8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
Table of contents Analyzing The Omnichannel Customer Journey...................................................................... 4 Big Data, Big Analytics, Big Pictures In Retail......................................................................... 5 8 Ways High Performance Retailing Can Improve Retail Businesses................................. 7 Attract New Customers And Keep Them....................................................................... 7 Improve Merchandising..................................................................................................... 8 Implement More Efficient Replenishment And Allocation............................................ 9 Optimize Inventory.............................................................................................................. 10 Enhance The In-Store Shopping Experience And Maximize Selling Space............. 11 Monetize Marketing Decisions......................................................................................... 12 Incorporate Social Media Into The Cross-Channel Communication Mix.................. 13 Identify The Best Customers............................................................................................ 16 Conclusion.................................................................................................................................... 18 About Retail TouchPoints............................................................................................................ 19 About SAS..................................................................................................................................... 19
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
The tables have turned on today’s retailers. Many shoppers
business performance through the best of retail domain
may never set foot in a brick-and-mortar store before
expertise and superior analytics, coupled with the latest high
making a purchase. And when they do enter a store, they
performance computing capabilities. With these solutions in
possess competitive data on price and product detail.
place, many retailers are empowering store associates and localizing inventory in order to improve customer satisfaction,
So how does this new era of retail change the way
achieve greater efficiencies and grow basket size.
retailers market and sell to consumers? Merchants must now be able to paint a picture of each customer
Using retail analytics, for example, Brooks Brothers
and create a personalized shopping journey. To
was able to reduce inventory by 27% and cut down the
that end, advanced customer analytics is key.
average weeks of supply on hand by seven; Staples saw a 137% response rate; and Macys.com has
Companies across industries — grocery, apparel, mass
saved approximately $500,000 in labor costs.
merchandise and specialty, including Sobey’s, Macys.com, Chico’s, 1800FLOWERS, Staples and Brooks Brothers
This E-book reviews best practices of retailers who know their
— are making strides by identifying their best customers
customers better and translate that insight into decisions to drive
using high performance customer intelligence and analytics
better results and innovations, while forming a foundation to
solutions. High performance retailing drives superior
ward off the “Tech Titans” who are entering retail these days.
Companies across industries — grocery, apparel, mass merchandise and specialty, including Sobey’s, Macys.com, Chico’s, 1800FLOWERS, Staples and Brooks Brothers — are making strides by identifying their best customers using high performance customer intelligence and analytics solutions.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
Analyzing The Omnichannel Customer Journey There’s no turning back to the time when retailers drove the shopping experience. The shoppers are now in charge, they are eager to share their desires with merchants, and they expect their wants and needs to be met in real time. In order to attract and retain today’s demanding shoppers, retailers must respond appropriately to customer buying behavior across all channels. The proliferation of technologies and communication channels has created unique challenges for merchants seeking to reach the household decision-makers effectively. More leading retailers are turning to advanced analytics in order to grasp the complexities of customer behavior. “To create relevant marketing messages, offers and campaigns, retailers today need to truly comprehend their customers’ behaviors, but they can’t without analytics,”
said Larry Freed, President and CEO of ForeSee Results, an industry research organization. “Retailers must extend data collection to all channels and devices to combine behavioral data along with demographics and feedback gathered online and in stores. It is critical that they collect the ‘right’ data then analyze it zealously to deliver the most relevant messaging to today’s cross-channel customers.” By consistently collecting customer feedback and interactions across channels, retailers will be equipped with the resources to better micro-segment their audiences
“To create relevant marketing messages, offers and campaigns, retailers today need to truly comprehend their customers’ behaviors, but they can’t without analytics.” -Larry Freed, ForeSee Results
and even tailor offers to specific customers, added Alison Paul, Retail Sector Leader for Deloitte LLP. “Analytics is the source of insight that enables retailers to understand who customers are, what they like, when they shop, and their responses to specific offers and promotions,” Paul said. “When combined with additional quantitative research, merchants can better identify why customers behave like they do.” Collectively, these capabilities enable retailers to target customers with relevant, timely and highly targeted campaigns, she said, that will increase response, sentiment and loyalty.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
Big Data, Big Analytics, Big Pictures In Retail Now aware of the new customer needs and demands, retailers must respond with a more sophisticated approach to marketing, personalization, pricing and inventory optimization. High performance Retailing provides the in-database and inmemory analytics needed to implement advanced strategies. In-Database Analytics moves the decision-making capabilities closer to all the data. As soon as POS information is imported, the results are scored inside the database. In-Memory Analytics allows the data and analytics to run together simultaneously. In a large department store with millions of SKUs, this type of analysis took hours, but with In-Memory Analytics the data is delivered in real time.
