If you’re running any kind of retail business, then the concept of “retail analytics” is one that you really can’t afford to ignore. The new reality of business around the world is that there is a new fuel that drives business forward, and that fuel is data. The more data you can get, the more insight you can get to guide you in your business decision making. For retail in particular, data matters more than ever.
If you look for retail in store analytics systems and service providers that work for you, then you are opening up a world of benefit and advantage that will see your business succeed where those who don’t seek it will stumble and fall. Below are they key benefits that retail stores gain from these analytics:
1. Tailor Your Product Line to Customer Budgets
Online retail giants such as Amazon have been benefiting from this kind of technology for years already. Have you ever noticed that most things recommended to you on Amazon are all conveniently affordable? That’s because Amazon is making use of your existing purchase history data to make recommendations of items in similar price brackets. With an analytics system in your own store, you could do the same.
The result would be you being able to see how much customers were spending on average, and then streamlining your product/service offerings to ensure that your customers could afford more of the things you offer. The result is invariably that the average spend per customer will rise, which naturally benefits your bottom line.
2. Forecast Demand and Cut Down Waste
Retail stores everywhere face similar challenges when it comes to predicting what kinds of products will be in demand and when. There are broad predictions that are easy to make --- pumpkins becoming very popular in mid- to late-October, for instance --- but with reams of detailed data from an analytics system, you could go much further than that.
Some companies have taken this concept further, plugging in additional outside data like weather data to determine when demand for certain products will rise, too. An increase in humidity, for example, would see sales of anti-frizz hair products rise, just as forecasts of heavy rain for an upcoming holiday period might spur sales of family games and indoor activities.
3. Data Drives Improvements to the Customer Experience
The most advanced analytics services can tell you almost everything about what any typical customer experiences when they walk into your retail store. Their movements, behaviour, buying habits, how long they look at products, where they look most at products sitting on shelves…and much more, all can be tracked and studied.
The benefit to you as a retail business is a clear and unambiguous road map to improving the customer experience. You might discover that customers have to walk too far to get to certain popular items, or that some popular items are placed too high for the average customer in your particular store to reach. Yes, it can be that detailed.
4. Data Analytics will Lower Overall Costs
While investing in these kinds of systems or services can seem like a big step for some, the ultimate goal of that investment is to reduce your financial burden overall. Using the data that is provided to you from a very early stage, you can take immediate steps to cut down on inventory that doesn’t sell, as well as cutting down on things like staffing as you become better able to predict when busy times will come and when fewer employees will be needed.
In times of greater financial pressures brought on by minimum wages, rising rents, and a wider culture of regulation and limitation, you need every financial edge that you can get!
