The real buyer's workflow: a strategic question lands in the strategy director's inbox on Monday. By Wednesday they need a sharp read on a competitor. IGD's next annual report ships in Q4. Edge's last European update was a deck from a conference. AisleIntel published a 60-point deep dive this morning.
Board asks: "What is Mercadona doing in Portugal and should we be worried?" Deck due Friday.
IGD: last Mercadona deep dive was 14 months ago. Edge: conference slides, no Portugal angle. Kantar: consumer panel data, not strategy.
Panels tell you what consumers bought. You need to know what the operator is doing — format, supply chain, unit economics.
Primary research from the last store walk. A named analyst's thesis. A Scorecard position. Something you can put in the deck.
Every dimension a procurement team will scrutinise — honest figures, no inflated claim.
| Criterion | AisleIntel our pick | IGD | Edge by Ascential | Kantar Worldpanel | NielsenIQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Update cadence | Daily memos | Quarterly / annual | Bi-weekly / event-driven | Monthly panels | Monthly / quarterly |
| Depth per report | 40–80 sourced data points per memo | High page count, low data density | Slides with sector snapshots | Panel-averaged consumer data | Scan-data aggregated dashboards |
| Point of view | ✓ Single named analyst | — Committee consensus | — Editorial team | — Algorithmic / panel average | — Algorithmic output |
| Price entry point | $49/mo · $588/yr | ~$25–30K/yr (est.) | ~$20–35K/yr (est.) | ~$20–35K/yr (est.) | ~$15–40K/yr (est.) |
| Time to onboarding | Same day — no procurement | Weeks (contract + procurement) | Weeks (contract + SOW) | Weeks (contract + data access) | Weeks (contract + platform) |
| Store-walk primary research | ✓ Every report | Occasional | Conference-based only | — None | — None |
| Scoring frameworks | ✓ Power Index + H2 Scorecards | Some category indices | Coresight composites | Share metrics only | Scan-data rankings |
| Private community | ✓ Members-only (coming Q3) | ✓ Conference network | — No | — No | — No |
Price estimates based on publicly available vendor materials and analyst community data, H1 2026. AisleIntel data current as of 2026-05-25.
Three genuine cases where the incumbents have a structural advantage. If your decision context fits one of these, say so — and we'll tell you plainly if we're not the right tool.
Consumer panel data across 50+ markets, 200,000+ households. If your decision requires knowing what shoppers actually put in the basket across national samples, Kantar's panel is the only credible source. AisleIntel does not replicate this — and doesn't try to.
Point-of-sale scan data from thousands of stores across multiple grocery operators. If you're a manufacturer, brand, or supplier making a ranging or pricing decision that requires EPOS data, NielsenIQ owns that layer. No editorial service competes.
IGD has 30+ years of relationships with European grocery C-suites. The annual summit and trade event circuit is a genuine network asset. If your business development strategy runs through conference circuits, IGD membership has relationship value beyond the research.
Edge's coverage of global retail technology — autonomous checkout, supply chain automation, digital-physical integration — is broad and regularly updated through their analyst conference programme. If your mandate is global retail tech, not specifically European grocery strategy, Edge has wider scope.
The four dimensions where the incumbents' business models make it structurally impossible for them to compete.
IGD's editorial process runs weeks to months. AisleIntel publishes within hours of a major operator move. One named analyst with a sharp read means no consensus-building delay.
Committee research homogenises to the mean — you get what three people agree on. A single named analyst's thesis is either right or wrong, and that accountability makes it sharper. You can quote it in a deck.
Every deep dive starts with a physical store walk. Format observations, ESL deployment, private label shelf placement, footfall patterns. Primary research that panel data and scan data cannot replicate.
$588/year delivers daily intelligence, 28+ deep dives, the H2 2026 22-retailer Scorecard, and store-tour reports. The budget case writes itself. No SOW, no procurement, no annual contract lock-in.
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How strategy directors, expansion leads, and investors use the intelligence library.
Your QBR pack needs a sharp read on Lidl, Aldi, and whoever else is moving in your market. The intelligence should be current, not three months stale. AisleIntel's Power Index, weekly memos, and deep-dive library give you a live view of 22 European operators — scored, sourced, and ready to drop into a slide.
You're considering a move into Germany, Poland, or the Iberian corridor. You need to understand the incumbent operators' real expansion velocity, their private label share, and how they've responded to hard discounters. That's primary fieldwork research — not panel data. AisleIntel has it.
You're looking at a grocery-adjacent investment — a supplier, a tech enabler, a format play. You need a sharp read on the operator's strategic momentum, margin trajectory, and competitive positioning. AisleIntel's Scorecard + deep-dive library is the fastest path to a thesis.
Start with the 7-day no-card trial. If you want a conversation first, book a call. If this is for a team, go straight to /enterprise.
Then $49/mo. Cancel any time.