The highly competitive sphere of retail business often has to deal with the challenge of managing the budget and limited people resource in the most productive and cost-effective manner. While tools like AI are already being used to improvise upon the existing marketing strategies, it is interesting to observe how technology and analytics can boost the profits of those in the retail industry. It is in this context that retail analytics has emerged as a viable solution for improved operational insights and better customer intelligence.
Retail Analytics: Anticipate Market Demands, Connect with Customers
Contrary to popular belief, retail analytics is not just a mechanism which keeps track of various supply chain activities. Rather it is an on-going process which works by dynamically integrating numerous data sources to provide a holistic view into various business operations. By effectively collecting and analyzing data on a real-time basis, retail analytics not only connects retailers to their customers in a better manner, but it also enables them to anticipate demand for their products and services. The final result is better management of supply chains and greater optimization of marketing strategies.
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Top Trends: Adding More Power to Retail Analytics
According to our industry experts, following are the trends in retail analytics which will change the face of retailing through 2017 and beyond:
#1 Adoption of IoT to Decipher Data
Use of beacons, Wi-Fi, and RFID tags is very common in the retail sector. But here is the twist, all these technological improvisations not only enable better tracking of the products across the supply chain but also helps gain a clear understanding of the customer behavior. The data collected by these sources can be leveraged to understand the loopholes in the existing business plans and building of improved marketing strategies. For instance, through IoT, the data collected through RFID tags and beacons help get a clear picture of popular products and overall sales performance of an organization.
#2 Micro-Segmentation is the New ‘Cool’
No doubt segmentation is highly critical for inventory management and pricing strategy, but retail analytics is now paying increased attention to micro-segmentation of the work process. By considering parameters like product and store attributes, demographic segmentation of the customers, and various other micro-features, retailers can identify clusters that can be scaled for better decision making.
#3 Enhanced Customer Experience with Better Management of Assortments
Outstanding customer experience is the key to better customer retention. And, the latest trend towards achieving this goal is working on assortment planning. For instance, several major retailers are now using predictive analytics to identify the demand pattern of their products in a particular locality. The result is better inventory management, optimization of costs, and unique customer experience.
To know more about retail analytics and significant trends in the market, speak to our experts.
#4 Spiking Sales Figures with Dynamic Pricing
Talk about dynamic pricing, and the one company which is playing it the best is Amazon. Through retail analytics solutions, entrepreneurs can take aspects like price elasticity into consideration to plan their sales and marketing strategy.
#5 Deep Learning Algorithms
Though AI is already being used in the retail sector, industry experts believe it is deep learning which will provide an edge to AI data. This is the reason why major providers of retail analytics solutions have integrated deep learning into their system. Insights gained from deep learning are robust and highly scalable making it easier for retailers to route their advertising and promotion spend efficiently.