Everything you need to evaluate a Sprint.
Whitepapers to download, samples of what you would receive, the coverage behind every Sprint, and the assumptions behind our estimates. We label what is measured, what is modeled, and what we have not reported yet.
Whitepapers
Six short papers, free to download. Start with the Sprint paper.
The Retail Sell-In Sprint
Validating new products with verified local demand before they reach the shelf: how a Sprint works, what you receive, and what it is not.
Pre-Shelf Demand Validation
Why POS, panels, supply chain, loyalty data and concept tests leave a new product unmeasured before launch.
White-Label Branding
Why a brand-owned form is a trust requirement, and how a done-for-you Sprint differs from building your own form with Afferent Forms.
The Store Network and Data Operations
How the registry behind every Sprint is kept current, with the refresh schedule and the coverage limits stated plainly.
Matching Requests to Real Doors
How a shopper request becomes a store-level view, and what trade-area context adds to a buyer conversation.
The Economics of Proving Demand
What a wrong first shelf costs, how the offers are priced, and a fit check for whether a Sprint makes sense for you.
See the deliverable first
Everything a Sprint delivers in one document: summary, five-slide Merchant Pitch Deck and reference pages, for a fictional brand.
OpenA post-campaign demand map by store, with each measure explained.
OpenA white-label request form and dashboard for a fictional brand.
OpenThe offers, the fit check and the registry coverage on a single page.
OpenSamples use fictional brands and illustrative numbers. No client is depicted.
Coverage behind every Sprint
The Afferent Spatial Store Registry (the Store Network, formerly Afferent Synapse) matches every verified shopper request to a real store. It is internal infrastructure behind every Sprint and is not sold as a list or a data product.
Counts as of October 24, 2026, from the Afferent Spatial Store Registry. Figures move weekly as stores open, close and relocate.
National mass, club and top grocery
Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale Club, Kroger and its divisions (Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Harris Teeter), Albertsons and Safeway, Ahold Delhaize banners (Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford, GIANT), Publix, H-E-B, Meijer
Specialty, natural and regional
Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, Sprouts Farmers Market, Wegmans, WinCo Foods, Hy-Vee, Stater Bros. Markets, Market Basket
Convenience, drug, value and military
CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, 7-Eleven, Circle K, Wawa, Sheetz, military commissaries
Each record carries coordinates, geocoded addresses, banner identity, Census trade-area demographics, and public-program overlays. Banner names describe coverage only and do not imply a partnership with, or endorsement by, any retailer.
How it stays current
- Weekly
- Automated store-locator crawlers reconcile new door openings, re-brandings, closures and relocations. New and moved doors are geocoded, and SNAP authorization is cross-checked, in the same pass.
- Quarterly
- Trade-area demographics are restated, and EV charging proximity and local crime indices are refreshed.
- Semi-annual and annual
- WIC authorization is re-verified twice a year where states publish it. Traffic counts, food-desert and opportunity-zone designations, and recreation access follow their sources' annual releases.
Coverage limits: WIC authorization is evaluated in 20 states plus DC and the Wichita, KS metro (every other state is “not yet evaluated,” never “not authorized”); new stores can lag public sources by up to about 90 days; and newer fields such as food desert, Opportunity Zone and daytime population are still backfilling.
How to read our estimate
Revenue at risk is verified requests × a silent-shopper multiplier × annual category spend. The table is an illustrative example for 210 verified requests. Swap in your own category spend, and read the multiplier as a range.
| Silent-shopper multiplier | $25.00 spend | $33.33 spend | $45.00 spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5x | $26.3K | $35.0K | $47.3K |
| 10x (model) | $52.5K | $70.0K | $94.5K |
| 15x | $78.8K | $105.0K | $141.8K |
The 210 requests are a modeled example, not client data. The multiplier is an Afferent assumption, not a measured rate. Each Sprint states its own assumptions. The $70K midpoint is a planning input, not a forecast or a guarantee.
The problem, in published numbers
of new CPG products fail (industry estimates; definitions vary).
Sources: Nielsen data as reported by FoodNavigator (31 July 2014); Catalina, via Chain Drug Review (22 August 2015).
Gruen, Corsten and Bharadwaj, Retail Out-of-Stocks: A Worldwide Examination of Extent, Causes and Consumer Responses, GMA/FMI/CIES, 2002. It shows how shoppers respond, not how many speak up, which is why our multiplier is an assumption shown as a range.
What your current research can't show
A Sprint adds to concept tests and sales data. It does not replace them. Declared interest is not a completed purchase.
Records what checked out, after the sale.
Declared demand for products that are not yet on that shelf.
Extrapolate from a sample, after the sale.
Direct requests from a brand's own audience, each tied to a store.
Track where inventory is sitting, after the sale.
Where shoppers asked for a product the store does not carry.
Tie purchases to a loyalty ID, after the sale.
Requests from shoppers whether or not they hold a loyalty card.
Show whether shoppers like an idea.
Which stores to start with: the product, the store, and the shopper's own reason.
What is live, modeled, and not yet reported
- Retail Sell-In Sprint, Concept & Flavor Sprint and the Quarterly Retainer: priced and bookable.
- Afferent Forms: free to build; plans start at $625 a month, quoted for your stores.
- The Store Network behind every Sprint, refreshed on a published schedule.
- A sample Sprint Readout for a fictional brand.
- Revenue at risk: verified requests × a silent-shopper multiplier × category spend.
- The multiplier is our assumption, shown as a range, not a measured rate.
- Every estimate is a planning input, not a forecast or a guarantee.
- Customer, pilot and revenue results.
- Campaign-level capture volume (requests logged, campaigns formed).
- We will publish a figure when there is a real one to show, and not before.
Five questions to ask any vendor, including us
- Is this number measured or modeled, and what are the assumptions?
- What is the "as of" date on the figure?
- Does it show where, door by door, or only how many?
- What does the vendor not claim? A good answer names limits.
- Can I see a sample deliverable before I buy?
See what a Sprint would show for your product.
Tell us your product, the retailer you are pitching and your review date, and we will scope it.