Guesswork may have its place in some businesses, but retail isn’t one of them. Smart retailers understand that remaining competitive means leveraging data that provides shopper insights, rather than hearsay or off-the-cuff predictions, to identify retail trends and plan accordingly. Follow these steps to put your finger on the pulse of the hottest retail trends for 2018.
1. Review sales campaigns from 2017 and analyze the customer demographics connected with them.
- Gather sales data. Take a deep dive into the data from your point of sale (POS) system. For each sales campaign, determine which items your customers purchased, in what quantity and at which price.
- Review consumer data. You will gain valuable shopper insights by matching sales data to customers’ ZIP codes, gender, occupations, education, and household income. This will help you learn more about various demographics in your customer base.
- Review past customer behavior to identify future customer behavior. Consider who responded to each campaign. For instance, did the campaign skew to single men aged 18 to 25? Or, did the highest rate of response come from women aged 30 to 40? Also look at when particular consumers were most likely to make a purchase — which season, what day of the week, and at what time of day?
All of these shopper insights will give you a better picture of the trends that will impact how you target your campaigns in the coming year.
2. Segment your customer list and rate groups accordingly.
- Assess, based on the previous year’s data, which customers were most apt to make a purchase. For example, were the bulk of your sales made to consumers in the 30- to 40-year-old age bracket? Were they male or female?
- Identify what these consumers bought. For instance, suppose you own an apparel store and are looking for some shopper insights on that front. Did customers in the group you identified above primarily buy knit tops or polyester tops? Or did they purchase dresses? What kind?
- Pinpoint the channels through which customers made their purchases. Are most customers making the majority of their purchases in- store or on your website? Alternatively, does it appear that a larger number of your customers use both channels (instead of just one or the other) to make their purchases?
- Which marketing vehicles are most effective with your particular customer base? Do most customers respond to emails? Direct mail? Social media marketing initiatives?
3. Identify trends for the coming year in light of shopper insights.
By using predictive analysis, you’ll be able to figure out what sorts of campaigns will prove most effective for your business in 2018. Remember:
- Consider successful and unsuccessful campaigns. Only by identifying both types of campaigns can you determine which ones will garner the highest responses and who the responders will be. Ditto for which campaigns will be most profitable.
- Plan campaigns strategically. Plan all campaigns around the data, demographics, times, and trends you identified for the previous year. Target the right items, through the right channels, at the right time.
Today’s consumers want what they want, when and how they want it. With data that provides shopper insights you will be able to identify retail trends that will help you be far more likely to give customers what they want — and far more likely to have business success going forward.
