Why Distributors and Retailers Fight for Data … And Why the Real Winner Should Be the Customer

May 13

Walmart didn’t become the world’s largest retailer by accident. One of its most decisive moves had nothing to do with pricing or store count, it was a decision to share data.

In the early 1990s, Walmart opened its Retail Link database to suppliers like Procter & Gamble, giving them real-time access to sales and inventory data across its stores. P&G used that data to manage Walmart’s Pampers replenishment directly requiring no purchase orders and no guesswork. Shelves stayed full. Costs dropped. Both companies won.

That partnership became a blueprint for modern supply chain collaboration. Decades later, most of the fast-moving consumer goods industry still hasn’t followed it.

The Root of the Conflict

Retailers sit closest to the consumer. They collect rich, real-time data: what sells, when, where, at what price, and to whom. That proximity gives them leverage and they know it.

Distributors manage inventory flow, logistics, and often carry the financial risk of unsold stock. They need downstream demand signals to plan effectively, yet retailers are often reluctant to share what they consider a proprietary asset.

According to a Coresight Research study of 210 global retailers and suppliers, 63% of retailers and 52% of suppliers cite lack of trust and communication as their biggest challenge in collaboration. The result? Supply chains that run on assumptions instead of facts.

This mistrust isn’t just cultural, it’s structural. Finance owns transaction data. Marketing owns customer data. Suppliers sit outside the walls entirely. Even internally, data is siloed.

The Real Cost of Hoarding Data

The consequences are measurable and specific to this industry. According to Infor research and the World Economic Forum, 61% of food and beverage organizations have limited visibility over parts of their supply chain, and only 7% of global supply chain leaders have achieved full multi-tier transparency.

The root cause is often hiding in plain sight. Nearly 48% of food and beverage suppliers still rely on spreadsheets for daily operations, with 60% reporting time-consuming manual tasks and 39% experiencing data entry errors that directly impact margins, according to research by Anchor Group. These are not technology problems. They are collaboration problems dressed up as technology problems.

Research published in Frontiers journal found that when manufacturers incorporated retailer sales data into demand forecasting, forecast accuracy improved between 7.1% and 81.1% depending on the product. That gap directly drives stockouts, overstock, markdowns, and frustrated customers.

The bullwhip effect, where small fluctuations in consumer demand ripple into massive swings upstream, is largely a symptom of data scarcity. When each party makes decisions on incomplete information, the distortions compound.

3 Actionable Ways to Break the Cycle

Define data governance before anything else- Establish clear agreements on what data is shared, in what format, who owns it, and how it can be used. A transparent governance framework builds the trust that makes sharing feel safe. Appoint data stewards on both sides to maintain integrity.
Replace manual reporting with shared platforms- PDFs, Excel attachments, and flat files are not a data strategy. Investing in a shared reporting platform, even a lightweight one, allows both parties to work from the same numbers in real time, eliminating the conversion lag that delays insights and distorts decisions.
Start small and prove value quickly- You don’t need to share everything at once. Identify one shared KPI. For example, in-stock rate or sell-through by location and build visibility around that. A quick win creates the appetite for deeper collaboration.

In the end…The Customer Loses When Data Loses

Here is the uncomfortable truth: when distributors and retailers fight over data, the end customer absorbs the damage. They experience empty shelves, delayed shipments, irrelevant promotions, and returns that could have been avoided.

According to Brookings Institution research, improving end-to-end supply chain visibility makes it easier and faster to identify disruptions, reduce waste, and improve productivity; these benefits that flow directly to the consumer.

Walmart and P&G figured this out thirty years ago. The question is why so much of the fast-moving consumer goods industry is still treating data like a bargaining chip instead of a shared asset.

SO STOP HOARDING AND START SHARING… Not because it is altruistic but because the supply chain that wins the next decade will be the one built on transparency, not territory.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: What is holding your organization back from sharing more data with supply chain partners, technology, trust, or something else?

References

Infor / World Economic Forum. (2025). Food and Beverage Supply Chain Visibility Research.
Anchor Group. (2025). 21 Food & Beverage Supply Chain Stats for 2025.
Brookings Institution. (2022). A Data-Sharing Approach for Greater Supply Chain Visibility.
Frontiers in Psychology. (2022). To Share or Not to Share? The Role of Retailer’s Information Sharing in a Closed-Loop Supply Chain.
Coresight Research. (2025). How Data Sharing and Collaboration Can Accelerate Decision-Making and Enhance Sustainability.
Amplio / SCM Dojo. (2024). Walmart’s Supply Chain: A Case Study in Innovation.