Finding success in the retail world entails collecting and interpreting various types of data to improve different elements of your business.
You need to rely on retail store analytics to know what’s helping and hindering your sales. You can then improve or change various processes, such as marketing, promotions, inventory, in-store product placement, and more to have a more efficient and profitable business.
Improving the Customer Shopping Experience Through Data Analytics
Customer demographics, trends, and feedback are some of the crucial data you should be collecting and analyzing regularly.
All customer-related information you can get is vital for giving shoppers a better shopping experience – a goal that all retail businesses should prioritize.
A great customer shopping experience encourages shoppers to buy something from your store. On the other hand, a poor one can turn off and drive away consumers.
Good customer service can also make a substantial difference in persuading shoppers to come back to your store.
You can provide your customers with better shopping experiences by using collected key shopper-related data.
You can do so in the following ways:
1. Improve the quality of customer service.
Customer service is the pillar of all customer experience strategies. With access to the right data, you will be able to meet your shoppers’ demands.
In particular, footfall data can help you provide better-customized shopping experiences. With customers becoming more and more well-informed, they know exactly what they want even before entering your shop.
Customers also prefer getting what they want in the fastest, easiest way.
Data from a footfall counter can give you a clear picture of your customer’s purchasing patterns. You can then make the necessary adjustments to improve their shopping experience.
This can mean rearranging the display shelves or cabinets and tables to widen paths or adding more checkout counters to prevent bottlenecks and long lines.
2. Make strategic product placement and grouping.
Footfall counter data can help you understand how shoppers move and behave in your store.
Armed with the right facts and figures, you and your team can recommend products that your repeat customers buy frequently. You can then display these items on the cashier counter or instruct your staff to recommend them to shoppers so they can make their purchases faster.
You can even modify the entire store layout if you want your customers to have quick access to the products they purchase repeatedly.
Using the same data, you can also make it easier and more convenient for your customers to go about their shopping process by grouping products they often buy together.
Keep in mind that there may be some unconventional product groupings that you may not be aware of, but are popular among your customers. You can discover or explore these with the right retail data collection tool.
With this information, you can display products in the best places that get the attention of shoppers. This usually leads to an increase in overall sales.
3. Implement better staffing schedules.
Customers get annoyed quickly when your store is understaffed. Most shoppers want to complete their shopping as quickly as possible and they won’t be able to do this when you don’t have enough employees covering the floor.
You can pinpoint the busiest and not-so-busy times and days in your store to make smarter staffing schedules with the right data.
Information from your retail store analytics allows you to select the right times and days to assign more employees on the floor.
You can also decide whether you need to enlist seasonal employees to help during the busiest times of the year to ensure all customers get the assistance they need.
4. Improve inventory management.
No customer wants to hear or read the phrase “out of stock.” This statement is a surefire way of driving away customers, both loyal and new ones. You’ll also be losing sales and customers to your competitors.
Data from your footfall counting and inventory management software can help you project demands and predict the number of supplies your store requires to avoid lost sales and stock-outs.
This information can also prevent you from overstocking supplies, which can cost your business a lot of money.
5. Create effective marketing campaigns.
Big data can help you, and your team customize marketing campaigns that can resonate with your target audience.
With access to your customers’ key data, such as their age, gender, location, and other demographic traits, average income, and interests, you and your team can tailor marketing activities and materials that suit consumer groups and individual buyers.
Data about the peak shopping hours and days in your retail store can also help you plan and implement promos that will work to your advantage. You will be able to choose the right time to stage flash sales and special offers that will drive in customers and sales.
With data-driven marketing strategies, you and your customers will get more from your special promos and reach out to more consumers.
Looking for ways to give customers better, memorable shopping experiences can be challenging.
But with the right business intelligence and retail analytics tools, you can use data that can help you elevate your customers’ shopping experiences without wasting time and money on guesswork and trial-and-error strategies.
Get in touch with our sales team to know more about our business intelligence solutions for retail stores.