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What is retail analytics software?
Retail Analytics Software
What is retail analytics software?
In the current age of retail, retail analytics is everything. Your customers are connecting to your brand via a wide breadth of digital platforms generating an abundance of data. This data is valuable in helping you learn more about who your customers are, what they want, and the behaviors that drive them. This is precisely the reason why you should prioritize choosing the best retail analytics software for your business.
Retail analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing the vast amount of data that enters and exits a business. This data can include everything from customer demand and inventory levels to supply chain movement and distinct customer behavior. Retail analytics solutions lie at the core of any successful ecommerce business, which is why you should be able to take on the task seamlessly. Fortunately, you can improve your retail analytics processes through retail analytics software.
What is retail analytics software? Retail analytics software is the digital tool you use to gather, process, and analyze the retail customer data that enters your systems. While this software can be as simple as Excel for capturing and organizing data points, businesses can rely on more complex software tools to get a better understanding of their customer data. Below you’ll discover some potential retail analytics use cases.
Retail analytics software use cases
The current consumer climate is becoming more and more virtual with each passing year. While in-store retail still carries a weight of importance and is unlikely to ever phase out entirely, ecommerce is beginning to take up a larger share of focus. On top of that, retailers with brick and mortar stores are placing a greater reliance on omnichannel technologies as well. As a result, the modern retailer is inundated with information that, without the right processes or retail analytics software in place, could lead to missed opportunities.
Even before the retail industry started its digital transformation, retail analytics has always been of high importance, but nowadays businesses should rely on retail analytics software to do a lion’s share of the grunt work. By adopting retail analytics software tools into your business you can streamline your processes and enhance how you interact with your customers.
Take advantage of improved marketing ROI
Data should be every businesses’ primary tool in launching effective marketing campaigns. Before you attempt to outreach to your customers, you should first work to understand them, and retail analytics software makes this burden of understanding much simpler. By unifying all of your retail and customer data onto a single platform you can get a clearer picture of who your customers are and the kind of marketing that is more likely to engage them.
At the same time, you can use retail analytics software to inform your overall marketing decisions. By having a clearer picture of your current inventory or supply chain, you can launch marketing campaigns that are better optimized for the products you have in stock. This more informed method of developing marketing campaigns can also help your business avoid the possibility of errors such as running out of a particular product or not being able to fulfill orders in a timely manner.
Gather rich customer behavior insights
Your customers are complex, and like it or not, you need to understand them in order to serve them. An effective retail analytics software tool can help you drive that deeper understanding and assist in better satisfying their unique needs. Retail analytics software like a customer data platform (CDP) can unify all of your data into a single customer view, allowing you to have a more concise picture of who your ideal customer is. Additionally, a CDP can assist you in launching advanced customer segmentation strategies so that you can take a granular approach to reach out and interact with your customers.
Customer behavior changes and retail analytics software can help you stay adaptive to those changes. For example, retail analytics software, like a CDP, can help you shift your approach of engagement based on seasons or specific changing behaviors. Through the insights delivered by your retail analytics software, you can pivot your supply to better match behaviors, optimizing your supply chain based on your customers’ specific needs.
Streamline your brick-and-mortar business operations
Brick-and-mortar stores aren’t going anywhere, no matter how much ecommerce grows in popularity. That being said, businesses should work to integrate their physical stores with retail analytics software to ensure that they’re making the most informed decisions. For example, a business that fills their in-store shelves based on the customer behavior data gleaned from retail analytics software is going to encounter far fewer stocking and supply issues than one that fills their shelves based on siloed retail analytic data.
Retail analytics software can also assist in creating an omnichannel customer experience. In an omnichannel customer experience, your customers can expect to find a seamless shopping experience from ecommerce to in-store. Retail analytics software can help you gather and store customer data so that you can connect their experiences across locations and digital channels. As a result, businesses that deploy an omnichannel customer experience through retail analytics software can expect to find higher customer satisfaction and greater revenue growth.
Enhance customer engagement and satisfaction
Your customers don’t just desire personalized experiences, but they expect them. In the current age of retail, personalization is the only way to cut through the noise. Your customers have more options than ever before, and with effective retail analytics software, you can create impactful personalized experiences that keep them engaged and satisfied.
For example, you can use retail analytics software to develop highly defined customer segments which you can then target with specific marketing or touchpoints. Additionally, by storing all of your customer data into a retail analytics platform you can create customer profiles of your most valuable customers which you can use to discover lookalikes.
Types of retail analytics
When discussing retail analytics there are four main categories to focus in on:
- Descriptive analytics: Descriptive analytics delivers retailers a top-down view of their entire business’ actions. This kind of analytics includes data points like transactional history, inventory changes, website behavior tracking, marketing performance,and more.
- Diagnostic analytics: Much like descriptive analytics, diagnostic analytics provides details on previous performance. However, this form of analytics delivers additional context helping retailers uncover trends potential connections between different variables.
- Predictive analytics: Through predictive analytics, retailers can anticipate potential trends and changes in customer behavior. This form of analytics looks at the relationship between previous variables often uncovered through diagnostic analytics.
- Prescriptive analytics: This form of analytics helps retailers shift their approach based on specific changes in customer behavior, demand, inventory, and more.
Choosing Lexer CDP as your source for retail analytics software
Lexer’s customer data platform (CDP) can act as your primary source for all things retail analytics. Built with busy retailers in mind, Lexer CDP is designed to streamline the way you capture, process, and analyze your retail analytics all on a single platform. Lexer breaks down the barriers of siloed data, allowing for teams from multiple departments to access the same single customer view. As a result, you can drive revenue and realize business growth without the assistance of an IT or data science team.
Lexer is the CDP of choice for leading retailers like Rip Curl, Sur La Table, Supergoop!, Quicksilver, and more!
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