Retail Analytics & Excel Decision Tools For CPG Brands
Most dashboards show what happened. The right decision tool shows what to do next.
I build shopper-first Excel dashboards, white space tools, scorecards, and presentation-ready reporting systems that help CPG brands turn
messy retail, sales, distribution, promotion, and category data into clearer growth decisions.
Most reporting is built around data structures, canned dashboards, retailer portals, broker exports, or syndicated category definitions.
Shoppers do not shop databases.
Retailers do not make decisions from generic reports.
And your team should not have to rebuild the same analysis every week just to understand what matters.
Need a retail-ready decision tool your team can actually use?
No Pressure. Schedule a short conversation to review what you are trying to understand, what data you already have, and whether a custom Retail Clarity Decision Tool™ makes sense.
Most calls do not need the full hour, but I leave enough time to understand the business question properly.
Built From Real Retail Data Experience
Some of the reporting concepts and distribution-tracking tools I helped build became part of how natural brands learned to measure retail performance.
At SPINS, I built the original distribution-tracker and store-level reporting tools that gave brands visibility into their performance, their categories, and their competitors.
Since then, I have built custom reporting systems for CPG brands, category teams, sales leaders, and founders who needed more than canned dashboards.
They needed answers.
They needed clarity.
They needed tools their teams could actually use.
Watch The Short Walkthrough Retail Clarity Decision Tools™
See how custom decision tools turn generic dashboards and messy data exports into clearer retail growth decisions.
Selected outcomes from similar work:
- Helped identify and close $25MM+ in strategic distribution gaps in 8 months
- Helped clarify product, pack, flavor, retailer, and launch priorities for a major growth platform
- Built early distribution-tracking and store-level reporting tools used by natural brands
- Built custom dashboards and reporting tools for CPG brands, retailers, brokers, and data partners
Who this is for:
This is for you if:
- You have sales data but still struggle to explain what matters.
- Your broker or data provider sends reports, but they do not answer the real business question.
- Your team keeps rebuilding the same analysis manually.
- You need retailer-ready reporting, not just internal spreadsheets.
- You need to identify white space, distribution gaps, promotion performance, deduction patterns, or sales opportunities.
- You want tools your team can update without depending on me forever.
Dan is my go to category manager who plays a critical role in all special projects. He is committed to consistently provide timely and accurate results. The unique breath and depth of the projects he works on continually stretch him and push his unique skill set to new levels. He has a real talent for being very innovative using a variety of tools to create value for the entire company. For example, he created from scratch a robust tool that surgically identifies and quantifies distribution opportunities in addition to a variety of reports that quickly enables the company to better understand the drivers of our business and close gaps. Dan has created some of the most transformational and impactful reporting tools I have even seen throughout my career.
Daniel was a trusted team player and a committed advocate – passionate about helping natural companies get the most from the SPINS tools and resources. He worked hard and took great pride in establishing himself as a trusted expert in the SPINS reporting tool and databases. He was considered to be one of the top power database users supporting clients needing deep dive in-depth analytic support and training. His contribution included developing several of the reporting tools at SPINS. In addition, he helped train and develop new clients.
Daniel is a very committed and passionate strategic adviser and advocate for companies seeking category management insights and solutions. In the short time we've contracted Dan's services, he has brought significant value to GoMacro and continues to provide guidance and direction to help with our growth objectives. Dan has the keen ability to see things from the 500 ft. level and to bring it down to actionable strategies that help organization grow and compete in a crowded landscape. Besides his strategic business and category management acumen, I find Dan to be passionate, a consummate student & teacher, and a pleasure to work with.
What I Build:
- Retail sales dashboards
- White space / distribution gap tools
- Promotion ROI trackers
- Deduction trackers
- Executive sales updates
- Broker / sales team scorecards
- Retailer-ready category review outputs
- Shopper-first category opportunity tools
Start With A Decision Tool Review
Most projects start with one question:
What decision are you trying to make that your current reports are not helping you answer?
Send me a short note with:
- what you are trying to understand
- what data or reports you currently have
- what decision you need to make
- who needs to use the output
- what deadline or retailer conversation is driving the need
I’ll review it and let you know whether a custom Retail Clarity Decision Tool™ can help.
No Pressure. Schedule a short conversation to review what you are trying to understand, what data you already have, and whether a custom Retail Clarity Decision Tool™ makes sense.
Most calls do not need the full hour, but I leave enough time to understand the business question properly.
What happens next:
- You send me a short note about what you are trying to understand.
- I review the business question, available data, and desired output.
- If there is a fit, I recommend the right type of tool, scope, timeline, and next step.
Simple. Low pressure. Professional.
Most projects begin with a focused Decision Tool Review. From there, I can recommend whether you need a simple dashboard, a deeper white space tool, a promotion tracker, a deduction tracker, or a broader Retail Clarity Decision Tool™.









