What is Weighted Distribution and What is the Difference Between Weighted and Numerical Distribution

What is weighted distribution and what is the difference between weighted and numerical distribution?

My question is in relation to product distribution, mainly consumer goods. Why is weighted distribution so important and why is it valued over numerical distribution?

Terminology used in ACNielsen or IRI retail audits. Basically numeric distribution is the % of stores that a product is sold in. Weighted distribution is the % of stores that a product is sold in but weighted by the importance of the outlets (usually on category volume)... Therefore....

If you have a universe (sample or geography) that contains 4 stores and the product is present in one store then numeric distribution = 25%.

However, if that one store was for example a supermarket and the other three were corner stores then that single outlet might account for 75% of all category sales. In this case weighted distribution would be 75%.

You can use both.... Numeric distribution gives you an idea of the reach of distribution whilst weighted gives you an idea of the quality of distribution. If your strategy is to have a product available to consumers 100% of the time then you would go with numeric. If you were looking to have a focused availability that met the majority of demand (for the category) you would use weighted.

Other terms:

Numeric = shop distributionWeighted = AC Weighted, Category Weighted, All commodity weighted, product class weighted

Hope that helps - if you need more info let me know and I will see if I have a presentation deck around. Alternatively contact ACNielsen via their website and they will be able to send you more info.