Merchants should seek to create real-time offers based on consumers’ browsing and buying histories, geographic locations, and personal styles and preferences. “Customers like and expect to be understood,” Paul stressed. “The greater the personalization, the more likely they will feel special and appreciative of retailers’ marketing efforts.” This strategy is especially effective when personalized offers are sent directly to shoppers’ mobile devices. “There’s no denying
“Customers like and expect to be understood. The greater the personalization, the more likely they will feel and appreciative of retailers’ marketing efforts.” -Alison Paul, Deloitte LLP
the fact that consumers are becoming more tech-savvy and want more knowledge and information at the point of decisionmaking,” said Kasey Lobaugh, Direct-to-Consumer and Retail Multichannel Leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP. Retailers currently are working to implement mobile coupons, specials and personalized promotions. “Only 20% [of respondents] offer this ability today, but another 52% plan to implement these services in the next two years,” Lobaugh added. The more data that brands and retailers can collect about customers, the more information they have to leverage in personalizing the entire brand experience. However, in order to achieve these more relevant omnichannel marketing campaigns, retailers must make data collection and analysis a top priority.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
“The speed of the information, the knowledge of these
With high performance analytics, merchants can access
businesses is what truly differentiates company A from
customer metrics in real time and integrate that information
company B,” said Eric Williams, Executive Vice President
with their traditional data in order to make more informed
and Chief Information Officer (recently retired), Catalina
decisions. They should have access not only to general sales
Marketing. “If they don’t have the analytical tools to
and margin KPIs, but also which customer segments shop
evaluate the data, they face a significant disadvantage.
the category, how much each customer segment spends
High performance analytics provides a true combination
and how often they buy. With customer data at the point of
of all marketing, promotions and merchandising teams
decision, merchants can now view advanced customer metrics
now reacting to changing trends in the marketplace.”
lined up alongside traditional product movement metrics.
“Category managers and merchants need actionable customer insights at the point of decision to improve assortment, pricing and promotions,” said Wanda Shive, Retail Product Manager, SAS Institute. For many retailers, customer data remains primarily accessible to the marketing department. Integration of customer metrics into merchandising systems is limited at best. Category managers and merchants must have shopper insights at their fingertips to enable customer data-driven decisions that lead to relative, targeted communications and customer-centric promotions.”
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
8 Ways High Performance Retailing Can Improve Retail Businesses 1. Attract New Customers And Keep Them Reacting to shopper behavior is a key element in the battle for attracting and retaining customers. In many cases the larger retailers may want to look to the smaller, private, more nimble merchants for guidance. Smaller companies often have an advantage in this fight, since they do not have to worry about pleasing Wall Street. They are able to take more of a risk. But in reality, all retailers must find effective ways to meet
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retail, who believes the customer is number one, has embraced advanced analytics to make smart choices, employing SAS analytics in many facets of the business. At Wal-Mart, executives shared their insights in a discussion titled: Analytics at Work in Wal-Mart. Cindy Davis, Executive Vice President of Global Customer Insights, challenged the audience to help her understand what she refers to as “insight logistics” — in other words: “What is it going to take to understand the data we have, and how
“Retailers must pay attention to customer behavior and make relevant offers that reinforce values that are important to each individual customer. Doing so makes customers think twice before switching to another retailer or brand.” -Wanda Shive, SAS
do we infuse those insights into the decision making?”
customers’ demands. “Communicating with customers in relevant ways is key to maintaining and growing wallet share,” noted Shive. “Retailers must pay attention to customer behavior and make relevant offers that reinforce values that are important to each individual customer. Doing so makes customers think twice before switching to another retailer or brand.”
