As we are moving towards a highly competitive, data-driven business environment, a powerful retail data ecosystem is what your business needs to sustain and succeed. Today, retail analytics has revolutionized marketing and sales and it has transformed the way brands engage with their customers.
Read on to know the applications of retail analytics and the ways it optimizes your business and sales.
Personalized Customer Experience:
Retail Analytics opens a window to the identity, behavior, and preferences of your customer. Apart from laying the foundation for brand image, loyalty, and developing a rapport with the customers, retail analytics also acts as feedback on the products and services you provide. These crucial insights can help businesses to orchestrate a rewarding purchasing experience for the customer. Read more about how personalization works and why is it indispensable for retail businesses here.
Personalized Marketing:
Retail data can reveal a lot about your customers and it can be leveraged to target specified customer niches. While shopping, customers prefer an easy and fast experience where they can make effortless purchase decisions. In order to deliver such an experience, you need to continually tailor the shopping experience, marketing messages, and targeting by utilizing the retail data. One prime example of personalized marketing is the Pregnancy prediction strategy used by Target. Target impeccably employed retail analytics on purchase data of their customers to predict if a customer was pregnant. This enabled the store to market baby-related products to such customers and this effectively boosted the efficiency of their marketing.
Forecasting Demand:
An accurate forecast of demand is essential to ensure that your retail goods are stocked at the right place at the right time. Retail business is dynamic and there are hundreds of variables that may impact the forecast on daily basis. Retail Analytics provides a clearer picture of the variables and market conditions, enabling an inch-perfect forecast. Retail Analytics renders location-specific forecasts by analyzing everything from web browsing trends, social media trends, economic indicators, to demographic data.
One example of the perfect use of Retail Analytics is the forecasting done by Pantene in association with Walgreens. The haircare brand used Weather data and web browsing trends to determine the demand for anti-frizz hair products for a humid summer. Pantene stocked up their anti-frizz products at Walgreen stores located in high humid areas and they used in-store promotions to increase sales. The sale of Pantene products increased 10% in Walgreen stores as a result of this strategy.
Customer Journey Analytics
Retail Analytics empowers your business by designing a customer journey that ensures purchase, satisfaction, and retention. It offers insights pertaining to the product information the customer is looking for, the effective ways and info to convince a customer to make a purchase. Retail analytics also shed light on the factors that dissatisfy the customer and pinpoint the factor that loses them.
In-depth retail analytics enables businesses to map out the customers’ shopping pattern, including info on when and where a customer enters the website or store, how they engage with touchpoints and displays, etc. Determining the traffic flow and dwell zones will allow retail businesses to refine the website or store layout for optimum product placement, cross-sell opportunities to maximize sales and boost brand image.
Still pondering whether Retail Analytics and Data Analytics solutions are the right strategies to take your business forward? Are you struggling with your data-centric efforts with the lack of data infrastructure and the right tools? Talk to the data experts at Site Lantern and find the data strategy that fits your business and budget. Hop on to our website and read more about Retail Analytics solutions.