Daniel has been extremely helpful in cleaning up and re-categorizing our data so we can accurately assess our brand's performance and the product categories/segments we are in. Our ability to perform accurate and insightful category management today is directly related to Dan's expertise in data analysis and knowledge of the natural products industry. If you are seeking to understand your market and category dynamics, I strongly recommend Dan as a reliable, thoughtful and well-informed category consultant to assist in developing brand strategies based on real and accurate data/facts.
Why this is different:
Most dashboard builders organize data. I build decision tools.
- Data providers are useful.
- Broker reports are useful.
- Retail portals are useful.
- Canned dashboards are useful.
- But they are rarely built around your exact strategy, your shopper, your retailer story, or your team’s next decision.
That is not an indictment.
It is the gap.
Built to be maintained by your team:
Every tool is built so your team can keep using it.
That means:
- clean structure
- clear tabs
- simple selectors
- documented logic where appropriate
- presentation-ready outputs
- update-friendly workflow
- built around the way the team actually works
How a Decision Tool Sprint Works
- Clarify the business question
What decision does the tool need to support? - Review available data
Sales, distribution, promotion, deduction, retailer, broker, panel, or internal data. - Build the decision logic
Define the shopper-first view, KPI structure, opportunity ranking, or reporting framework. - Create the tool
Build the dashboard, selector logic, outputs, reports, and presentation-ready views. - Train your team
Walk through how to use, update, and apply the tool. - Turn insight into action
Use the output to support retailer conversations, internal alignment, broker accountability, and growth planning.
FAQ
Do you only work with CPG brands?
Primarily, but the same reporting discipline can apply to retail, consumer products, food, beverage, wellness, and related businesses.
Do you need access to my syndicated data?
No. I can work from the approved data exports, reports, or files you provide. The scope depends on the data available and the business question we are solving.
Can my team maintain the tool after it is built?
Yes. My goal is to build tools your team can use, update, and maintain.
Is this Power BI or Excel?
Most projects start in Excel because it is flexible, fast, and familiar to most teams. The logic can often support future Power BI or reporting integrations.
Can you help decide what the dashboard should measure?
Yes. That is usually where the most value is created.
Do you provide the data?
No. I build tools from the approved data exports, reports, and files your team already has access to. The value is in organizing the information around the business question, shopper behavior, retailer needs, and the decisions your team needs to make. I can help you choose the right data for your needs.
More proof from brands, data partners, and industry leaders
Working with Dan helped our company make decisions about marketing, new product development, new packaging, finances and taking our company to the next level of growth. Specifically, Dan knows everything about products on the shelf, what sells, financial projections, spread sheets, packaging and design and mistakes not to make. Fantastic at data collection and spreadsheets, Dan developed an extensive Cost of Goods spreadsheet that will have lasting value for us so that we know at any given time our true cost of goods sold.
As a mentor, Dan was highly effective in sharing his expertise in so many areas.
We benefited greatly from working with Dan and would recommend him as an excellent advisor, coach, analyst and strategic planner.
Dan Lohman was very helpful, providing needed insights and understood business needs. Dan was able to extract information from many sources and development a fact based presentation with a reason of need. He listened and asked questions to understand needs to insure his focus aligns with your goals. Dan was creative in his approach to find hidden data nuggets and put in the time to make it a compelling, and logical solution to meet customers needs.
I worked with Daniel on several occasions over the last decade and can say that when it comes to understanding data and how to apply it in the CPG world with regards to category management and strategic planning …it would be hard to find anyone more suited than Daniel for whatever position or project you would consider him for. He is incredibly smart, a very good mentor and easy to work with. He deserves your sincere consideration.
I have known Daniel for many years and have been impressed with not only his analytical abilities but the forthright and honest way that he approaches his life and his job. Daniel exhibits a keen insight & understanding of the various components of the grocery & natural/organic business and can offer alternatives to a go to market strategy.
Daniel is a delight to work with. He is extremely knowledgeable about category management and has his finger on the pulse on how to take brands to the next level by telling their story. He is available,helpful and on task to make things happen. His advice is “priceless”. I highly recommend working with him.
I interacted with Daniel during my seven year tenure with Natural Specialty Sales/Acosta as a Vice President for Client Services. My role entailed working with people in our organization who had a sound level of data and category management. This was a vital asset to the day to day interactions I had with clients on building strategies for sales and distribution growth. Daniel was able to understand the data and offer sound recommendations for opportunities with clients I interacted with. This insight was of great value beyond others who would just access and pull data without any meaning behind it. I relied on Daniel to pull the data I needed and place in a format that could be used for schematic generation, distribution void grouping, pricing analysis (elasticity), and space to sales placement. I also employed Daniel to interact with my clients to guide them through shopper analysis, promotional analysis, category performance (pre- new item) and creating action steps for increasing share in a sub-category.