At 1800FLOWERS.COM, SAS provides an integrated data foundation that dramatically reduces the time it takes to perform analysis and share results.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
2. Improve Merchandising
Davis concluded her thoughts with the following: “I have a dream. I dream that every executive who gets up at 4:30 in the morning to check the product sales numbers
With customer segment metrics in hand, retailers
[will] get up and first check the customer metrics. The
can adjust their merchandise assortments to appeal to
company that does that will be unstoppable. “
specific shoppers of the category. Using purchase history, merchants can determine how adjusting the size of a particular
At 1800FLOWERS.COM, SAS helps the company uncover customer insights, drive new revenue ideas and predict what customers will want — then target campaigns to fill those needs. An integrated data foundation dramatically reduces the time it takes to perform analysis and share results. Instead of analyzing sales and customer service information after a major holiday, for instance, the company can see what’s happening in real time and adjust its Web site offerings accordingly. “Before SAS, our peak time would be over and then you’d have
product section could impact their key customer segments. Using SAS Merchandise Data Integration, 7,000-store Family Dollar has been able to improve same-store sales, reduce inventory, enable a more efficient supply chain and create more tailored planning based on customer demographics. “SAS enables the Family Dollar merchandising organization to quickly create integrated merchandise financial plans we can share and adjust collaboratively on an almost real-time basis,” said Scott Zucker, Vice President of IT Solutions Delivery.
to apply the results to the next holiday. Now we can do it in real
In the example of Harris Teeter, Shive explained, “Their go-
time, and it enhances the customer experience,’’ says Nachiket
to business strategy includes a deeper selection, greater
Desai, Vice President of Enterprise Architecture and Business
variety, and a focus on finer foods.” Efficient localized
Intelligence. “The SAS Analytics platform essentially brings all
assortments require that merchants consider customer metrics
these different data points into a single matrix so people can
for each market. If a key customer segment purchases a
access all the data without depending on IT to provide extracts.’’
“SAS enables the Family Dollar merchandising organization to quickly create integrated merchandise financial plans we can share and adjust collaboratively on an almost real-time basis,” said Scott Zucker, Vice President of IT Solutions Delivery.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
particular product in one market, but not in a similar location elsewhere, making a decision to remove the product from all locations could result in dissatisfied customers. Merchandising also comes into play when determining the choice of products for promotions and advertising. Traditionally, product sales, margin and unit movement were the primary measures used to determine which items to feature on the front page of a circular. With high performance customer analytics in place, that same decision can be made based on customers’ transaction-level purchase histories. “Retailers can look beyond the unit sales increase of the product on the front page of the circular,” noted Shive. “They can measure the growth of the total basket of shoppers.” Understanding effects of promotions on shopper basket size is critical given it’s on the decline.” In 2010, approximately 25% of retail survey respondents reported an average of two units sold per transaction, according to the NRF in its 2012 Retail Horizons report. In 2011, that
3. Implement More Efficient Replenishment And Allocation In order to have the right products available in the right place at the right time, merchants need access to an accurate, realtime view of sales and demand. Brooks Brothers empowers store managers and vendors to better manage the business with advanced analytics. Store managers receive key reports, provided through SAS, to help them find opportunities to improve store performance and customer satisfaction. The retailer also collaborates with vendor partners, providing sales and demand data in order to ensure delivery of the right merchandise in the right stores at the right time.
“Using SAS, we can give our vendors a more accurate view into projected sales and demand,” explained Dave Donovan, Manager of Business Intelligence at Brooks Brothers. “This has really improved service levels, and it’s benefited both sides of the supply chain.” -Dave Donovan, Brooks Brothers
“Using SAS, we can give our vendors a more accurate view into projected sales and demand,” explained Dave Donovan, Manager of Business Intelligence at Brooks Brothers. “This has really improved service levels, and it’s benefited both sides of the supply chain.
number doubled to 56%, “suggesting that low-volume purchases may be part of a longer-term trend,” NRF noted.
