Did you know that the business intelligence (BI) industry is now valued at about 30.9 billion? It means that the retail analytics and business intelligence market is expanding and is guaranteed to grow even more. There is no better time to implement retail analytics and business intelligence in your business than now.
In this article, we have compiled a list of how using retail industry, and business analytics can improve your business speedily. You might also be interested in checking the uses of business intelligence in the retail industry article at EPAM Anywhere Business.
One of the benefits of business analytics and business intelligence solutions in the retail sector is the historical views it gives of the business. In addition, it also gives insight into the present and futuristic analytics of the business. RetailTouchpoints reports that over 68% of retailers are collecting an enormous amount of data but still fail to maximize revenue since they are not using proper BI tools for analysis.
Let us take a closer look into some of the advantages of bi in the retail industry:
1. To Fulfill the Changing Needs of Customers
When you start a retail business, one of the things you need is the ability for you to meet the changing needs of your customers. Whether they ask for bulk purchases or socially responsible products, it is essential that all their needs are satisfied. When you employ effective retail bi analytics, you will gain insight into your customer demand map changes. When you have the insight, you can adjust your strategy. Some of the problems that bi applications in the retail industry solve include:
- Aiding supply to meet demand: You can see demand patterns peculiar to your customers when you have access to the right tools and data. Also, if you have a chain of stores, you can know what your customers demand across your stores. Moreover, you can learn when the demand is at a peak, during the holiday season, for example.
- Create personal experiences for in-store customers: With the correct Bi data, your staff can help your sales staff to understand the history of your customers’ purchases. This way, you can know their purchase history, select products, and run targeted promotions.
2. Knowing Emerging Trends
Bi retail management can help you know about emerging trends amongst your customers. It can also help you overcome obstacles your business will face in adjusting to trends. Even though many customers now shop in online stores, about 65 percent of people still prefer to shop at brick-and-mortar stores. So, it is important to use business intelligence analytics to identify how your customers react to new trends.
3. Better Decision Making
One of the benefits of business intelligence in the retail industry is the ability it gives its users to make better decisions. Using business intelligence, a brand can look through different data and aggregate them to see a better picture of their organizational operations. It would help you have a consolidated view of your organization and help you make better-informed decisions.
Also, applying business intelligence in retail will help you know where to deploy your resources. With Bi, you can reduce your customers’ wait time and provide the best prices. Furthermore, you can use the analysis to know how much time your customers spend on your online platforms and where in your store they spend more time. Using Bi tools, you can see what products are moving slowly and identify the products that aren’t getting enough attention from your customers.
4. Better Customer Satisfaction
One of the first rules of retail is “the customer is always right.” But, imagine if you could know the desires of your customers beforehand and work to exceed them. A good business intelligence analytics can help you achieve this quickly. We all know that customers’ needs constantly evolve as new trends emerge daily. It makes it difficult for retailers to keep up with the needs of their customers.
The insights from business intelligence allow you to tailor your customer’s shopping experience in a deeply satisfying way. When you improve your customers’ experiences using business intelligence, you can improve the rate at which you retain customers. It can also help you to build customer loyalty which means more revenue in the long run.
Final Thoughts
What better way to stay ahead in your business than having information that predicts the future? If you had a way to tell what your customers will do the next time they walk into your store, won’t you take it? With retail analytics and business intelligence, you can predict the shopping patterns of your customers and tailor their shopping experiences to improve retention and revenue.