How does Santa keep track of everything on his big night? I can't confirm or deny that he uses SAS software -- but if he does, it would look a lot like this! ... A couple of years ago, I blogged about a prototype dashboard that I wrote for Santa. This
Everybody cares about the holiday shopping season. For retailers, it can account for as much as 30% of annual sales according to the National Retail Federation ("NRF"). For many individuals, it can be the best time to score great deals on presents for loved ones. For the overall economy, the impact of the
Few of us can have missed the scenes of frantic shoppers searching for that ultimate bargain on Black Friday. This is something fairly new in the UK, having originated in the United States to refer to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day. Legend has it that ‘black’ refers to the first day of the
You’re a retailer, it’s the holidays, data is flooding in from all points (if you’re lucky), and the last thing you want to hear from the higher-ups is that you need to “modernize.” And what do they actually mean when they say modernize anyway? Well, modernizing doesn’t have to mean scrapping
The idea of "management by walking around" has been around for a while. First brought to prominence in Tom Peters and Robert Waterman’s best-seller In Search of Excellence, the concept is that managers get out of their offices and meet employees in their work areas to get a sense of how
El mundo digital está conformado por datos, que alimentan su ecosistema y abre un campo más de investigación para las empresas. Actualmente no sólo se analiza el comportamiento de los consumidores en las tiendas o a través de estudios de mercado, sondeos, encuestas persona a persona, también se analiza el
The holidays are sometimes chaotic, especially for those tasked with analyzing consumer shopping data! I would like to share a few tips on adding order to your chaotic data. SAS recently published an interesting article, sharing the results from a consumer survey. The infographics in the article showed high-level summary information, such as:
2014 was a rude wakeup call for retailers: In January, Target announced an additional 70 million individuals’ contact information was taken during the December 2013 breach. In September, Home Depot announced that cyber criminals had compromised the credit card information of roughly 56 million shoppers. Neiman Marcus, Kmart, AT&T, Michaels
‘Tis the day before T-Day and all through the mall The shoppers are waiting for prices to fall. The signs they are printed and ready to hang In hopes that “Black Thursday” will start with a bang. The family has traveled and all gathered here To spend time with grandma
I love Christmas, but there is one thing I never seem to get right: the office Secret Santa. Every year I draw someone I’ve barely met and fruitlessly dig around for clues – only to find myself hastily wrapping a scented candle/novelty mug at the eleventh hour. Merry Christmas Sandra
Una de las mayores tendencias en el segmento de las empresas en crecimiento durante el año pasado estuvo enfocada en la estandarización de los procesos de back-office, principalmente impulsados por una búsqueda de reducción de costos y mayor eficiencia en la organización. Sin embargo, hoy más que nunca cubrir la
With Amazon Prime's 2-day shipping, I seldom go to physical stores any more. How do they deliver items so quickly? Let's analyze some data to find out... There are very few services/memberships that I truly feel like I'm getting "a good deal" for my money - and Amazon Prime is
Do you order things online, to avoid paying sales tax? Those "good old days" might be coming to an end soon... Here's a snapshot of my latest purchase from Amazon.com (a little something for the Talk Like a Pirate party I had on Sept 19): In the US, each of
Would you build a house without a proper foundation? Most of us wouldn’t dare, but that’s exactly what many retail businesses are doing today. When building a house, if you don’t get the foundation right, paint, wallpaper and fixtures won’t matter much. It’s no different in the retail industry. Success
Las empresas de ventas minoristas han encontrado un nuevo mercado en las redes sociales, de acuerdo al estudio de "Social Media Intelligence" realizado por Adobe, donde se identifica que los ingresos por visita en el último trimestre de 2013 por Tumblr, Pinterest y Twitter aumentaron en más de 100 por
Imagine that you’re a large retail firm, in need of projecting sales for the next few months. With the right analytical solution, it can literally take just seconds to have a forecast in place. You drag and drop some variables and can figure out exactly which ones are underlying factors
At the online “flash sale” retailer Gilt, success comes from breaking through the clutter, and from ensuring that their offers matter in the grand scheme of their customers' lives. And with more than 8 million "members" (potential customers), they've managed to create a culture where customers are the company’s biggest advocates and evangelists. So how
Sin datos no hay experiencia del cliente, sin calidad de datos no hay lealtad verdadera, y sin integración de datos no hay esperanza de una experiencia omnicanal. Y es a través de esta experiencia, que las empresas buscan conectarse con el cliente y crear una estrategia personalizada que cubra sus
What insights can be gained from the massive amounts of data that allow us to make decisions that deliver the best results? Data vs. information is an ongoing battle. Many people look for more data to make confident decisions. However, what most people seek is insight. Retailers always have tracked
Según datos de la Asociación Mexicana de Internet A.C. (AMIPCI), la mitad de los usuarios de Internet en México se conectan a la red a través de dispositivos móviles y se espera que para el 2015, las aplicaciones móviles (Apps) superen a las de escritorio no sólo en el país
“Within ten to fifteen years, the typical US mall, unless it is completely reinvented, will be a historical anachronism—a sixty-year aberration that no longer meets the publics’ needs, the retailers’ needs, or the community’s needs.” So proclaimed Rick Caruso, founder and CEO of Caruso Affiliated, a retail/commercial real estate development
Are retailers suffering a skills shortage when it comes to analytics? Nikki Baird from Retail Systems Research (RSR Group) offers some intriguing observations about the critical analytical talent shortage facing the retail industry in a recent article, “Where Have All the Data Scientists Gone? SAS Analyst Day Report Out.” Her observations
“Truth be told, I wouldn’t mind seeing our loyalty card program go away, but we’re not there yet.” - A retail CEO I invite you to put on your consumer cap for a minute and answer these questions: How many loyalty cards do you have and how many of those
Ofrecer productos de calidad a un bajo costo ya no es una estrategia para posicionarse en el mercado. Diferenciarse de la competencia obliga a los empresarios a implementar nuevos modelos cuyo eje principal sean los consumidores, y basarse en una estrategia de Customer Experience es el mejor camino. El Customer
If the latest raft of retail trading updates are anything to go on, it’s pretty clear who the winners were this Christmas: the consumers. A period of heavy discounting – aimed at bolstering weak sales and protecting elusive customer loyalty – was good news for cash-conscious customers, but left many
I’m not a coupon junkie. In fact, I feel like a coupon victim. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t get an avalanche of offers from: Email. Snail mail (in catalogs, flyers, coupon books, etc.). In-store flyers. Mobile apps. Store checkout. The vast majority get tossed in my garbage
The No. 1 retail trend for 2014 will be innovation powered by advanced analytics. Why? Because retailers with the ability to surface and validate new ideas from customer data will be able to test new ideas faster, launch them faster in stores, and roll out profitable programs faster. Transformation today
Gilt is an online retailer based in the United States, founded in 2007 and is best known for flash sales - only available to members for 36-48 hours. It's all about giving its members the inside scoop to snag something cool and sought after, and then adding the thrill of
Blockbuster recently announced it‘s throwing in the towel and closing its remaining 300 stores in early 2014. My how times change! Blockbuster, bought by Dish Network in 2011, was an integral and intimate part of our lives for years. Teens gathered at the neighborhood Blockbuster to rent movies and hang
In the days before the Internet, I’d pull a promotional flyer or catalog from one of my favorite retailers out of my mailbox or newspaper like an excited kid hoping it contained something I coveted. And at price so amazingly low that I’d feel no guilt in buying it. More