At Brooks Brothers, SAS solutions empower store managers and vendors to better manage the business with advanced analytics. Store managers receive key reports to help them find opportunities to improve store performance and customer satisfaction.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
SAS provides a common sales forecast to allocation
and build assortments to meet those needs and desires.
and replenishment teams and systems.” This
Knowing the specific items shoppers are interested in, retailers
eliminates discrepancies between systems that
now are able to alert those shoppers of specials at a moment’s
could lead to under-stocks and overstocks.
notice. For example, “Some are sending text messages at 3pm to let consumers know a certain product will be available
“There are no surprises for our vendors,” added Donovan.
in the prepared service areas for dinner,” Williams noted.
“They have a pretty good view of what they’ll be delivering
Different industries have advanced down the path of advanced
by week or month.” With this system in place the company
analytics slower or faster than others, Williams added. “The
was able to reduce inventory by 27% and cut down
grocery guys are relatively midway down the timeline; several
the average weeks of supply on hand by seven.
I’d argue, such as Kroger and Safeway, are significantly further down the line. The specialty retail businesses are in the early
4. Optimize Inventory With high performance analytics, “the speed
days. Many are still purchasing based on volume of sales of product. They haven’t yet really looked at individual purchases. Mass merchants such as Target and Wal-Mart are doing it.“
of information is allowing retailers to make decisions very quickly — that’s why we’re seeing these changes in
Grocers and mass merchants, in particular, are uniquely
stores,” said Williams. He highlighted Publix, GreenWise,
challenged because of the volume of data coming in.
Whole Foods and Wegmans as examples in grocery that
Wegmans sells approximately 90,000 SKUs. That is where
have used information gleaned from the analytical data to
high performance comes into play…because of the high
understand shoppers’ interest levels in certain products
volume of information that needs to be analyzed.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
With 1,300 stores across Canada, for example, Sobey’s is
respond to requests for a more customized approach. “These
using SAS for grocery analytics to help deliver on its commit
are big companies that are fairly set in how they distribute their
ment to offer the right products, in the right stores, across
product.” But today 90% of DSW’s partner shoe companies are
multiple banners, for each individual market it serves.
using the customized pack recommendations. The result? “Our
“Customer insight and intimacy is one of Sobey’s strategic
out-of-stocks are fewer, our markdowns are fewer and our
pillars,” said Clinton Keay, Senior Vice President and Chief
margins are higher — which, at the end of the day, is what every
Information Officer. “With SAS Analytics we can understand
retailer wants,” Mustafa noted. “We were looking for a robust
who our key customers are, as well as understand the
solution that was simple to use, and that’s what we are seeing.’’
-Clinton Keay,
different types of customers we have by individual market. We’re a locally driven organization, with resources dedicated to providing customer service that is tailored to the markets they serve. Unless you can get it down to the operations of the individual store level, it’s not going to add any value.”
“With SAS Analytics we can understand who our key customers are, as well as understand the different types of customers we have by individual market.”
5. Enhance The In-Store Shopping Experience And Maximize Selling Space
DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) has implemented SAS Size
Using high performance analytics to improve the
Optimization in order to improve the efficiency of size and style
everyday shopping experience for individual consumers
offerings in its 350+ stores across the U.S. DSW has had great
can be accomplished through a logical progression of
success convincing suppliers to work with the new solution,
steps. Those steps could include questions such as:
according to Harris Mustafa, EVP of Supply Chain Merchandise
What is our best-selling item in each store? What is the
Planning and Allocation. In some cases, suppliers managed
highest corollary item with the best-selling item in store?
the size packs, so Mustafa was not certain how they would
Not just the second item, the highest corollary.
