In the high-stakes world of retail, the line between market leaders and those playing catch-up is drawn by one thing: real-time business insights. It’s no longer enough to know what happened last week; you need immediate answers to know what’s happening now to drive what happens next.
At our recent Spotter for Industries event, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Alex Homan, Lead Data Analyst at Huel—the nutritious (and delicious!), plant-based food company—to discuss how they’ve evolved from a startup of 120 people to a global powerhouse of 350+ employees across the UK, Europe, and the US. For Huel, scaling isn’t just about making more protein bars and meals; it’s about fueling their growth and team with intelligent, accessible data.
Here is how Huel is using ThoughtSpot’s AI-powered analytics to fuel every employee with data in real time.
50-60% Reduction in Stakeholder Tickets: How to Move Beyond the Dashboard Bottleneck
Before partnering with ThoughtSpot, Huel’s data team faced a challenge that is all too familiar to many high-growth retailers: the analytical bottleneck.
The Manual Burden: Analysts were bogged down by frequent, small stakeholder tickets—changing filters, rearranging graphs, or spending hours manually ordering data for a dashboard.
The Speed Gap: In retail, agility is everything. On busy Mondays, the team was so consumed with manual reporting for the previous week’s performance that they had no time for "big picture" strategic questions.
The Transformation: By implementing ThoughtSpot, Huel achieved a 50-60% reduction in stakeholder tickets, freeing the team to work on challenging business problems and high-level strategy.
"It meant generally we were just a bit slower to react to trading," Alex explained. "It gave us less time to focus on some of the bigger questions, which would really help drive the company forward."
60% Employee Adoption: How to Encourage Curiosity Across Every Department
Today, the story is very different. While the industry average for analytics adoption often languishes in the low 20s, Huel boasts a 60% adoption rate. This isn't by accident. It’s the result of a culture that refuses to silo data.
Key areas of impact include:
Performance Marketing: This team "practically live on ThoughtSpot," using granular data on campaign performance, spend, and engagement, to optimize campaigns in real-time.
Sales & Retail: The team monitors vending machines in airports and train stations to see which are functioning and which need stock, allowing them to identify expansion opportunities instantly.
Supply Chain: Huel replaced a spreadsheet-heavy, manual process with a live availability outlook in ThoughtSpot. Now they can see ahead to where there might be dwindling inventory and increased demand, they can prioritize that production.
With the organization embracing data and access to the data readily and reliably available, the role of data analysts can shift as well.
Empowered Analysts: How to Shift from Manual Reporting to Self-Service Insights
When you automate the 'menial' reporting, you don't just save time: you elevate the role of the analyst. The Huel data team has transitioned from report-builders to strategic consultants building AI-driven data products.
Omnichannel Insights: The team now has the bandwidth to tackle complex questions about the relationship between their website, Amazon sales, and "bricks and mortar" retail stores.
Scaling Without Hiring: By empowering the wider business to be data-literate, Huel has effectively created "hundreds of data analysts" rather than just the few typically in the core team.
Embracing AI for BI: Huel is currently developing an autonomous system using multiple AI agents to identify patterns and recommend strategic changes to drive revenue.
"It’s freed up a lot of our time to work on challenging business problems. And it’s allowed the team to get really involved in the strategy of the business and [help] senior members within the company."
Huel’s Advice for Fellow Retailers
When asked for his number one piece of advice for companies on a similar journey, Alex pointed toward the human element: invest in training.
By spending time on onboarding and team-focused sessions, Huel has woven data into the fabric of its culture.
"It's just such a good way to get a long-term gain from investing that time into other people," he concluded.
Want to use AI to scale your team's curiosity? Request your ThoughtSpot demo here.
