought of as “% of stores selling,” but with stores weighted based on their size.  In other words,  you get more credit for being in larger stores than in smaller ones.  The size of a store is based on annual sales of everything the store sells, called All Commodity Volume.  When Nielsen and IRI calculate ACV, they don’t count things like pharmacy, lottery, and gasoline since not all stores have those features.

% ACV Distribution is calculated as the dollar value of stores in which a product has scanned in a geography divided by the dollar value of all the stores in that geography.  Let’s repeat that:  A product must scan in a store for it to count as being in distribution there. If it is on the shelf but does not sell or it is supposed to be there but is out of stock, it doesn’t count as being in distribution. In this picture, this retailer is out of stock on several items.  Even though there are shelf tags for these items, in Nielsen and IRI, these products are not counted as “in distribution” because they won’t scan at the register.

Here is an example of how % ACV is calculated.  Let’s say Anytown USA is made up of 3 retailers, as follows:

	# of stores	ACV $	% of stores	% ACV $
Fun Foods	60	$200MM	30%	50%
Happy Grocery	40	$40MM	20%	10%
Smart Stores	100	$160MM	50%	40%
Total Anytown USA	200	$400MM	100%	100%

If Brand A has scanned in Fun Foods and Smart Stores, then it is in 80% of the stores (30+50), but has 90% ACV Distribution (50+40).

So just remember, % ACV is like % of stores selling but you get more credit for big stores than small ones.

The decision that will affect our life in the next 5 years

T got the offer we want.

If he accepts the offer high chance is his green card application has to be redone. What we lose is not only couple of thousands of money and time we spent on this,  but also two years position we got in the waiting pipe line. What we will get, instead, a better place to live, a bigger city for our child, and a better financial situation.

So we are kinda of standing at the crossing road, the decision to go or not to go will totally change our life in the next 5 years. It is a safe-or-risk game. We can be on the safe side and then get our green card and plan on finding a new job later. Or we can take the risk and wait to another 4 to 5 years to get our green card. Is it harder to get green card, or harder to get a good job? Is it more attractive to us the green card, or the green bill?

I believe everything happens for a reason and all things happening in our lives are pre-planned somehow. No matter what decision T finally makes, I will support him and I will live with it. As long as three of us are together and healthy, no difficulty is able to defeat us.

Love u, T, love u, W.

Congraduations to T

Today is T's big day - Ph.D. dissertation defense. He was pretty nervous last night and a little bit panic this morning preparing all the documents for his five committee professors. But the dissertation defense itself went very well. He was challenged by different professors, T's answer made them happy most of the time, and the dissertation committee chair helped him several times when T was stuck into the questions.

After two-hour "defending", the dissertation committee chair announced that T passed the Ph.D. dissertation defense. From now on, T become a real Ph.D., please call him Dr. W. What a great day! All the five-year hard working gets paid! All the time and effort T devoted in during the last 5 years pays back!

 

I am so happy for him! I am so proud of him! I knew all the hard times he went through, I saw all the stressful, frustrating and low times he had, I felt all the unconfident, discouraging, try-to-run-away moment in his mind ....  However, he has never turned back, he chose to face it , solve it and make it through. He is so determining and so strong will ... ...

Today is his day! Everyone stood up and applauded for him, time and time again!

Well done, T! You are the best, always, in mine mind!

Why Do I Create This Blog?

Inspired by one of my classmates who went to NY to pursume his dream, I felt that I should not let the days keep going without leaving anything behind ... I want to create something for myself. It might be happy, might be tearing, might be nothing important. But, it is all about my life, it is my story, it is ME.