During my current two year tenure with Aura Cacia, Daniel has been an invaluable asset with my team. Through his liaison with Acosta ( our broker) he has assisted me in scorecard development, diving into underperforming areas, evaluating growth categories, and leveraging assortment options.
Daniel has a thorough understanding of how the consumer packaged goods industry works, and is simply excellent at taking his clientele to the next level and beyond. He also has advanced technical and teaching skills and was instrumental in helping me learn how to make intricate yet easy-to-use Excel-based tools that allowed our clients to quickly see the most impactful data that would help advance their business. Daniel was always careful to take the time needed to ensure that I had the tools and knowledge needed so as to make our client meetings successful.
Daniel is an outstanding thought leader and builder of key strategic insights for businesses. His 20+ years of experience in category management and brand building makes him a real asset to any business. He also has experience in companies, big and small, and across many consumer categories making him incredibly insightful and flexible. I highly recommend Daniel to any business!
Dan Lohman is a strong contributor to SPINS and our business partners. He is a capable manager who works effectively with our broker partners and our manufacturing clients. Dan has a tremendous amount of insight into SPINS data and the state of the Natural/Organic Industry. His energy is boundless and he is a great person to work with.
Dan is extremely very intelligent and has an extensive understanding of the retail industry. His thorough insight and progressive knowledge of the supermarket/natural industry was extremely critical in our ability to design and develop a complete Customer insight Business intelligence System(CBS), that helps retailers to gain insight on their customers shopping baskets in real time. Most importantly, his passion and drive to succeed in every aspect of the project was evident as we partnered to develop a comprehensive product. I would highly endorse and recommend Dan to any retailer willingly to develop winning strategies that lead to bottom line improvements.
Dan is a guru in the CPG space. How fortunate of us to have had the privilege to work with such a knowledgeable and friendly person as Dan. Through his guidance, our present Category Management model at Good Luck Chuck has been honed and refined. Thanks to Dan, we have gained the confidence and resources for a successful launch and the ongoing experience for continued success.
Daniel is a dedicated, collaborative, strategic thinker and a visionary person. With the analytical work that Daniel provided for me while I was a Key Account Manager at Kimberly-Clark helped grow my accounts business by 8%. He was always willing to help, very detailed, did whatever it took to get the job done and his fact based projects and presentations were easy to understand, organized and accurate. Daniel is a high integrity person and has the highest work ethic.
Dan is a very proactive and strategic thinker with solid Category Management and analytical skills. He was an asset to the team in terms of his ability to mine and analyze data, and to present information in a relevant and impactful way. – I found Dan to be a strong team player, always willing to commit the time and effort necessary to accomplish tasks and exceed expectations.
I worked with Dan Lohman at Kimberly-Clark, Inc. We worked in Category Management together from 1998 through mid 2006. During that time I was able to observe Dan's knowledge of Category Management and attest to his sound understanding and expertise in this area. Some specific understandings and skills, I observed Dan to utilize were as follows:
Dan demonstrated he knew the benefits of Category Management by assisting his retailers lift sales, increase product margin, reduce inventory, use a strategic, fact-based approach to the business, and increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty.
He is capable of utilizing the Category Management model. He understands how to work with the retailer to gain knowledge of their overall retailer strategy e.g. corporate mission statement, competitive strategy by format/channel/region, pricing, assortment & promotion.
He is capable of finding out how they define their categories and roles. Dan can quickly assess and assist the retailer in developing their category plan by determining how a particular category is doing in the market? What tactics will help achieve the overall category strategy and objectives? Or how to track their results vs. targets in the category on an ongoing basis.
Once the category plan was developed, Dan demonstrated a strong ability to assist his retailer's implement the plan. Dan would ensure the category plan was aligned to the retailer's overall strategies, that the measures put into place were agreed to internally, and that the plan would attain the category objectives. He would help define the resources required to implement the plan and ensure that the plan was communicated to all those affected.
Dan understands assortment strategies by category and item, consumer/shopper focused strategies, category definition and segmentation, data analysis, category assessment, sales fundamentals and supplier shipment data.
Dan had a strong command of Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Spaceman and Apollo. He often times would be called upon to train his peers. He was the go to guy when his associates had questions. He is a true team player with strong interpersonal skills.
K-C recognized Dan's talents and abilities and on many occasions would post his presentations internally to show examples of best practice presentations. K-C management would often call upon Dan's expertise to assess current market trends and conditions.
It is with profound respect that I submit Dan Lohman as one who is well versed in Category Management and strongly submit my recommendation regarding his abilities and skills in this area.