Profit Warning for Christmas Retailers
Retailers have been warned that unless they learn to properly analyse customer data, they run the risk of massively reduced profits during the Christmas period.
Big data analysts — Predictive Analytics Group say major retailers could be increasing sales by 100s of millions of dollars over the next six weeks, if they adapt available cutting edge data analysis techniques.
Predictive Analytics Group has combined advancements in mathematics (developed in-house) with state of the art technology to create a real time platform that cuts through the complexity of big data providing unique and powerful insights into the changing nature of the retail market and consumer behaviour.
“We have constructed a real-time monitoring app that allows the marketing manager in a company to walk up and down their shop aisle and see — with thanks to advanced data analytics — how demand for each product will change and what the price of each product should be,” Dr. Gazos said.
“Through loyalty card programs such as Fly Buys and Myer One as well as point of sales transactions data — retailers obtain huge amounts of information from their customers. But they are not unlocking from this data the full potential of what their customers are really telling them about what they want,” Dr. Gazos added.
Dr. Gazos went onto explain that big retailers already have large teams that analyse data, but says that in a lot of cases they are using out dated techniques that mask rather than inform how consumer preferences are changing.
According to Predictive Analytics Group by analysing the data in the right way, retailers can make the Christmas shopping experience more enjoyable for their customers.
“We know the stress Christmas shopping brings, if retailers learn to analyse data in the correct way, and respond more efficiently by pre-empting changes in consumer wants and needs, this extra stress can be minimised,” Dr Gazos said..
“Consumer preferences are changing, with the advancement in online shopping retailers need to adapt to the way they present their products and service more generally,” Dr Gazos added.
