Rethink every aspect of your business

To be a successful retail business is no longer just about having an efficient supply chain, broad assortments and better stores than the competition. It’s also about anticipating individual customer preferences and providing significant value and a rewarding, seamless cross-channel experience at every touch point.

A decade ago, a retailer’s only view into customers’ choices was point-of-sale data. More recently, the introduction of loyalty programmes and ecommerce has started to provide retailers with volumes of customer-specific preference and purchase data.

In today’s world, consumers expect personalised treatment. They are technology-savvy, tuned to value-driven product offers and sceptical of mass marketing. These dynamics, combined with new channels of social media and mobile technology, on the heels of the rapidly growing web channel, are forcing retailers to rethink every aspect of their business.

Consumers are voicing their unvarnished opinions about products, brands and services across blogs and social networks. As a result, a retailer must learn to engage with consumers not only in its stores and on its website, but also where consumers are spending a lot of their time: blogging, friending, tweeting and surfing.

The growth in customer data is explosive across all of these channels. Analytical tools are essential to a retailer’s success in leveraging this data and turning it into valuable insights. These tools allow retailers to predict customer behaviour and optimise business processes throughout the enterprise.

Quick and effective analysis of this data, and resulting actionable insights, are essential to driving business benefit. It is no longer acceptable for a retailer to expect customers to go to its store. It’s now necessary to also bring the store to its customers. Analytics makes all this possible.

Lori J Schafer is executive advisor, SAS Global Retail

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