Sobey’s
This approach makes a difference when promoting cross-sell
With 1,300 stores across Canada, Sobey’s is using SAS for grocery analytics to help deliver on its commit-ment to offer the right products, in the right stores, across multiple banners, for each individual market it serves.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
and upsell. “At the point you understand the nature of your
and merchandising performance in a matter of seconds in order
consumer, then you can reverse engineer based on the basket
to create more effective displays.
data,” according to Williams. A number of larger retailers have begun employing this strategy, including mass merchandisers. “They have been astounded with the results,” Williams said. For example, he explained that one retailer found out that the number-one selling women’s apparel item in the store had a traditional consumer packaged goods product associated with it as a second corollary — the Keurig K Cups. The retailer began merchandising the two items next to each other and boosted sales of both items. The reason more retailers may not be discovering these correlations, is that they continue to operate with siloed data. The purchasing business unit is not conferring with the merchandising teams. In the apparel/coffee example, the group that buys women’s apparel has no interactions with the group that purchases coffee. High performance analytics can alter that scenario and motivate disparate business units to work together. With High Performance Retailing, retailers can review inventory
6. Monetize Marketing Decisions A number of retailers are realizing improved returns on marketing investments with high performance analytics. While sending
“At the point you understand the nature of your consumer, then you can reverse engineer based on the basket data.” -Eric Williams, Catalina Marketing (retired)
out mailings to promote upcoming sales is a common practice, the challenge is to customize the mailings in a way that truly drives store business without spending too much time and money. Brooks Brothers uses SAS to segment customers and automate the customization process, achieving significant savings on just that one aspect of the marketing campaign. The company also uses SAS to figure out which types of specials will work best. Does it make more sense to offer three shirts for a discounted price? Or is two the number that will drive revenue and profits? Should shirts and ties be marketed together at a promotional price, or separately? “We’re doing some market basket analysis,’’ said Donovan, adding that one of the goals
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
is to engage individual stores in determining what works. “We
others monthly — that are sent to employees in marketing and
don’t want this information locked in the back office. We want
finance. These data-rich reports were taking analysts four
the store managers to start cultivating their analytical skills.’’
to 12 hours to produce — much of it busy work that involved
Instead of sending costly mass mailings to every zip code
cutting and pasting from Excel spreadsheets. Macys.com is
within a 120-mile radius of a store, Cabela’s uses SAS to
now using SAS to automate the reports. “This cuts the time
focus its marketing efforts in the geographies of customers
dramatically,” said Kerem Tomak, Vice President of Analytics.
most likely to generate the greatest possible incremental
“It saves us more than $500,000 a year in terms of comp FTE
sales, resulting in a 60% increase in response rates.
hours saved — a really big impact,’’ Tomak said, noting that the savings began within about three months of installing SAS.
By automating reports, Macy’s cuts costs by “more than $500,000 a year in terms of comp FTE hours saved — a really big impact.” -Kerem Tomak, Macy’s
Cabela’s can identify the customer’s favorite channel and selectively send related marketing materials. “Does the customer like the 100-page catalogs or the 1,500-page catalogs?’’ asked Corey Bergstrom, Director, Marketing Research and Analytics. “The customer tells us this through his past interactions so we can send the catalog that matches his or her needs.
7. Incorporate Social Media Into The Cross-Channel Communication Mix
SAS gives Cabela’s the power to conceivably personalize
Best-in-class merchants are incorporating feedback and
a unique marketing message, flyer or catalog to every
comments from social channels to create a cohesive cross-
customer. The only limitation is the creation of each piece.”
channel brand experience for shoppers. These merchants typically use the most common channels — Facebook and
At Macy’s, the Analytics team is responsible for creating a
Twitter — to access web site browsing history and store
variety of mission-critical reports — some daily, some weekly,
check-ins via mobile geo-targeting applications such as foursquare and Shopkick.
At Macy’s, SAS Analytics has helped automate the creation of a variety of mission-critical reports — some daily, some weekly, others monthly — that are sent to employees in marketing and finance.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
Then they can use high performance analytics to combine
Furthermore, 29% of men and 30% of women share feedback
that data with loyalty program accounts and transactional
with their social graphs regarding brand items or experiences.
information. As a result, these organizations are making smarter marketing decisions with messages and offers
To better keep pace with a constant stream of customer
that will directly address specific customer segments.
feedback and other insights on social networks, the Aberdeen
“If you’re not playing in social you will be dead soon,”
report indicated that retailers are investing more in predictive
said Williams. “People can destroy a brand these days
analytics (45%) and real-time data integration (32%) tools that
with comments.”
offer real-time insights into customer wants and needs.
