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This week we look at Big Data. How can small businesses look at data in meaningful ways? We offer a both a customer centric and sales analytics approach.
Hi, welcome to the Retail Roundup. This is Syama from Scaling Retail. This week we take a look at data. Big data, small data, and how, in fact, that
can be useful to your business. Now we all know big retailers use brands like Business Intelligence Software, SAP, all different ways of analyzing
their business. But how do small businesses actually take advantage of being able to operate by looking at sales and metrics and forecasting in
the same way that a large business does?
You know, recently Accenture came out with a report stating that 63 percent of their customers that they analyzed from one study done by Globis, which is a huge international retailer. They have 37 different locations. Huge in terms of numbers of SKU’s and product assortment And they found out that, in fact, customers are more likely to purchase when you can suggest an item, when there’s some sort of customer history database, and 53 percent of the customers were interested in some type of loyalty program or discounting that’s catered specifically to them shopping with you.
Now as a small business, it’s really complicated. You know, how do you keep track of all your customers? How can you take a look at your sales reporting and analytics? And it’s really important that even though you maybe you’re managing your business on a day to day basis, that you actually sit back and take a look at all your reports on a weekly level as well as monthly level and a seasonal basis. This will provide you with a lot of trends and insight that you might not normally have when just engaging with your customers day-to-day.
You know, one example in the study, the author was talking about doing a study on the Grand Bazaar and Istanbul and how the rug merchants are, in fact, employing different types of big data techniques to really help influence their purchasing and how they’re catering to their customer. So,
some things I would think about are, you know, how are you engaging with your customer, what types of questions can you ask them before you make your next buy? So, perhaps there is a really nice combination here between looking at your data analytics as well as having insightful customer engagement, so that you can really find the best assortment to cater to your customer season after season.
Through analyzing your customers and through keeping small databases, and perhaps using something like a ShopKeep POS or some other type of CRM
software or even a simple Excel Spreadsheet, you will be able to see trends within your businesses as well as hopefully find that your customers start to see the assortment more reflective of what they want. Because obviously your job is to become a number one expert in your customer. All right, have a great day. Bye.