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Omnichannel retailing is a reality, yet “true” omnichannel continues to elude retailers, with most of them struggling to align marketing and merchandising. In part 1 of my recent blog 10 Key Ways Analytics can Help Advance “True” Omnichannel , I shared five of the 10 ways analytics can help get you omnichannel ready. Here are the rest of the five.
- Monitor/plan demand using social media: Social media platforms have become an integral part of a retailers’ omnichannel strategy. Retail marketers’ are using it to understand customer sentiment about products and services, reach potential audience, and influence purchase decisions. Analytics can help retailers monitor social media sentiment and score the influence of a celebrity tweet or a consumer review so they can better respond to unexpected spikes or declines in demand.
- Stock the right inventory: Seamless inventory movement across channels is the key to omnichannel excellence. To stand out, retailers need to go beyond just having the right inventory available to allowing for conveniences such as free delivery and in-store pickup of online orders. However, for most retailers, DCs (Distribution Centers) are designed to fulfill store demand; the online channel is an afterthought. With analytics, retailers can gain cross-channel visibility on what is available at each point in the supply chain, and use that to fulfill customer demand from a DC, a nearby store or even directly from a supplier.
- Track order status across channels: True omnichannel requires a complete alignment between planned promotions, order pipeline and available inventory. There is no sense targeting the customer with a relevant marketing message if one can’t fulfill the order without escalating costs. Data blending and analytics enable retailers to combine data from disparate channel-specific order management systems for a complete view of the order pipeline. Retailers can use this information to plan promotions, replenish stocks, and provide additional services, such as order status updates from third-party shippers.
- Assess cost of sale: A quantitative analysis of operating expenses — cost of floor space, customer service, store labor, DCs, transportation, mark-downs, stock-outs, etc. — can help retailers determine the true margins of selling a product category through a particular channel. They can then align product margins with customer profitability to provide guidance to frontline staff on which additional services, such as free shipping or what specifically to offer to whom.
- Aligning pricing strategies: For a true omnichannel retailer, it's important to distinguish the "lowest price" from the "best price" for a given circumstance. Analytics can help calculate cost of sale based on speed of delivery, inventory position, and carrying costs. Retailers can use this information to optimize pricing for margin and throughput targets.
These 10 ways are an excerpt from “True Omnichannel: Aligning Marketing and Merchandising through Analytics”, an Alteryx sponsored white paper by a premier retail think group, RetailWire. Download the paper to get the whole list, as well as, read our recommended action plan for advancing your omnichannel efforts.
Let us know if this blog was helpful and share how else you are using analytics for omnichannel retailing.