As many as 85% of organizations believe social media and other
With many different businesses and verticals within Gilt
customer sentiment information is critical to their efforts to tackle
Groupe, the company sought to ensure that cross-promotion
Big Data, according to The Aberdeen Group research brief,
in the most effective and efficient way, according to Tamara
titled: The State Of Big Data. In addition, 83% of companies
Gruzbarg, Director of Analytics. When the company launched
worldwide are finding value in collecting clickstream data.
its Home division, Gilt used SAS to build a predictive model
29% of men and 30% of women share feedback with their social graphs regarding brand items or experiences. -Burst Media, Online Insights study
to identify the key characteristics of women shoppers who Social media sites alone have greatly altered how consumers
are likely to shop Home as well. “Once we identified the
interact and follow their favorite brands. Facebook, Instagram,
target audience, we sent an email with a specific offer — in
Twitter and other social networking sites also are influencing how
this case, 10% off their order from Gilt Home,” Gruzbarg
often and quickly shoppers share feedback. A study from Burst
explained. “We increased conversion on the Home tab from
Media, titled: Online Insights: Let’s Get Social indicated that
this target audience by almost 100% and saw an immediate
nearly 50% of consumers frequently or occasionally “Like” and
and very positive incremental return on investment as well.”
follow brand-name products or services on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
• Overall, as a result of better segmentation through analytics, Gilt Groupe has achieved the following results:
Prantner continued: “Take a Facebook ad. If we get a spike in new fans or ‘likes’ the first day, we’re able to judge the long-lasting impact and predict how it will trail off in the
• A 10% to 20% lift for customers browsing
future. When doing PR activities like events, we can use
in new merchandise categories;
the same model to judge the success of that event not just based on that day, but on the long-term impact of the
• A 100% lift for women who shopped at the
event. For any campaign, based on what the overall goals
men’s site but had not yet purchased; and
• A 20% increase in new member conversion rates.
are, you can use these measures to course-correct.”
“Take a Facebook ad. If we get a spike in new fans or ‘likes’ the first day, we’re able to judge the long-lasting impact and predict how it will trail off in the future.” -Jonathan Prantner,
Organic also uses SAS to measure interactive and social Following the implementation of social media analytics tools
media sentiment. “If you’re able to measure your imprint and
from SAS, Organic, Inc. is able to use sentiment analysis
your Web traffic, you’re able to capture that for computation
and velocity and acceleration calculations to create digital
as well through social sites,” Prantner explained. “Essentially,
marketing strategies for its retail clients. Jonathan Prantner,
clients can see how they’re gaining or losing compared to
Manager of Statistics for Organic explained how the solution
competitors. If your competitor had a market increase this
works: “It looks at the rates of change in how your social
month, we can see which social metrics are driving that.”
Organic, Inc.
media imprint is growing. At the point when you examine results and you’re able to see spikes in your increase, you look at the cumulative social imprint and look at first and second derivatives. When we see the spike, we’re able to relate the height of that spike to the ceiling that you’ll eventually see from that spike further on down the line.”
Following the implementation of social media analytics tools from SAS, Organic, Inc. is able to use sentiment analysis and velocity and acceleration calculations to create digital marketing strategies for its retail clients.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
8. Identify The Best Customers Being able to break down the data into individual chunks now allows retailers to better identify their best customers at any given time.
üü As a general rule, best customers meet the following criteria:
üü Spend the most each year üü Visit most frequently üü Buy higher-margin items
“We’re tailoring offers directly to shoppers based on their purchase histories, which has increased the effectiveness of communications sent out by the marketing department,” added Dave Eddy, Director of Decision Support Systems at Sobeys.
