For many years, the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, has led the way in terms of capturing big data and adapting its business according to its findings. Utilising the latest in collaborative filtering technology, Amazon can present automatic purchase recommendations to individual customers based upon purchase history, browser history and even recent activity on social media.
While the majority of larger high-street retailers have recognised the need for adopting an omni-channel retail marketing strategy many have opted to concentrate on the online sector of their business. This has largely centred upon the belief that the process of showrooming - whereby a consumer browses a bricks and mortar store before making their desired purchase online - is the shape of things to come in the retail world. As recent research has shown, this strategy could prove to be detrimental.
A survey conducted by market researcher Harris concluded that 46% of those surveyed had participated in showrooming. However, in a huge boost for the high street, two-thirds of shoppers also admitted to webrooming. This more recent retail phenomenon involves consumers carrying out detailed product research online before opting to purchase from a bricks and mortar store.
It is this very proliferation of information on the internet, combined with a plethora of product reviews, both professional and personal, which has had the reverse effect of bringing consumers back to the high street. With so much information to hand, customers averse to paying shipping fees and with a preference for the security of purchasing from a high street store, are often ready to make their purchase before they have even walked through the door, eliminating the need for that final sales push.
In the midst of this retail showdown between showrooming and webrooming, it is ever more apparent that high street retailers have a distinct need for real-time big data. While external data, such as internet search engine analytics, may provide some insight into product popularity, how can a retailer ensure they are best prepared in-store to capitalise on this latest retail phenomenon?
Having complete estate intelligence is paramount in establishing effective retail merchandising solutions and creating a clearly defined retail marketing strategy to continue to push the business forward. By carrying out a full and intense retail audit of a business estate, through the use of audit teams with extensive experience of time-sensitive projects, and securing and accessing this data digitally with a bespoke software platform, high street chains can attain control over their ongoing marketing strategy, including POS, promotions and the initiation of new customer experiences. Our InSite software will provide any number of reports that will support this estate intelligence; from information at a store level or specific data such as the ceiling heights across the entire estate, this intelligence will allow retailers to make real-time decisions that allows for a complete change of promotional strategy at the flick of a switch, a luxury which high street chains have not previously been afforded.
Information has never been more detailed than it is today, mandating that any business serious about market and mind share must fully exploit it. For retailers, this means continually adapting strategies and business plans according to the findings of both internal and external data, in order to keep even the most determined showroomers in-store.
