Would you like data with that?

The vision of working in retail rarely includes in depth analysis of store data. The reality is it’s an imperative part of the successful operation of a retail store.

When retailers choose to implement a retail technology management solution it is for fundamentally two reasons. One, to manage the instore processes effectively, and two, to capture store data to allow for better management decisions.

In today’s omnichannel retailing environment, data abounds. Whether it is online sales data, multi-store transactions, stock movements between stores and more, there has never been a time in retail where so much information is incoming. This abundance of data calls for an effective retail solution that can easily combine and present the information from across your entire retail business.

A single database view is the answer to collecting and combining the data from all sales nodes as without it the task of generating meaningful report that reflect your entire business is laborious and inefficient opening the door for inaccurate information. When it comes to analysing data, the bottom line report that most want to see is sales.

In an omnichannel environment, sales come from multiple areas so being able to segment the data to see what channels are selling the best is critical. This allows you to identify areas of improvement across your channels.

Valuable customer data is collected enabling you to analyse purchasing habits across your entire business no matter where they shop. Analysing inventory movements allows you to work out what to stock more of and what to reduce. Furthermore, in an omnichannel environment you can work out where to best locate the stock to meet customer demands.

Neglecting your store’s data is not a great choice in today’s omnichannel environment where competition for the customer’s dollar is intense.

Consider the retail solutions you are using to ensure that they support your data analysis needs to give you the best chance to make the right decisions.