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
SAS has been used to track the spread of many things, such as wild animals, tornadoes, and money launderers -- but this time I'm using it to track the spread of Walmart stores across the U.S. over time! Since its start in the 1960s, Walmart has grown to be the largest
In a retail market where new customers are thin on the ground, keeping hold of existing ones becomes even more important for powering growth. But how do retailers and consumers view customer loyalty? And what is the most effective way to use the now ubiquitous loyalty card? Asking the right
My headlines for Honduras were not like the frightening ones that we often see in the news. My headlines include the beauty of the people I met, the children I grew to know, and the country I experienced. I went to Honduras with a group from Cincinnati, Ohio to spend
I recently read an interesting article in The Economist, where they describe "The Big Mac index." This is an index they invented as a lighthearted guide to compare currencies in different countries. In their article they create a multi-panel display (similar to a dashboard) where they compare the index for several countries using
Amazon, Apple, eBay, Facebook and Google – known as the Tech Titans to some – continue to set the agenda with their continuous stream of mobile business initiatives. In fact, consumers embrace and, in some cases, expect many of the same mobility resources they’ve experienced through the Titans from the
One of the amazing things I’m finding about the National Retail Federation’s “BIG Show” is the incredible amount of experience and knowledge walking the halls. There are 10-, 20- and 30-year veterans of the retail world everywhere you turn. Two of those professionals – Office Depot’s Alan Adams and Kerem
It's easy to see how a newcomer to "Retail's BIG Show" could be a bit overwhelmed. The booths are big, attendance is booming and there are "hot and new" solutions everywhere you turn. But as I've walked the halls and looked at what's being promoted, I've noticed a few trends
Standing in Times Square in January usually means experiencing blistering cold and blustery winds. But this year, I sense there’s a change…it’s almost balmy! The retail industry is seeing a similar change with a shift in customer behavior, online retailers putting pressure on brick-and-mortar retailers and the rise of mobile.
It's remarkable how the women my life really like shopping at the different Chico's FAS stores. I think a big reason is that somehow they manage to deliver a boutique experience for every customer at all their stores. That's not an easy feat when you run over 1,000 stores nationwide under 4 different brands: Chico's, White
According to a recent article from Forbes, the three hottest trends in retail for 2013 are: Mobile -- 93 percent of mobile developers anticipate that it is “likely to very likely” that most retail companies will have enabled mobile commerce in 2013, and 2/3 of developers believe that consumers will
'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the world ... dot-matrix printers were humming as Santa's naughty/nice list was unfurled... Can you imagine what it must have been like years ago when Santa had to maintain his naughty/nice list by hand, with a feather quill pen?!? Or even these
We all know the holiday shopping season is paramount to a retailer’s annual results. As we enter the 2012 holiday shopping season, customers’ expectations of retailers have never been higher. One thing that can plague retailers, especially during the hectic holiday season, is out-of-stocks. Whether you are a fashion retailer
Recent SAS-sponsored research by the Economist Intelligence Unit surveyed large enterprises on a number of questions about "big data" and its value. The most prominent finding was that companies with a strategic data plan were much more likely to be financially successful than those who treat data as a tactical
We're working on a project with a retail industry thought leadership organization called Retail Systems Research (RSR for short). My colleague, Wilson Raj, is working with RSR Managing Partner Nikki Baird to explore how data-driven customer centricity holds the key to successful omni-channel retailing. Omni-channel retailing is a concept that applies
Thanks to Illumino, the citizens of Datapolis are still able to get their medicine and Frackture is being kept at bay; however we both have our hands full and a new crisis is on the horizon. Our data scientists and engineers have informed me that a new evil force is
I had a chance to attend a moderated panel discussion at the last SAS Global Forum Executive Conference with executives from Best Buy, Seminole Gaming and Office Depot, and each speaker offered their own unique story about how applied customer analytics makes a difference in marketing. I captured some key points in previous
Alan Adams, Senior Director of Customer Analytics at Office Depot, took part in a great panel discussion on integrated marketing management at the 2012 SAS Global Forum Executive Conference along with his colleagues from Seminole Gaming and Best Buy. The session included a short presentation by each panelist, followed by
Retail is one of the most time-sensitive industries. Find out how mega-chain Family Dollar Stores Inc., which operates more than 7,400 stores in 45 states, relies on high-performance analytics to shrink data processing windows from days to less than an hour and speed decision making. Scott Zucker, Vice President of
Macy's Inc. is one of the nation’s largest and most well-known retailers, with a loyal base of customers who shop at its stores and online. The company’s e-commerce division, Macys.com, is relying on big data and high-performance analytics software from SAS to better understand its customers and help increase overall
How can big data coupled with high-performance analytics (HPA) help retail companies tailor their offerings in a way that is beneficial to both the company’s bottom line – and the consumer? Eric Williams, recently retired Chief Information Officer at Catalina Marketing, explains in this interview. Alison Bolen: How do you define
In the last week, I have interviewed four retail executives about their predictions for big data and high-performance analytics in the retail industry. I hope to publish their thoughts here in the next few weeks, but in the meantime, here are six concrete benefits that big data can bring to retailers, if
