Hyperlocal Retail ROI: Identifying Low-Hanging Business Objectives

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aisleNew indoor location technologies are generating valuable new datasets for brick-and-mortar retailers. Stores remain the top revenue generators in retail, but in order to stay competitive it is critical for brink-and-mortar retailers to measure and leverage shopper behavior data. Understanding where, when, and why consumers visit a location is invaluable data when it comes to driving sales and improving customer experience. Identifying the most valuable metrics amongst the vast data that can be generated with indoor analytics is often an overlooked, but critical first step in implementing these solutions. There are a few important tips to consider when identifying which data will actually drive results. These include:

The low-hanging metrics

Staffing to Shopper Dwell Time by Department
Shopper dwell shifts by department and by shopper volume. Aligning staff-to-shopper ratios throughout the store, in every department, is valuable for optimizing service levels, improving conversion rates, and enhancing customer experience. Labor is the largest investment for retailers, but allocating resources more effectively also benefits consumers.

Cross Shopping
Measuring where shoppers go within the store provides insight into how shoppers utilize the store. Department affinities measured through shopper behavior give retailers insights to improve store layouts for more efficient stopping experiences and cross-promotional activities.

Shopper Volume by Department
Measuring shopper volume by department clarifies the density of shoppers and provides a data-driven evaluation of both sales figures and transactions.  Whether sales or transactions numbers are high or low, understanding shopper volume gives context to performance and identifies opportunities to take actions that drive revenue.

Merchandising
Identifying in-store customer navigation is an essential tool for improving merchandising layouts. Knowing how shoppers journey across a store helps retailers position in-demand merchandise at key junctures. Similarly, underperforming products can be relocated and tested to measure effectiveness in new locations.

Marketing
Precise location technologies enable retailers to tie in-store shopper behaviors to specific marketing campaigns. Determining campaign success with shopper visits and sales helps retailers quantify and evaluate marketing investments.

Make a wish list of what you want to know about consumer behavior in your store
What are the business challenges you hope to address, and the objectives you hope to achieve; do you need to reduce the amount of time shoppers spend in line, identify highest performing departments in your chain and optimize staffing to fit customer needs, or measure the impact of your circular advertising?  Location data enables retailers to harvest insights to support objectives across every part of the organization and business lines The retail lines of business that initially benefit from indoor analytics include marketing, operations, merchandising, customer experience and consumer research. However, other areas of the organization also find value in leveraging data gained from indoor solutions, such mobile for location-based messaging, loyalty for enhanced shopper profiles and reward programs, and omni-channel teams who are tasked to blend ecommerce and brink-and-mortar objectives.

Get in the game
Technology is moving very quickly in the retail space today. Companies that sit on the sidelines run the risk of being surpassed by competitors who are utilizing new technologies and applying new insights. Taking action means implementing indoor analytics solutions to drive business results. It is critical that retailers learn to incorporate these new data sets into the business intelligence information they currently use. As the consumer behavior analytics resonate across the organization, they will not only enhance current information sources, but replace outdated ones.

No silver bullet solution
There is no silver bullet. Aligning business goals to what is technically possible is part of the learning curve in evaluating technology solutions.  This is an iterative process. It is most important to prioritize the top business goals of the company, then implement most essential supplemental goals, all while, keeping the “nice to have” goals on the list.

How each channel performs contributes to overall brand success, engagement and revenue generation. Identifying valuable indoor location metrics, and using them to drive performance, gives brick-and-mortar retailers a critical competitive edge.

Anne Marie StephenAnne Marie Stephen is VP of Retail Sales and Customer Development at Iinside.

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