High Performance Analytics: Next Steps While a number of retail companies are investing in high performance analytics, many more continue to struggle with leveraging customer data. “When talking with grocery CEOs across the world, few routinely discuss customer metrics,”
“Senior management has to agree to transition business into an informationdriven organization and compensate based on attributes of consumer, not the product. Analytics is then a critical component.” -Eric Williams, Catalina Marketing (retired)
noted Shive. “It is a customer data-rich industry, but most
üü Purchase from more departments and categories
executives remain primarily focused on traditional KPIs. For
üü Post the lowest defection rates
about sales and gross margin, but customer metrics are not on
them, it’s still all about the movement of product. They talk the tips of their tongues. Few mention how they manage key
At Sobeys, for example, “Customer insight allows Sobeys to recognize loyal shoppers, and helps us provide better offerings to our customers so that they’re happy with their shopping experience,” said Keay.
results by customer segment to transform decisions across their organizations.” The advancement of high performance analytics enables retailers to incorporate customer insights into all strategic decisions.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
Williams concurs. “Management has to come into play —
To move forward and reap the benefits of high performance
they need analytics that cross the business groups. People
analytics, retailers should take the following steps:
truly changing retail are looking at the consumer. It used to be that product was king — now the consumer is queen.” He continued, “Senior management has to agree to transition business into an information-driven organization and compensate based on attributes of consumer, not the product. Analytics is then a critical component. What I am finding is that people think that if they put together an analytics organization, hire PhDs…if they don’t address the true structure and operational aspects of their business, it will fail. Operational piece and data piece must be done in logical and methodical process into the business. It’s not rocket science. Data doesn’t get used unless operational processes change.”
1. Asses the status of all data currently being collected throughout the organization; 2. Confirm the identity of the brand’s most valuable target shoppers;
“It is never too early to start with analytics, even if you don’t have full-blown capabilities right away.” -Tamara Gruzbarg, Gilt Groupe
3. Use analytics to monitor the customer journey; 4. Prioritize the business processes that warrant the quickest improvement; 5. Formulate a go-forward business improvement strategy, taking advantage of insights gleaned from high performance analytics; 6. Test and learn; 7. Move forward with strategic implementations; 8. Use high performance analytics to evaluate the success of implementations, in real time; and 9. Make relevant changes, based on analytical data.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
Conclusion
For other companies to get started down this path of
The time is now for advanced, high performance analytics
must realize the value of moving from a product-centered
to come to the forefront in order to help retailers in all
organization to a customer-centric organization. Then
industries reach and retain loyal shoppers. With individualized
the rest of the puzzle pieces will fall into place.
success, they must embrace the need for advanced analytics from the top down. Executives at the C-level
customer metrics in hand, merchants can enhance the in-store shopping experience, improve merchandising,
“It is never too early to start with analytics, even if you don’t
optimize inventory and monetize key marketing decisions.
have full-blown capabilities right away,” said Gilt Groupe’s Gruzbarg. “Simple segmentation based on one or two key
High performance analytics also can help bring vital
variables, implemented at the right time, could go a long way in
social data into the mix, providing a well-rounded view of
helping to move the business forward. Those initial insights can
omnichannel customer sentiment. With an overall view of
then be incorporated into future comprehensive strategies.”
the shopper, merchants can measure their best customers and deliver strategies based on that valuable information. Today, companies like Macy’s, Cabela’s, Brooks Brothers, 1800FLOWERS and Chico’s are seeing significant results with their analytics strategies. They are improving all aspects of their businesses while delighting individual shoppers.
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8 Ways To Use Customer Insights To Improve Business Performance
About SAS World Headquarters SAS Institute Inc. 100 SAS Campus Drive Cary, NC 27513-2414, USA P: 919.677.8000 F: 919.677.4444
SAS helps retailers and grocers spend less time crunching numbers and more time growing revenue with key technologies customized for today’s multichannel merchants. Built around a powerful core of market-leading business analytics, our comprehensive suite of retail solutions tackles the industry’s greatest challenges, including customer insight (customer intelligence and social media analytics); price optimization (regular, promotion and markdown); size optimization (size profiling and pack optimization); assortment planning; integrated merchandise planning (allocation, space management and optimization); forecasting (across the enterprise and across market segments); and loss prevention. With more than 35 years of experience working with leading grocers and retailers, SAS helps retailers make better decisions faster. Learn more at www.sas.com/retail.
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