Winning at Retail: Driving Footfall in an Omnichannel World
The lion’s share of retail still happens offline, but digital dominates when it comes to the volume of data about where and how consumers shop. In this research, conducted with a leading retail executive member of Retail Ascendant in partnership with Cuebiq, there’s a stark contrast between the understanding of physical and digital store traffic. Footfall — the measurement of people coming into retail locations — is widely distributed, but not tied to metrics or understanding of consumer behaviors. This is notable, as unlike the virtual aisles in digital, expensive merchandising, marketing and operations decisions get made based on footfall volumes.
As the need to understand all channels of retail sales grows, data from location services adds more refinement and unique insight into physical shopper behavior. Linking online to offline customer actions, understanding the path (literally) to purchase, and being able to capture foot traffic to competitor locations are all becoming accessible. This will help retailers understand the full customer journey and invest accordingly.
