Analytics

There are few industries as well-positioned as retail to use data-driven systems to improve their bottom lines. Retail analysis is flush with sources of data, including information that can be derived from sales, inventory, traffic and marketing. Turning all this information into something useful, however, requires an understanding of where retail data systems fit into…

When it comes to driving digital return on investment from the holiday shopping season, there are things you can’t control, and things you can. One of the things you can’t control is the shorter season this year, which will deprive retailers of six days to capitalize on the gift-giving mood. Another thing that’s out of…

In episode 222 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Mike Del Pozzo, chief customer officer and senior vice president of sales at Frito-Lay North America, a leading PepsiCo snack foods brand. Listen in as Del Pozzo discusses the history of the 80-year-old brand, its distribution channels, and how shifting consumer behaviors has impacted…

Divide and conquer is not only Caesar’s motto but also a great piece of advice for modern retailers. Once you’ve collected information on your customer base in your CRM system or loyalty program, you need to analyze it. You should reveal everything your data may know about your customers and use those insights to grow…

Powerful computing advances in recent years have enabled retailers to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help them realize their full potential. AI analytics uses machine learning to find differences and make assumptions automatically. A study by Business Insider suggests that as much as 85 percent of customer interactions will be controlled without a human by…

Each shop, even the tiniest, dreams of becoming a giant with great online and offline sales. But when companies have both online and offline sales, reasonable questions come up: How do the online and offline domains influence each other? How can you profit from this influence? The Meaning of ROPO The research online, purchase offline…

Omnichannel (or what I would call consumer-centric retail) is a critical component of a successful retail operation. Recent research by Google indicates that omnichannel shoppers have a 30 percent higher lifetime value than single-channel shoppers. It’s easy to understand why retailers are growing their omnichannel activities. However, with this growth comes risk and opportunity. One…

In 1998, economist B. Joseph Pine II wrote that the world of retail was changing. He noted that the service economy was coming to an end, soon to be replaced with an economy based on memorable experiences and shared events. Now, over 20 years later, the "experience economy" has moved from an academic theory into…

As a retailer, you expect your manufacturing partners to support category growth with customer research. But are you getting the insights that matter most? Path-to-purchase (P2P) analytics is gaining traction as a research approach that represents a huge leap forward in understanding and charting today’s complex shopper journeys. P2P recognizes the omnichannel world for what…

In episode 204 of Total Retail Talks, Executive Editor Joe Keenan interviews Mike Relich, chief operating officer at Lucky Brand, a denim and fashion brand for men, women, and kids. Listen in as they discuss Lucky Brand's use of predictive analytics to improve inventory allocation across channels (store, web, wholesale), touching specifically on Lucky Brand's partnership with…