I am a shopper. I always have been. As a teenager, a fun weekend for me was hours at the mall, trying on cool clothes, procuring perfume samples from the department store make-up counters, and hanging out with friends at the food court. But my love for shopping doesn’t end with clothing stores. I can spend a great amount of time just shopping for groceries. That is one reason that Emmett Cox’s new book from the Wiley and SAS Business Series, Retail Analytics: The Secret Weapon, piqued my interest.

In Retail Analytics, Emmett speaks to CEOs, CFOs, and retail managers, helping  them to improve their bottom lines by effectively using analytics in their businesses and stores. And he should know: He has spent more than thirty years in the retail industry, working for such giants as Kmart and Walmart. Throughout the book, he weaves together valuable information on, among other topics, the volatile apparel industry, in-store marketing and presentations, store operations and retail data, the importance of geography, and loyalty marketing with case studies and real-world examples from such well-known retailers as Target, Coles, Kmart, and Walmart. (Fast fact: Did you know that the little plastic sign holders that stick out at eye level from a shelf are called “wobblers”?)

If you are going to be at Analytics 2011, be sure and catch Emmett Cox’s presentation, “Retail Analytics: Untap the Power of Data,” and stop by the SAS Publishing booth to pick up a copy of the book at a 20 percent discount. But if you can’t make it to the conference, you can buy the book here. Happy shopping!