Tyco Retail Thought Leadership: The role of shopper traffic as a signal of ‘true demand’
As part of our “Future of Retail” supplement series, Amit R Patil – global leader of data innovation strategies at Tyco Retail Solutions – discusses the role of shopper traffic as a signal of ‘true demand’
Competition to ‘win the shopper’ has never been tougher, so what role can store traffic analytics play in building powerful data sets to underpin a successful retail strategy?
Bricks-and-mortar stores are at the forefront of offering the opportunity to greatly enhance the omnichannel shopping cycle, especially when the right data sets are collected and analysed. So, in the world of new retail, how are retailers gaining a richer understanding of customer demand? And how is this helping boost profitability?
TRAFFIC IS A DATA POINT RETAILERS CAN’T AFFORD TO MISS
Never before have traffic trends been such a vital means of understanding peaks and troughs in-store shopper activity, helping retailers execute their seasonal planning, forecasting and inventory management. Retail traffic analytics can also indicate areas where operational efficiencies can be made and where staffing levels can be optimised. Now in a world where retailers have access to many additional sources of data, this powerful information source can be used even more strategically – for building a truly holistic view of shopper behaviour.
Data experts at ShopperTrak are beginning to work with retailers to discover what becomes possible when third-party data, social mediagenerated demographic data, online traffic data, web analytics, weather forecasting, and sales and labour data come into play as well. With the right understanding of how to process and analyse these data sets, retailers are building out insights that will help them understand customers better, predict their behaviour, and improve both the customer experience, and profitability.
Read the complete thought leadership piece here.
