Retail Analytics

The inside scoop on boosting sales through spot-on analytics

Retailers collect a huge amount of data, but don't know what to do with it. Retail Analytics not only provides a broad understanding of retail, but also shows how to put accumulated data to optimal use. Each chapter covers a different focus of the retail environment, from retail basics and organization structures to common retail database designs. Packed with case studies and examples, this book insightfully reveals how you can begin using your business data as a strategic advantage.

• Helps retailers and analysts to use analytics to sell more merchandise
• Provides fact-based analytic strategies that can be replicated with the same success the author achieved on a global level
• Reveals how retailers can begin using their data as a strategic advantage
• Includes examples from many retail departments illustrating successful use of data and analytics

Analytics is the wave of the future. Put your data to strategic use with the proven guidance found in Retail Analytics.

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Chapter 1 Retailing Analytics: An Introduction 1

Retailer Goodwill 2

The Inside Scoop: Retail Power Brokers 2

Retail Organization 3

Real Estate Marketing 5

Creative Advertising Marketing 6

Operations Marketing (Research) 6

Direct Marketing 7

Strategic Marketing 7

Communicating to the Retail Organization 8

Point of Sale versus Market Basket Data 9

Data Is Gold 10

Data as Revenue: The Price of Retail Data 12

Chapter 2 Retail and Data Analytics 15

Hard-Core Data Terms: Now We’re Talking about the Fun Stuff 15

Market Basket 16

Data Storage 101 17

Data without Use Is Overhead 19

Case Studies and Practical Examples of Data-Related Retail Projects 20

Trade Area Modeling 20

Real Estate Site Selection Modeling 21

Competitor Threat Analytics 22

Merchandise Mix Modeling: Combining Multiple Data Sources 23

Celebrity Marketing: Tracking Effectiveness 26

House Brand versus Name Brand 28

E-Business: Clicks and Mortar 29

Affinity Merchandising: Merchandise Cross-Sell Case Study 33

Market Basket Analysis: Examples 35

Store Departmental Cross-Selling 40

Single Category Affi nity Analysis: Paper Towels 43

Best Checkout Register Impulse Items for Christmas Season: Case Study 45

Chapter 3 The Apparel Industry 47

Many Types of Apparel Businesses 47

Retailer Building and Location, Location, Location 48

Who Is My Customer? Size Up the Opportunity and Show Me the Money! 49

Evolution of a Brand: Not Your Father’s Blue Jeans 50

Diversifi cation: Spread Risks over Multiple Businesses 51

Critical, Need-to-Know Information in Apparel Analytics 52

Seasonality: Styles Change like the Wind 52

Seasonal Counterpoint 54

Merchandise Placement and Presentation: From Racks to Riches 54

Accessories 55

Next Best Offers 55

Promotions: Lifeblood of the Apparel Business 57

Retail in General: Impulse Buying 57

Chapter 4 Importance of Geography and Demographics 59

Understanding the Tools and the Data Requirements 60

How Geographic Information Systems Work: Science behind the Tools 60

GIS Layers of Information: Building a Map, Layer by Layer 61

How Geography Fits into Retail: Location, Location, and Location! 61

Retail Geography: Data and Lots of It 61

Retail Data: Internal Data Collection 63

Retail Trade Areas: Differing Methods for Debate 63

Zip Code Data: Forecasting Application Volume by Store 66

Now That We Understand the Tool and the Data, What Do We Do? 66

Card Preference Opportunity by Zip Code: Case Study 66

Example of Sales Penetration Map 71

Market Observations: Additional Uses of the GIS Tool 72

Chapter 5 In-Store Marketing and Presentation 75

Understanding the Different Store Designs 76

Old Theories of Merchandise Placement 77

New Theories of Merchandise Placement 77

Mass Merchandisers Were Slow to Catch On: Does Convenience Translate into Sales? 78

