Black Friday, the most important time of the year for all retail stores. The National Retail Federation reported that around 67 million people shopped in-person during this past Black Friday. It’s normal to think that the biggest and busiest time of the year has passed for your retail space, but it doesn’t have to end there. The holiday season is still in high-gear, and with it comes the opportunity to rev up your marketing strategies for holiday shoppers. Retail analytics is the newest tool to help your holiday marketing be the best year to date. Below are the top three ways that retail analytics can improve your marketing efforts in a way that keeps your retail space busy all month long.
Accurate Inventory
Retail analytics provides accurate and insightful data on customer purchases, usually through a platform that works in conjunction with your POS system. Knowing exactly what your customers are interested in is key to having your retail store stocked up on the necessary items. Proper inventory plays a crucial role in bringing in the best profit possible for your retail space. Having an excess in inventory can eat into profits by almost six figures depending on the type of product and its shelf life.
On the flip side, having a deficit in a high-demand item means lost profit due to customers being unable to purchase the product. If you’re tired of playing a guessing game when ordering your inventory, then retail analytics is the answer.
Smart Tip: Having trouble getting rid of a certain product? Promote it to customers during check out. You know that the customer is already in the purchasing mood, so promoting another item (at a great discount) during that purchase might be the key to finally moving that pesky product off the shelf.
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Improved Signage Placement
Now that Black Friday has passed, you should be as thorough as ever to ensure that shoppers are noticing your in-store signage. Research performed by OgilvyAction, a shopper-marketing agency, found that 29% of shoppers were influenced to purchase products from in-store advertising while 24% were influenced to purchase goods based on advertising outside of a retail space. So, that simple BOGO sign may not seem like it’s doing much, but in reality, it’s one of your best marketing assets.
Another useful tool from a capable retail analytics platform is the ability to monitor and report on the foot traffic of your shoppers. Knowing how the average customer navigates around your property is key to placing your signage in places where they’ll receive the most exposure.
Smart Tip: What you place on your signs is just as important to catch the eye of your customers. Make sure your signage’s promotion is clear and readable so that your guests will know right away what deals are in store for them.
Optimal Scheduling for Your Staff
An optimal retail analytics platform can not only tell you how customers move through your store, but also how many visitors you have and when your busiest days and times are. Why is this so important for retail? This sort of analytical power can greatly improve the quality of your staff scheduling. Knowing the average amount of guests allows you to have the right amount of workers scheduled during those moments of the workday.
With retail analytics, you don’t have to worry about being caught off guard with those holiday rushes that retail stores experience. Having the correct amount of workers can also improve better customer service; and when it comes to retail, customer service is essential to improving customer satisfaction.
Smart Tip: Knowing your busy and slow days also allows you to hone in on some specific and personalized marketing opportunities. Want to pick up business on a consistently slow day? Create a marketing campaign that offers a great deal to guests on that specific day to help pick up traffic. Not enough action in the morning for your store? Early bird specials are great for getting guests to visit your store bright and early.
Have you considered implementing retail analytics for your retail space? Do you currently offer WiFi to your shoppers? With GoZone’s Analytics4WiFi platform, you can begin to better understand how your guests navigate throughout your location and the flow of traffic your store experiences throughout the day, week, and months to come. Stop playing a guessing game with the operational aspect of your retail store and start honing in on key analytical data.
