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In Part 2 of my blog series on the state of using of shopper insights in retail, I shared survey findings on common types of shopper data collected, as well as segment and company size specific differences.
In this blog, I’ll share survey findings that highlight inter-departmental differences in data usage and top initiatives surrounding shopper insights, as well as missed opportunities.
The survey findings showed that even in today’s science-based merchandising environment, marketing departments are more active in using shopper insights than merchandising. However, the difference is small, indicating a narrowing gap as merchandisers get more analytically savvy.
In marketing, the key focus of shopper-insights initiatives is customer experience and loyalty. Despite all the talk of cost control and marketing budget optimization, it is interesting to note that more respondents listed improving customer experience and driving retention /loyalty as their top imperatives verses cost-optimization measures such as media-mix modeling or promotions planning.
The survey also showed that only a handful of companies (31 percent) are using shopper insights for e-commerce recommendations improvement despite the serious growth in online retail.
On the merchandising front, high on the list is assortment optimization and product development with over half of the respondents saying they actively use shopper insights for these areas. A noteworthy missed opportunity is in the area of “price and markdown optimization” – with only 34 percent of respondents claiming to use shopper insights for that purpose - which is quite surprising considering the frequency and intensity of ongoing price wars amongst retailers.
Another common missed opportunity noted in both marketing and merchandising was limited use of shopper location intelligence both for promotions and marketing events planning (35 percent), as well as assortment planning (31 percent). Considering the gains that companies like VF Corporation, Levi’s and Belk have made from using location intelligence, I consider this to be an emerging opportunity area with more retailers paying attention as they try to streamline operations and improve competitive standing.
It was gratifying to note that shopper insights usage extended beyond marketing and merchandising with more than half of the respondents citing its importance in business planning activities such as market potential evaluation and store performance planning.
Overall, it was clear from the survey that while shopper insights are increasingly used to guide decisions, the majority of retailers still have a long way to go – on a positive note, indicating an immense opportunity for many retail businesses.
How do you rate your shopper intelligence quotient? Are you interested in exploring how you can further incorporate shopper insights in driving your progress? If so, leave us a comment and we will reach out to you. Meanwhile, keep reading to know what your industry peers are doing.
In my next blog, I’ll share the common roadblocks preventing more pervasive use of shopper analytics in retail and measures leading retailers are taking to overcome those. Below is the complete list of what to expect next. If you like what you have read so far, do share with your colleagues and other interested parties and help expand the knowledge base!
Retail Shopper Insights Blog Series: An Insider’s Perspective
- The State of Use of Shopper Insights: Retail Analytics Blog Series Introduction
- Shopper Data Matters – But All is Not Equal!
- Top Uses of Shopper Insights – And Missed Opportunities!
- Roadblocks to Usage of Shopper Insights
- Shopper Insights to ROI – Factors that connect!
- Recommendations: Making Your Shopper Insights Initiatives Count!
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