NEW IDC RESEARCH · APRIL 2026
The Collaboration Gap Is Costing Grocery Retailers Margin. IDC Named It the #1 Priority.
Download the free IDC Info Snapshot and see what best-in-class trade fund collaboration looks like in practice.
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Ananda Chakravarty
Research VP, Retail Merchandising & Marketing Analytics, IDC · Sponsored by DemandTec · US54428526-IS
55%
of grocery retailers say insufficient CPG collaboration is their #1 supply chain gap
IDC Supply Chain Survey, 2025 · n=43 grocery and food retailers
40%
of food and beverage manufacturers named the exact same collaboration gap
IDC Supply Chain Survey, 2025 · food and beverage manufacturers
INSIDE THE RESEARCH
What you will learn
Why the Collaboration Gap Costs Margin on Both Sides
How the retailer-CPG disconnect translates into missed accruals, disputed claims, and trade funds that never reach their ROI potential.
The Two Requirements IDC Identifies for Closing It
Why automation is the foundation and AI is the ceiling, and what that means for your platform decisions right now.
What Best-in-Class Trade Fund Collaboration Looks Like
The four characteristics IDC uses to define top-performing retailers and how to assess where your organization stands against them.
Independent Research. No Vendor Spin.
This IDC Info Snapshot was commissioned by DemandTec because the collaboration gap it identifies is exactly what our platform is built to close. The research, the methodology, and the findings belong to IDC. We sponsored it because the industry needed someone to ask the question.
The findings speak for themselves: insufficient collaboration with CPG partners ranked above labor shortages, AI integration, sustainability, and cybersecurity as the supply chain gap most likely to hurt grocery margin in the next 12 months. Both sides of the relationship confirmed it.
IDC Info Snapshot US54428526-IS · Published April 2026 · Author: Ananda Chakravarty, Research Vice President, Retail Merchandising and Marketing Analytics Strategies, IDC
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Ananda Chakravarty
Research Vice President, Retail Merchandising and Marketing Analytics Strategies
≡ IDC
NEXT STEP
How Does Your Trade Fund Strategy Compare to IDC's Best-in-Class?
The DemandTec Executive Health Check maps your current state against the four benchmarks IDC identifies for best-in-class trade fund collaboration. Visibility. Automation. Shared intelligence. Lifecycle pricing integration. Takes 10 minutes.
DemandTec is the only platform where retailers and CPG suppliers manage trade funds, promotions, and lifecycle pricing together in a single shared workspace. 7,800+ connected CPG partners. 120+ retail banners. 25 years of proven trade collaboration.
demandtec.com/idc-trade-funds
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