See a sample of the questions consumer brands are asking and turning into action with Invisible Hand.
Which of my Walmart promotions are truly incremental versus subsidizing purchases that would have happened anyway?
Estimate baseline demand for each CPG SKU and store, then separate incremental promotional volume from baseline sales, seasonality, pantry loading, cannibalization and other demand effects. Rank promotions by incremental contribution rather than reported promotional lift.
How deep should my next Walmart rollback be: 5%, 10%, 15% or 20%?
Simulate demand at alternative rollback depths and calculate incremental units, revenue and profit separately for the CPG brand and Walmart. Identify where additional discount depth stops generating sufficient incremental demand to pay for itself.
Which promotions should I stop funding next year?
Analyze historical CPG promotions at SKU × retailer × market level and identify events where incremental contribution failed to cover the economics of the discount or trade investment. Estimate what would have happened without each promotion and quantify the savings from eliminating low-return events.
Are we promoting too frequently?
Measure whether repeated promotions are generating incremental consumption or simply shifting purchases across weeks. Identify evidence of pantry loading, post-promotion dips, baseline erosion and shopper conditioning, and recommend an economically optimal promotional cadence for the CPG brand.
Walmart is asking us to fund a deeper rollback. Is the incremental volume worth it?
Model the proposed price and funding level against the expected demand response. Show the economics separately for Walmart and our CPG brand and calculate the maximum investment we should rationally make before the promotion becomes value destructive.
My Walmart business is growing volume but losing margin. How do I determine whether our shelf price is actually too low?
Model the relationship between shelf price, unit velocity, retailer margin, brand revenue and brand contribution margin at the SKU and market level. Identify where a higher retail price could improve brand economics without materially damaging retailer profitability or velocity.
How can I estimate the optimal shelf price for each SKU at Walmart when Walmart — not my brand — controls the final retail price?
Estimate SKU-level price elasticity from observed store-level variation, simulate alternative retail prices, and quantify the economics separately for the manufacturer and Walmart. Identify price points where retailer and manufacturer incentives are aligned and translate them into a retailer-ready recommendation.
Which of my SKUs have enough pricing power to take a price increase without destroying volume?
Estimate elasticity by SKU, retailer and market rather than relying on portfolio averages. Identify products with relatively inelastic demand, quantify expected unit losses at alternative price points, and calculate the resulting revenue and contribution-margin impact.
Where am I leaving margin on the table because I am using national pricing assumptions?
Compare elasticity and demand response across markets and store clusters. Identify SKUs where local shopper behavior differs sufficiently from the national average to materially change the optimal pricing recommendation.
What happens if I take a 3%, 5% or 8% price increase on my top 20 SKUs?
Simulate each scenario at SKU × retailer × market level. Show expected changes in units, revenue and contribution margin, identify competitive thresholds, and distinguish the SKUs where the increase creates value from those where elasticity makes it destructive.
Walmart sales for one of my brands are down 8%. What actually caused the decline?
Decompose the change for the CPG brand into price, promotion, distribution, availability, assortment, competitive pricing, category demand and other observable drivers. Quantify how much of the decline is attributable to each factor and identify the highest-impact corrective actions.
Sales are growing nationally but declining badly in several markets. What is different?
Compare price, promotion, competitive intensity, assortment, distribution and availability across markets and stores. Identify which factors best explain the performance gap for the CPG brand and whether the problem is commercial strategy, retail execution or underlying demand.
Our latest promotion missed forecast by 20%. Was our promotional strategy wrong or did execution fail?
Separate expected consumer response from execution issues such as out-of-stocks, distribution gaps, incorrect shelf prices, promotions from competing CPG brands or assortment changes. Estimate what the promotion would likely have delivered under normal execution.
Our velocity suddenly dropped at Walmart. Did shopper demand change, or did something happen in the stores?
Analyze store-level CPG sales data alongside price, inventory, availability, distribution, promotion and competitive changes. Identify when and where the decline began and determine the most likely drivers rather than relying on national averages.
How can I prove to Walmart that lowering its shelf price could increase Walmart's absolute gross profit?
Estimate demand elasticity and simulate lower retail price points while holding the CPG manufacturer's wholesale price constant. Quantify the resulting changes in units, Walmart revenue and Walmart gross profit and identify the price point that creates the strongest retailer economic case.
How should I respond when a retailer asks us to fund a price reduction?
Model whether the requested retail price will create enough incremental demand to compensate for the proposed manufacturer funding. Quantify value creation separately for the retailer and the CPG manufacturer and identify alternative price/funding combinations that create better economics for both parties.
What evidence should my sales team bring into the next Walmart JBP to support a pricing recommendation?
Identify the SKU-level elasticity, competitive pricing, market variation and retailer economics that support the proposed action. Translate the analysis into a simple recommendation showing what Walmart gains, what the CPG brand gains, and what should happen to price, promotion or assortment.
Where are the largest untapped profit pools across my Walmart and Amazon businesses?
Analyze opportunities across SKU × retailer × market combinations for the full CPG portfolio and quantify the gap between current performance and modeled economic potential from price, promotion and assortment changes. Rank opportunities by incremental revenue, contribution margin, retailer benefit and ease of execution.
If I need $10 million of incremental profit next year without increasing my marketing budget, where should I look first?
Identify the highest-value pricing, promotion, assortment and retail-execution opportunities across the CPG portfolio. Prioritize the smallest number of commercially executable actions capable of delivering the largest incremental contribution.
Which 10 commercial decisions should my RGM team make differently next quarter?
Evaluate current pricing, promotion and assortment decisions and rank the opportunities with the greatest expected economic impact. For each recommendation, specify the action, expected CPG brand impact, expected retailer impact, supporting evidence and confidence level.
