Although in-person shopping has recovered well from the pandemic, many customers feel frustrated with the experience of visiting brick-and-mortar stores.

Unified retail analytics solutions, which combine in-store technology with integrated software and advanced algorithms, can help your store learn more about your customers’ common pain points and desires so you can better cater to them. 

When your customers are freer than ever to abandon your business for a competitor, you need a solution that can help you make your store the best place to shop. Using data analytics for retail operations is the key to gaining an edge in this hyper-competitive sector. 

What Is Retail Analytics?

Retail analytics is the science of collecting and analyzing business data to improve your business outcomes on an ongoing basis. Depending on which sales and marketing channels your company uses, your data sources might include:

• In-store devices and sensors.
• Online storefronts.
• Catalog orders.
• Social media platforms.

Once you’ve collected all the data you need, you’ll run analytics to create reports that reveal valuable insights into your store’s business. Several types of retail business analytics exist with varying levels of complexity:

• Descriptive: Descriptive analytics provides the most basic level of data insights for your business, such as which locations carry certain products, how much of each item is on the floor, and how often store employees restock shelves. This data informs more sophisticated analytics programs. 
• Diagnostic: Running diagnostic analytics on your descriptive data helps you identify and understand the issues you’re facing in real time so you can find actionable solutions.
• Predictive: Predictive analytics algorithms use AI to analyze your historical data and predict likely future events based on different variables, including evolving economic circumstances and supply chain disruptions.  
• Prescriptive: Similar to predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics uses AI algorithms to recommend solutions to the forecasts from the predictive analytics system.

The Role of Data Analytics in Retail

Historically, the retail industry has relied on intuition to make decisions about inventory, store layout, customer communications, and more. 

Even the slightest adjustment can cause major consequences for inventory movement and profitability. For example, choosing to offer a 15% discount on a product over a 10% discount can cost you thousands in lost revenue — especially if you apply it to the wrong product. 

Retail tech solutions eliminate the guesswork by using data and advanced digital technologies to enable more informed decision-making. Data-driven decisions can help you commit to continuous improvement and sustainable business growth.

That’s what we do at Kopius. Our team takes a collaborative approach to every project, working closely with your company’s best and brightest to design custom retail analytics solutions. 

With the most accurate data at your fingertips, you can empower your team to streamline retail store operations, whether you’re focusing on an online storefront or a brick-and-mortar shop.

Key Benefits of In-Store Analytics

A well-designed retail store analytics solution helps boost business for retail companies of all sizes. Whether you’re a small local business or a multinational corporation, retail analytics can help you gain a competitive edge in the market by:

• Enhancing operational efficiency: Retail store analytics makes a proactive approach to inventory management and customer service possible by alerting you to potential issues and recommending appropriate solutions before anything happens.
• Boosting sales: Trends in the data you collect on customer preferences and in-store shopping behaviors help you identify ways to improve marketing, store layout, upselling, and cross-selling to bring in more sales.
• Enhancing organizational visibility: Retail location analytics enables you to generate insights from all your physical stores and warehouses in real time, so you always have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips for data-backed decisions.
• Improving customer experiences: When you start paying attention to customer preferences, it becomes easier to anticipate their needs and expectations. This enables you to deliver convenient, engaging shopping experiences that delight consumers.
• Strengthening your supply chain: Retail analytics solutions are cloud-based, which enables them to scale as needed. This flexibility means you can monitor your entire supply chain for even more accurate decisions.

Remember that these solutions work best when they’re purpose-built for your company. A solution that claims to be “one-size-fits-all” usually leaves some gaps in data collection and analysis, which can cause you to miss important insights.

Emerging Applications for Data Analytics in the Retail Industry

Retail store analytics solutions have enormous potential for enhancing performance across all types of stores, including in-person and online. Here are some of the most promising ways businesses have leveraged retail analytics solutions to get ahead in the industry.

Enhancing Omnichannel and Multichannel Retail and Shopping Experiences

Omnichannel and multichannel strategies rely on accurate, up-to-date data to generate the results you’re looking for. 

Although many sources treat omnichannel and multichannel experiences the same, they’re actually different strategies:

• Multichannel: A multichannel strategy uses multiple channels, including websites, social media platforms, brick-and-mortar stores, and mobile apps, to facilitate customer interactions. Because each channel acts as a separate entity with its own goals, the customer experience can vary. This can help you appeal to a different segment of your customer base through each channel. 
• Omnichannel: An omnichannel strategy integrates all your sales and marketing channels to provide a seamless, consistent experience in every interaction. This approach allows you to combine the strengths of each channel for greater customer satisfaction.

For both types of experiences to work, you need a reliable source of customer data, which is where your in-store retail analytics technology comes in. 

