Guardforce Post

In our previous post What is Video Analytics?, we took an in-depth look at how video analytics works and the various ways it can be employed, in particular to enhance security. Today, we will delve into what is retail analytics and why retailers should understand the importance of data analytics and why they should really be embracing the technology as a powerful business tool.

Why is retail analytics so important?

Retail analytics is software aimed at providing physical retail outlets with a comparable wealth of information and business management tools that an online shop would have.

E-commerce companies have long enjoyed a broad array of data at their fingertips, such as buying habits and how long someone spends on a particular page. Before the emergence of big data analytics in retail, these kinds of insights were difficult to obtain for offline shops and were often based on best guess or through a long, manual analysis of past data.

Retail analytics software provides brick-and-mortar shops with a more effective way to manage inventory and the supply chain, as well as identify customer trends, demographics and behaviour. Using predictive analysis, future buying habits and demand can be better anticipated, allowing procurement, staffing and marketing decisions to be more strategic and tailored to what is really happening in-store. With a more presonalised, customer-centric service, retailers can coax shoppers off their computers and into their stores.

Similar to video analytics, retail analytics solutions are used in combination with an existing CCTV infrastructure. This forms an effective yet non-intrusive in-store tool for retailers to gain even more insights, including:

• People counting and demographic information
• Pathmaps
• Identification of in-store hot spots or areas with low activity
• Assessment of which products are the most/least popular
• Comparisons of product interactions between multiple displays
• Measurement of the effects of in-store design changes
• Queue management

Through advances in the Internet of Things and cloud technology, all this data can be instantly accessed anywhere, anytime through the Internet and enables real-time comparisons between multiple stores.

The collection of all this big data is only one aspect of a retail analytics solution, the data must also be shown in a way that humans can comprehend and act on. As such, the software will present the information in detailed yet easy-to-read infographics and reports.

Overall, retail analytics allows merchants to remove the guesswork from their business decisions and take a smarter, fact-based approach. The software is quick and easy to install and has very low running costs, making it a very cost-effective solution with a high return on investment.

So, that is the answer to what is retail analytics. If more and more retailers utilise the technology, it may just be the knight in shining armour to save the high street from the online shopping threat.

Learn more about Guardforce’s Retail Analytics Solution

To learn more about Guardforce Hong Kong’s Retail Analytics Solution, see our post on Retail Analytics Solutions – Giving Retailers a Deeper Understanding of Their Customers and Market and download the product information leaflet here.

Guardforce also assists retailers run their businesses more effectively in many other ways, one of which is the Smart Cash Deposit Machine – learn all about it in our post on How Cash Deposit Machines Can Benefit Retailers.