How Can Data be a Game Changer for the Retailers?

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Friday, December 20, 2019

Depending on retail analytics and hard data, instead of guesswork allows you to make smarter decisions to gain higher profits, better customer satisfaction, and having a one-of-a-kind store overall.

Fremont, CA: The organizations in the retail industry are well aware of the importance of data. Still, the sad part is that, while many merchants are collecting data, it is not being utilized effectively. According to a study conducted, only 16 percent consider themselves to be an expert when it comes to data harnessing, while 24 percent and 60 percent describe themselves as newbies. It is not less to say that being data-centric is easier said than done.

The Right Tools

Starting with the right tools is essential to overcome the difficulties in collecting and harnessing information. The modern point of sale (POS) solutions these days comes with reporting features that can shed light on essential metrics like profit margins, customer counts, basket sizes, sales trends, and more. It enables the organizations to predict the future trend in the industry and plan the staff rosters and product ordering according to and in advance. This saves organizations a lot of time. Additionally, POS can also help to streamline staffing and operations. The POS information, along with the sales receipt, can help the retailers to staff the store appropriately or adjust the store hours. This data can also ve leveraged to plan for seasonal fluctuations in sales, helping retailers to manage cash flow better.

Email Marketing

Email marketing software also helps to stay in touch with the customers and be sure to track open rates, clicks, and times of engagement. Open rate data can provide better ideas of which subject lines are working efficiently, enabling them to optimize them going forward. Detecting the people who are reading the messages can be helpful to time the campaigns more effectively.

Foot Traffic Analytics

Foot traffic analytics can be helpful for people in counters and beacons, the data collected can provide more information on the traffic that a store is getting, and the parts of the store getting more crowd.

The retailers who have an urge to thriving in the coming months and years need to incorporate data into their system. Setting up the right policies and learning ways to gather intel might be a challenging task, but on mastering that, the knowledge and insights gained will make it worthwhile.