PepsiCo scales customer-centric retailing with AI
PepsiCo is leading the way in CPG innovation with a sharp focus on customer needs and AI-powered insights.
Introduction
In a saturated snack market where penetration is nearly 96%, PepsiCo needed new ways to grow. Traditional levers such as increasing household penetration weren’t working. The team shifted focus to precision over volume—becoming more targeted, relevant, and shopper-centric.
That shift sparked a remarkable transformation. PepsiCo redefined category planning using real-time shopper behavior—moving beyond historical sales to reset clusters, shelves, and store strategies.
By using a shopper-led clustering model, the PepsiCo team created more personalized experiences and stronger retail collaboration for more than 1,000 stores across Northern Europe.
Challenge
“The Netherlands is one of the highest penetration markets for snacks, at nearly 96%, so PepsiCo and our partners can’t really deepen category penetration.”
In Northern Europe, snack markets were near impenetrable. For PepsiCo, that meant traditional growth levers—like expanding the shopper base—were no longer enough. To create new value, the team needed to go deeper and understand not just what sold, but who was buying, how, and why.
Fragmented data, inconsistent store performance, and shifting shopper behavior created a challenging environment for the PepsiCo team. They needed clearer visibility at the shelf—and a way to turn those insights into action across retail partners.
Solutions
PepsiCo took a structured, data-driven approach to transforming shelf planning and activation. From the start, the team prioritized real shopper behavior, not just historical sales or internal assumptions. By bringing AI-powered retail analytics into daily work, the team turned insights into impact at scale.
The end-to-end approach centered on four key steps.
PepsiCo had access to rich shopper, store, and sales data, but it lived in silos. Using AI, the team connected and analyzed more than 1,000 data points per store to create a unified, actionable view. With this clarity, the team built a foundation for better decisions rooted in real shopper behavior.
Using AI, the team re-clustered stores into three distinct shopper-led groups. These clusters sparked new conversations about how to better serve each shopper type with the right placements, assortments, and promotions.
The team used share-of-market and assortment modeling to design the best scenario for each cluster. From there, planograms were created for each shelf and cluster, giving retailers a clear path to more relevant, high-performing assortments.
Working hand-in-hand with retail partners, PepsiCo merchandisers and category managers rolled out the new strategy to over 1,000 stores. And the collaboration didn’t stop at launch—it continues with ongoing measurement and iteration to deepen impact and elevate shopper experiences.
Results
PepsiCo’s shopper-led approach reset how the business plans, partners, and performs in Northern Europe. By embedding AI into decision-making, the team created lasting impact across retail execution, collaboration, and growth.
AI-powered analytics enabled PepsiCo to bring shopper data into the heart of reset planning—turning insights into clear actions across planograms, assortments, and store segmentation.
The salty snacks category reset brought PepsiCo’s strategy to life across more than 1,000 retail locations. Each store benefited from tailored shelf plans aligned to shopper clusters—not one-size-fits-all models.
PepsiCo merchandisers and category managers combine AI insights with their category knowledge to create more informed assortments, improving relevance and execution.
The initiative surfaced a data-driven, shopper-first mindset across PepsiCo’s teams, who now ground each decision in how people actually shop.
With better insights in hand, PepsiCo strengthened its partnerships using shared data and targeted strategies to build trust with key retailers and drive revenue growth.
PepsiCo used shopper data to reshape how categories are planned, clustered, and executed. With AI-driven insights, deep internal expertise, and close retailer collaboration, the team turned a complex reset into a scalable success.
The Future
“We were able to achieve category management objectives and bring our vision to life, including sustainability and brand innovation angles. We increased category space and optimized assortment based on current and future shopper needs.”
Expertise when your team needs it most
Performance at scale starts with AI that works where decisions are made. PepsiCo proves what’s possible with industry-trained, vertical AI that is purpose-built to solve retail’s biggest challenges. Ready to move faster, act smarter, and drive limitless results? Let’s talk.
