Retail

Grow the category. Keep the margin.

Molsaro is commercial decision intelligence for retail merchandising. Price, promotion, range and vendor terms are planned on one platform — every projection with its range, every action with an owner, and the shopper’s response modelled before anything reaches the shelf.

Book a demo Talk to an expert
Coffee · category plan FY · W26
Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | MolsaroTwelve monthly clusters compare last year, the accepted plan and the proposed plan. The proposed plan is above the accepted plan in nine of twelve months, ending at 5.92 million euro against 5.45 million in December.4.55.05.56.0JFMAMJJASOND5.925.45
last year accepted plan proposed plan
Gross profit against the accepted plan
Status Action Gross profit Range Owner Decision
Approved Price architecture · 14 items +0.9m +0.6 .. +1.2 Pricing lead Approve?
Approved Range consolidation · 12 items exit +0.5m +0.3 .. +0.8 Category manager Approve?
In review Promotion redesign · depth + calendar +0.7m +0.4 .. +1.0 Trade planning Revise?
Total for the category +2.1m +1.3 .. +3.0
baseline: accepted FY plan · EUR Send to Monday review

Market context

Know every competitor move by Monday.

The category as the market sees it — your items and every competitor’s, priced, promoted and distributed — read as one shelf.

Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | Molsaro Every item in the category is plotted by shelf price against weighted distribution, sized by share. Six own items are picked out in teal against twenty-eight competitor items. Three moves from the past week are marked: a competitor price cut of six percent, a twenty percent promotion running on own-label instant, and a new competitor listing in pods. 100% 75% 50% 25% €2 €4 €6 €8 shelf price weighted distribution on the vertical competitor cut 6% · W26 new listing · W25 your 20% depth running premium roast · +6% to market your items competitor items dot size = category share coffee · 34 items · MAT to W26

One connected readPrices, promotions and distribution for the whole category, not only the items you own.

Context that travelsMarket reads, category documents and web signals join the same context your questions and plans draw on.

Watched between reviewsMonitors follow the category all week and set the Monday agenda.

The trading desk

Four trading calls. One plan that adds up.

Pricing, promotions, assortment and vendor negotiations — decided against one category P&L instead of four spreadsheets.

Price

Price architecture
Ladders, gaps and price families held against the market.
Price response by item
How much volume each move buys, or costs.
Competitor price watch
Every move on the shelf, read weekly.

Promotion

Depth and mechanics
The profit of 10, 15 or 20 percent before it runs.
Transfer and baseline
What a promotion borrows from the shelf beside it.
Calendar economics
A season of promotions, costed as one plan.

Range

Range productivity
What each item earns for the space it holds.
Exits mapped first
Where the volume goes before the item goes.
Distribution coverage
Weighted coverage against the market.

Vendor terms

Category reviews
The review file, assembled and current.
Joint business plans
One set of numbers for both sides of the table.
Margin build
Cost, funding and mix priced into the plan.

Demand & forecast

Next season, already explained.

Every category forecast arrives with the range around it and the drivers behind it — market, competitors, price, promotions, distribution, weather, season and trend — so the plan starts from an explanation rather than an argument.

A year of demand, with its range shown.

Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | MolsaroWeekly units. The closed year is a solid line; the year ahead is a dashed expected line inside a widening range band, totalling 25.5 million units expected with a lower bound of 24.1 million and an upper bound of 27.0 million.350k450k550k650k52 weeks closed52 weeks ahead27.0m upper25.5m expected24.1m lowerunits, next 52 weeksW27 last yearW26 next yearbaseline: closed year . 52 wks . units

Eight drivers put next year at +2.4%.

Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | MolsaroEight drivers: market plus 1.1, seasonal and weather plus 0.9, promotion plus 0.6, trend plus 0.5, distribution plus 0.4, residual plus 0.2, price minus 0.8, competitive minus 0.5. They sum to plus 2.4 percent.Market+1.1Seasonal & weather+0.9Promotion+0.6Trend+0.5Distribution+0.4Residual+0.2Price-0.8Competitive-0.5Next year+2.4%residual is the balancing factor

The trade test

Test the trade before the shelf does.