All about Pricing 78

Everyday Low Price 79

Loyalty Discount Philosophies 82

Tiered Pricing 82

Types and Sizes: Retail Store Strategies 84

Store in a Store: Make Shopping Convenient 84

What’s in a Store: Convenience Stores to Hypermart Stores 85

Hypermarts: When Is Big Too Big? 86

Warehouse Clubs: Paying for the Privilege to Shop 87

Shopping by Design: Traffi c Patterns 88

Category Management: Science behind the Merchandise Mix 91

Merchandise Placement: Strategy behind the Placement 93

Specialty Departments: Coffee, Breakfast, and Pizza 95

Other Specialty Departments 95

Receiving Dock 97

Stocking the Counters 98

In-Store Media: Advertising or Just Displays? 99

Receipt Messages 103

In-Store Events 104

Holidays 104

Analytics: Tracking a Moving Target 104

Marketing Outside of the Store 105

Chapter 6 Store Operations and Retail Data 107

Setting Up the Store for Success: Strategic Uses of Data 107

Labor Forecasting 108

Importance of Accurate Labor Forecasting: The Cost of Doing Business 109

Consumer Differentiation at the Point of Sale Register 111

Heating and Cooling: Centralized Thermostats 112

Intrastore Communication 112

Replenishment and POS Sales: Cause and Effect 114

In-Store Career Path: Stockperson to Store Manager 115

Chapter 7 Loyalty Marketing 117

Loyalty Programs 117

Who Is the Sponsor for the Program? 122

Questions to Answer before You Begin 123

Total Program Incentive: Are You Loyal? 125

From the Consumer Finance Credit Card Retail Perspective 127

Loyalty Segments: Develop Them Early 128

Loyalty at POS: Different Stages and Levels of Loyalty 130

Kmart’s School Spirit Loyalty Program 133

Australian Loyalty 135

FlyBuys Rewards and Loyalty: Australia 136

Additional Loyalty Programs 137

The Retail World Is Changing 138

Social Media 139

Glossary 143

About the Author 157

Index 159

EMMETT COX is Senior Vice President of Consumer and Business Intelligence at BBVA Compass Bank, where he uses his retail experience in the development of strategic-based consumer programs. He has also worked for Walmart Financial Services, GE Money Global, and Kmart. He has lectured in many CRM and marketing conferences and seminars, including the Paris Loyalty Forum, Czech Republic Loyalty Management, ACNielsen Category Management, Spectra Marketing and Intelligent Targeting, Teradata NCR Partners, and others in the United States; Coolum, Australia; and Vienna, Austria.

RETAIL ANALYTICS

The Secret Weapon

Drowning in data? You're not alone. Retailers across the globe have collected a coffer of data over the years. Knowing how to analyze and mine that data to increase sales and reap bigger profits is the key to your company's success. Learn how to leverage your data to your strategic advantage like the best-in-class retail giants with the field-tested solutions and examples found in Retail Analytics.

Intended as a reference guide to help you develop a better understanding of retailers' language and analytic processes, Retail Analytics provides you with the tools you need to analyze data, manage inventory, increase sales, and anticipate trends. Based on author Emmett Cox's thirty years of retail experience at Walmart, Kmart, and GE Money Global, this comprehensive reference guide provides fact-based, field-tested analytic strategies that you can replicate in your own company, including how one retailer eliminated 20 percent of its merchandise mix and still saw a 30 percent sales gain.

Beginning with a fundamental understanding of retail terminology and concepts across a wide variety of backgrounds and experience levels, each chapter covers a different focus of the retail environment, including retail basics, the highly volatile apparel industry, the importance of geography and demographics, in-store marketing and presentations, organization structures, and common retail database designs.

Throughout the guide, Cox weaves numerous hands-on solutions, case studies, and real-world examples of data-driven projects from such leading retailers as Kmart, Coles Group Kmart Target, ASDA, Walmart, and others. You'll discover:

• The ABCs of retail: Know your SKUs, UPCs, EANs, JITs, POSs, and UCCs
• Why data without use is just overhead
• Celebrity marketing: how to monitor incremental increases in quantity and sales of each "celebrity" item
• Critical need-to-know information in apparel analytics
• Product placement: why diapers and chewing gum go well together
• Geography's role in retail
• Strategies for in-store marketing and presentation
• How traffic patterns have evolved over the years to suit customers' time restrictions
• Tips for setting up your store for success
• How to develop loyalty programs early on
• Consumer finance credit card retail perspective
• How Kmart developed the School Spirit loyalty program

Don't leave the fate of your business's success to chance. Discover how to apply the science of analytics to maximize results with the help of Retail Analytics.