Canadian Retailer - Fall 2013 - 17

Make big data local

At a recent Retail Council of Canada breakfast seminar that explored omnichannel and
the path to purchase of today's consumer, there
was a lot of discussion about another buzz
phrase: Big Data. Thanks to data collected instore by point-of-sale (POS) systems via loyalty and credit cards, and online via consumer
Web browsing habits, there is an overload of
information available to retailers. We all have
it, but what do we do with it? Who owns this
data and how do you successfully sift through
these reports to pull out the useful nuggets?
Joel says most retailers need to get a handle
on their small data first. "Many retailers are
confusing Big Data with lots of data," he says.
If your systems are currently not talking to one
another, you are not even grasping the rich knowledge about your customers that is contained in
this data. "Harness the databases you have first
and start with the basics," Joel advises.
Danahy says retailers need to make Big Data
local. Looked at in isolation, all this data does
not really mean anything, but when you localize this data and make it relevant to individual stores and store managers, that's when the
magic happens.
"Making Big Data local means action and
it's the quickest win for retailers," Danahy explains. "No one in head office can service a
customer. Take that analogy to govern everything you do whether it is e-commerce, mobile
or bricks-and-mortar.
"Even though retailers are collecting data in
real-time and downloading data from the POS
systems at night, they frequently don't parse

these key decision-making criteria from Johnny's machine and
send it back to the individual store manager so they can make
those technical decisions day-by-day," he adds.
How can retail executives in head offices successfully distill
this data to make it relevant and useful to the local store manager? One way, Danahy says, is by using exception reports.
"Use these reports to focus on four or five key factors that a
manager can read through without having to sift through a huge
report," he explains. "For example, I'm at the maximum or the minimum of a key performance indicator that will affect what I buy,
how I price, how I staff, when I open, when I close, when I order,
when I reorder, or when I cut prices. Those are the drivers of retail."
Empower your employees

After making Big Data local, retail executives can then empower their store managers. Give them the responsibility and
ability to make decisions, take small risks, and tailor their product assortments. As a member of their community, they know
what their customers want.
"A simple example is you look out the window in the morning
and determine whether it is too cold or too rainy and windy to
put flowers or fruit outside the store," Danahy comments. "Allow the local shopkeeper to make these types of decisions. Each
location will have factors that don't look like the summary report or consolidated chain-wide performance indicators."
Out on main-street

While e-commerce grows and digital continues to revolutionize retail, bricks-and-mortar is still king. Traditional stores remain relevant, but in this omnichannel world retailers will benefit from reassessing what their bricks-and-mortar outlets look like
and the function that they serve. The store size and the product
assortment of each location-even within a large city-may differ. Using Big Data, retailers can localize a customers' experience
and give them what they want, when they want it. Many grocery
retailers have accomplished this by creating express outlets that

SHOPIFY HELPS SMALL CLOTHING RETAILER GET ONLINE
Small independent retailers have
enough to do without worrying about
the omnichannel experience. Or do
they? The reality is that, just like any
other retailer, entrepreneurs can't
ignore the digital revolution.
Paul Simmonds, President/Owner of
Robert Simmonds Clothing-a men's
and women's store with less than 10
employees, located in downtown
Fredericton, NB, agrees. The independent clothier is embracing
omnichannel, rather than burying his
head in the sand.
"We see new opportunities to reach
consumers in a number of different
facets in this 24-7 retail world," Simmonds says. "We have a point person
that makes sure our message is

consistent throughout all the different
media and we use each medium for
specific messages."
When it comes to the e-commerce
channel, the clothing store recently partnered with Shopify (www.shopify.ca).
Simmonds says this software solution
is user-friendly and seamlessly integrates with their existing website.
"For a nominal fee, it quickly puts any independent into the online selling game,"
he says. "It's already paid dividends."
Simmonds sees the e-commerce channel that Shopify helped to facilitate as
just one more way to grow his business.
"Online is very small right now, probably less than five per cent of our
revenues, but it's certainly a grow-

ing component in the industry," he
concludes. "You need to embrace new
technologies and find creative ways
to reach your customers. There is a
balance between bricks and clicks that
everybody is trying to find."

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Canadian Retailer - Fall 2013

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