Using Data to Improve the Retail Experience
Throughout the pandemic, the retail industry in Ireland has gone through numerous changes and disruptions.
With restrictions on non-essential retail being lifted soon, many retailers may be looking at altering their current data strategy and possibly implement new techniques to get as much as they can from their data.
Loyalty programs continue to be one of the most effective methods of collecting high-quality customer data, especially for in-store purchases.
However, since the increase in popularity of eCommerce shopping, retailers are able to gather more data than ever through legitimate cookies, details users share and analytics software.
While we’ve previously discussed great ways to improve the retail customer experience with software solutions, discussed below are some of the ways organisations can use data collected to improve the experience for both customers and employees.
Dynamic Advertising
Recently, many retailers are trying to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping with dynamic advertising.
Social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram have recently introduced features allowing advertisers to display dynamic ads on users’ newsfeeds. Dynamic ads are designed to help digital retail marketers connect the online-to-offline elements on the customer journey.
Not only can data help organisations advertise dynamically on digital platforms, but it can also be used for traditional customer engagement methods such as direct mail, newsletters and catalogues. Personalised engagement goes a long way.
Data collected on customers helps marketers refine their messaging to resonate with the specific customer type.
Advertisements driven by data help retailers target specific both existing customers and potential new customers.
Strategic Planning
Retailers are beginning to realise the power data holds for internal strategies. With in-store point of sale technology becoming more integrated with internal systems, retailers are capable of gathering large amounts of inventory, demand and purchasing data.
This large amount of data gathered in these systems can be used to inform price changes.
Supply chains are powered by real time and reliable data. This data helps retailers ensure they always have the right stock in at the right time.
Using this purchasing data, retailers can do regular stock analysis to ensure they always have the right products on their shelves to match the needs of its customers.
Retailers can use data from external sources, such as news, weather or events to increase efficiency and make the supply chain system adaptable to changing market conditions.
Benchmark Against Competitors
Retailers around the world regularly gather data on the satisfaction levels of customers that shop in their stores.
Customer satisfaction is the indicator that can be used to evaluate how your customers rate your product and services against their expectations. This data can be gathered through surveys and interviews and can be scored numerically.
While many retailers rely on CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) scores to get a picture of the experience they’re providing customers, they can often be unreliable if not benchmarked against competitors in the same space.
Comparing your CSAT score data with the competition (where industry data is available) helps retailers understand which areas they need to improve.
Employee Experience
Not only do retailers have to keep an eye on customer satisfaction levels. The employee experience is just as important.
Data can be also used to get a better understanding of the employee experience in a retail a setting. Employee experience has a direct impact on the customer experience, as employees are often what makes the experience good or bad.
This data can be gathered through regular anonymous employee surveys, where management look to find ways to ensure issues are addressed and pain points are minimised.
Do you wish to find out more about the data solutions we offer to enhance the retail customer experience? Be sure to contact us today on +353 1 8041298!