Price moves, promotion depths and exits run against the modelled shopper first. What survives the test goes into the plan, with its range and its owner.

15% depth returns more profit than 20%.

instant coffee · top-8 promotion slot Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | MolsaroTen percent depth returns 0.31 million, fifteen percent returns 0.48 million and is adopted, twenty percent returns 0.42 million.0.20.40.6+0.31m10%+0.48m15%+0.42m20%incremental gross profit . EUR mvs committed promotion calendar
Adopted

Depth 15% · +0.48m expected

range +0.31 .. +0.66 · 41% of lift is transfer

The second price rise costs more than the first.

premium roast & ground 500g Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | MolsaroA convex curve: moving from 6.49 to 6.79 costs 2.8 percent of volume, while a further move to 7.09 costs disproportionately more as the curve steepens.90951006.496.797.09volume index . premium roast 500gvs current shelf price
Recommended

6.49 → 6.79 · gross profit +0.19m

volume −2.8% · range −4.1 .. −1.6

Four items carry 81% of the exit volume.

range consolidation · 12 items Retail Commercial Decision Intelligence | MolsaroOf the volume from the twelve exiting items, 46 percent transfers to own-label instant and 35 percent to leading instant, both retained in the category, while 19 percent moves to pods and ready-to-drink outside it.exit46%own-label instant35%leading instant19%pods & RTDwhere the volume goes when 12 items exitteal stays in category . coral leaves it
Adopted

12 exits · 81% volume retained

+0.5m gross profit · range +0.3 .. +0.8

adopted here: +0.9m price  ·  +0.7m promotion  ·  +0.5m range  =  the +2.1m plan

Vendor negotiation

Walk in with the category story. Walk out with the terms.

  • Ask for the review; the file assembles from the category’s own numbers — performance, price position, promotion economics and the asks.
  • Every figure carries the source it came from, so the room can check it.
  • Your team makes the call and your systems execute it. Molsaro prepares the decision.

Build the coffee category review for Thursday — range, price, promotion and the terms we want.

  • category performance read
  • price position against market
  • promotion economics
  • terms and funding modelled

Review ready

Coffee category review · H2

prepared for the Thursday vendor meeting

The category grows 2.4% next year on market and season, against a 0.8% drag from price. Premium roast holds a 6% price gap to the market and carries the range; instant depth is over-invested at 20%.

Price position by tier
TierOursMarketGap
Premium roast6.796.41+6%
Mainstream roast4.294.24+1%
Own-label instant2.652.79−5%

Promotion economics · 15% depth returns +0.48m against 20% at +0.42m · 41% of lift is transfer

The asks

  1. Fund the instant slot at 15% depth — +0.48m, tested
  2. Two range slots for premium roast — 98% revenue retained
  3. Hold cost price through H2 — protects +0.9m
Category model Price survey · W26 Promotion economics Guardrails

Category agents

Four specialists working your category every day.

Between reviews they watch, test and prepare. Every piece of work arrives with the person who owns it.

Category Captain

Keeps the category review current.

Watches
Share, range productivity, distribution gaps.
Delivers
The Monday category file.
Hands to
Category manager

Price Monitor

Reads every competitor price move.

Watches
Price gaps, ladder breaks, guardrail breaches.
Delivers
Response options, priced.
Hands to
Pricing lead

This week

  • 312 price moves read
  • 9 ladder breaks flagged
  • 2 options prepared

Promo Optimizer

Keeps the calendar honest.

Watches
Depth economics, transfer, baseline drift.
Delivers
The next slot’s depth comparison.
Hands to
Trade planning

Shopper Insights

Reads the switching behind the numbers.

Watches
Substitution, basket shifts, market reads.
Delivers
Where the volume goes, explained.
Hands to
Insights lead

Get started

Put your hardest category on the desk.

Pick the category that fights back — the first session puts its plan, its ranges and its owners on one file.

Book a demo Talk to an expert