Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2015 - 37

Culture

If business users don't work
with the data collected, if they
don't see the value and apply their
specialized skill to drive insight,
then analytics is a waste of time,
money and data. Retailers must create a culture
in which using data in an analytical context is
exciting and rewarding. Once citizen data scientists understand the power they have in their
hands to drive business outcomes-revenue,
supply chain efficiency, more effective marketing and merchandising-they'll become more
engaged in their roles because they will be producing results.
Process

Shawn Smith, retail solutions specialist, SAS Canada.

Workflow isn't exciting for everyone, but
it's a foundation that allows the other four pillars to produce results. Data must be collected
cleanly and be accessible for users. Data scientists must determine how unstructured data is
dealt with. Citizen data scientists must have clear protocols so
they can unleash their subject matter expertise.

Supply chain management

Just like it can help deliver marketing offers, data can also help
make sure the right product is in
the right store at the right time.
SCM is an established discipline,
being a long-time partner in the enterprise resource
management scheme.

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THIS DATA?

Analytics can help support those gut-level decisions and
drive the process into the 21st Century. For example:
Affinity

It's always been a merchandising and marketing preoccupation. What products go together,
whether on a shop floor or in an online shopping
basket? Many instinctive connections are confirmed by a recent MBA study of affinity in grocery stores: bacon and eggs; pancakes and syrup; pasta sauce
and, well, pasta. But would you have thought of dog food and
household cleaning products (dogs are messy, after all)? Peanut butter and yogurt? Prepared salads and rotisserie style
chicken? Precooked dinners and granola? There are strong affinity patterns between these purchases that can help guide
decisions about placement in a store or cross-marketing promotions (get 50 per cent off carpet cleaner with your purchase
of kibble-please!).

Marketing

In conjunction with loyalty program data, analytics can create a profile of purchasing patterns
of repeat customers. Combined with mobile
technology like beaconing and smartphones,
this can lead to the Holy Grail of marketing: the
ability to give a customer the right offer, at the right time, in
the right place. In the future, sophisticated retailers will be
able to change the shelf price of items dynamically.

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Loss prevention

A huge bottom-line factor for
retailers, loss prevention-from
third-party theft, fraud and shrinkage-can make a large difference.
Analytics can help loss prevention
managers isolate the sources of such abnormalities
and design changes in process to reduce losses.
SCRATCHING THE SURFACE

Retailers are among the leaders in the application of the science of data. But we're only scratching the surface of the possibilities that analytics
offers. From the shop floor to the back office to the
warehouse, the aforementioned are analytical applications that can improve your company's competitive position in a retail world that's becoming
more competitive every day.

Shawn Smith, senior solutions specialist, SAS Canada retail practice. He is currently responsible for
helping clients gain value from current and future
investments in analytic retail technologies. Shawn
has extensive knowledge and expertise in retail
analytics, and in devising and executing strategies
to better understand shopper behaviour and omnichannel evolution. For more information concerning SAS and its solutions, visit www.sas.com.

HOLIDAY 2015 | CANADIAN RETAILER

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