Upon collection of the data you now have on your entire customer base, the next course of action is to predict their next purchase before they even know what it is themselves. Analyzing shopper behavior tells retailers the exact reasons why a shopper decides to purchase a particular product or service from them. This behavioral information could include when, how, what time, why a product was purchased and by whom. If you have the proper tools and understand how to review shopper behavior, you can use that data to create a sales cycle that drives in constant revenue and increases your business bottom line.
The whole point of data use in retail is to gain new customers and gain the loyalty and trust of those that already shop with you. One way to do that is by understanding their behavior. Once you know the patterns of your customers’ behavior, you can begin to visualize what they want or need in the future and meet their expectations beforehand, not to mention meeting predetermined company benchmarks or exceeding your own company goals sooner than expected with realistic margins.
A proper behavior analysis tool will help you build comprehensive, behavior profiles on each of your customers automatically. Top-of-the-line data software should be able to create behavior trend reports, in real-time, at the beginning and conclusion of each purchase. This should give you a prediction of a trend or pattern around a particular event or place in time that your customers buy certain items. The ability to see these trends ahead of time could help you increase your revenue sales between 10 to 20 percent each year.
How is that possible, you might ask? Once a retailer is in the habit of reviewing shopper data on a consistent basis, he can then forecast upcoming trends and develop new promotions and sales pitches of what customers want ahead of time instead of scrambling around last minute for generic messaging. A rushed or ill-prepared sales or advertising strategy is not as effective, is costly and allows more room for error. Review of trends can help with preparedness when the pattern shows up again in terms of displays, product stock and labor. When data is analyzed correctly and timely, management can account for all these tasks, and adjust product pricing more readily and easily during specific events or holidays without bleeding their budgets dry due to inadequacy or not being prepared.
The more behaviors you know about your customer, the more effective your strategies and business plans will be. Retailers that take shopper behavior seriously enhance consumer experience, strengthen brand presence, collect even more useful data and develop insights that will continue to have a positive effect on outcomes and sales.
It is up to the retailer to understand who the customers are, how to best address their expectations and how to create personal relationships with them strictly through data.Not sure how to make use of all your customer data?
Let RSA help you learn more about your shoppers’ behavior and how it can benefit your business now. Contact us to get started.
