Here’s why it’s essential for retailers to optimize the data they already have.
By Jess Minton, Slalom Principal
In 59 BC the Romans published the Acta Diurna, or “Daily Public Record,” AKA the first newspaper. It shared news of military victories, public gatherings, and other events. The Romans knew the power of information and getting it into the right hands.
Two millennia later, getting the right information into the right hands at the right time is still an issue. Not because we lack information—we have more pure data than our ancient forebears could have imagined. But given the speed of modern business, the window to take advantage of it is smaller than ever. Untimely information is like getting your copy of today’s Acta Diurna next week. This challenge is keenly felt in retail, which experienced sustained and direct harm in 2020. Brick and mortar stores shut down as customers flocked to the internet in greater numbers than ever. Some retailers saw entire sectors evaporate. But others grew. Outdoor gear and fitness retailers like REI, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Peloton reported surging sales. And some retailers were able to deftly pivot to online. Abercrombie & Fitch reported a 43% increase in sales, with almost half of all their sales made online. Others were not, many of them suffering from a lack of visibility into their supply chain, reducing their ability to process online sales.
Supply chain management requires synthesizing data feeds from multiple sources—vendors, manufacturers, distributors, and internal product teams. But your speed to market is determined not only by access to that data, but also by your ability to synthesize and get insights from it. And your ability to confidently make predictions based on it. How can you not only react to what’s already happened, but also be proactive and anticipate what’s about to happen? To do all that and more, you need a better handle on your data. Retailers often use data from Salesforce, visualized in Tableau, as a first stop for supply chain data insight. While integrating data into Salesforce is easier than ever, it does still require effort and process updates. And shifting from reactionary data analytics to more automated predictive insights (think Machine Learning) usually requires data that doesn’t properly reside in Salesforce. Bringing in data sets in addition to your core operational data—especially when you leverage a flexible platform like Snowflake—gives you the full context of all your business operations, and a more holistic view than you can get from data sets isolated for individual analysis.
This integration has become far less daunting than it used to be. Adding data to a Snowflake environment is simple, even if the data isn’t formatted for Salesforce. And since this platform is built for querying big data, the large volumes of data necessary to answer your most complex questions aren’t a bottleneck. An REI general manager recently told the Washington Post that demand for equipment that can be used outside and close to home was “off the charts” in January 2021, citing specifically a sixfold increase in fire pit sales. What if sales weren’t actually “off the charts”? Imagine that these charts updated frequently with data from Snowflake that encompassed supply chain data, data from Salesforce, along with sales and market data. Imagine a flexible, efficient, and intuitive interface that lets your business continuously absorb insights from data, and that you can easily pinpoint what sectors are growing in real time. You don’t need to imagine. With the right combination of predictive analytics and supply chain information, there’s no reason to be caught in “off the charts” territory anymore. You can avail yourself of insights to drive supply chain decisions and meet future demand. You can move directly from insights to engagement and sales activation, leveraging the data in Salesforce with Campaigns and Social Studio. You can save precious resources—from marketing dollars to analysts’ time—while bringing top-selling products to market quickly.
This might sound like additional technology spend, one that comes with risk to a traditional retail brand with an established way of doing business. But it’s actually an opportunity to optimize the tech investments you’ve already made. Stepping up to a more comprehensive analytics strategy lets you to go further with less, and to differentiate yourself from your competition. Incremental improvements to your technology, rather than a total overhaul, can yield a return that’s far beyond incremental. And since retailers are focused on efficiencies (also known as “saving money”), the most strategic brands will invest a little more to enhance their decision-making and responsiveness to trends. These brands will be first to market, the least surprised by changing circumstances, and the most differentiated from their competitors.
Whether it’s this season’s virtual runway collection, a new way to sell and deliver products, retaining your top talent, or introducing new tech platforms, the ability to optimize existing resources isn’t just a best practice, it’s a means of survival. The retail landscape in the last year has changed, probably forever. Take the time to reflect on your readiness for this new normal. You don’t want to be one of the brands that leave up to 73% of data unanalyzed and as useless as an unread copy of Acta Diurna. If you’re ready for a conversation about your future—and the strategic tools our team can bring to help you transform your operations and get you back to thriving and growing—let’s talk.
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