Integrated IoT sensors collect data on stock movement and customer shopping behaviors, and AI-powered analytics assess that data to identify trends that could help you improve your experiences. 

For example, a customer might use your mobile app to put an item they like in their shopping cart, but they abandon their cart before checking out. If they visit your store, your analytics solution could serve them an ad featuring the product.

Leveraging Customer Behavior Insights for Business Growth

Understanding typical customer behaviors can reveal the rationale behind their purchasing decisions, which is important for effective marketing and sales. 

Retail analytics solutions can help you uncover valuable insights into how your customers think, which can help you grow your business by:

• Maximizing customer lifetime value: The more a customer purchases from your company, the higher their lifetime value and the more revenue you gain. Detailed customer insights can help you understand where to apply your focus to keep your most valuable customers satisfied.
• Minimizing customer churn: Analyzing trends in customer behavior can predict when customers are most likely to abandon your brand, which reveals opportunities to improve the customer experience.
• Improving your marketing results: Effective omnichannel and multichannel marketing strategies rely on customer data to keep audiences engaged with your brand. Collecting customer behavior data in physical stores and online channels provides a more comprehensive understanding of your customers that can boost results.
• Identifying opportunities for expansion: If you’re considering expanding into other regions, accurate customer data can help you gauge which markets your business will most benefit from.

Personalization: The Key to Immersive Shopping Experiences

Personalized customer experiences are no longer just “nice to have” — they’re now a necessity for keeping your customers engaged in your business. 

One study found that 81% of customers prefer to buy from companies that deliver personalized experiences. That goes for both e-commerce platforms and in-person shops. 

Catering directly to your customers is essential for delivering more immersive shopping experiences both in-store and online by:

• Delivering relevant discounts and offers to individual customers’ phones based on their history with the brand.
• Identifying previous interactions to identify and guide customers to the specific items they’re looking for.
• Sending customized marketing messages via the customer’s preferred communication channels.
• Recommending relevant products and deals to specific customers for upselling and cross-selling.
• Using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to allow customers to preview products in upcoming releases.

With all the choices customers now have for both in-person and online shopping experiences, it’s important that your store meets customer expectations and differentiates itself from all the other retail businesses in your sector. 

Inventory Management and Sales Forecasting

Accurate sales forecasting is critical for ensuring you have the right amount of stock on hand. Too much and you end up with dead stock and lost revenue. Too little and you run into stockouts and frustrated customers.

A comprehensive retail analytics solution that integrates with an inventory management platform improves sales forecasting through predictive analytics. The platform can analyze historical trends to generate insights into what to expect over the next period, such as:

• Identifying characteristics of products that sell well.
• Predicting when you should expect higher demand than usual.
• Making stocking recommendations for specific products.
• Determining which sales channels to divert more inventory to.

You can even use this technology to ensure proper stocking on your sales floor. For example, you can predict which products will sell faster,  which can help you determine exactly how many units to put on the shelves and the best intervals to restock.

Digital Technologies Driving Retail Analytics

In-store retail analytics solutions are complex, with both online and offline components:

• The Internet of Things (IoT): The IoT is a network of internet-connected objects, such as sensors and mobile devices, that communicate wirelessly with each other and the cloud. This technology allows streamlined data collection and communication, which is essential for a unified retail analytics system.
• Artificial intelligence (AI): AI is a branch of computer science that allows machines to “think” like humans. In terms of data analytics, an AI-equipped software program can identify patterns and draw conclusions much like a human data analyst.
• Machine learning (ML): ML is an AI technique that analyzes previous outcomes and “learns” from them, incorporating feedback on an iterative basis. Essentially, ML enables your AI-powered software to continuously improve the predictions it makes so you can easily meet rising customer expectations.
• Business intelligence (BI) solutions: BI platforms leverage AI and ML capabilities to analyze business data and generate actionable insights for effective, data-driven decision-making.
• Point-of-sale (POS) systems: Your POS system is the point at which your business makes sales. This system can be a physical device you use to check customers out in-store or virtually, such as a payment form in your e-commerce channels.
• Inventory management platforms: These systems allow your warehousing and logistics teams to track products as they move through the supply chain, which helps you fulfill online orders more efficiently while keeping your brick-and-mortar locations stocked appropriately.
• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems: A CRM platform consolidates all your customer data into one centralized hub, making it easier for customer service reps and marketing teams to deliver personalized experiences and build brand loyalty. 

Deep integrations between each piece of your retail analytics solution create a seamless data flow across every channel and tool in your system. This process ensures easy access and analysis. That’s why it’s so important to design a comprehensive system where each component is compatible — as long as they can work together, your solution should provide smooth, streamlined results.

The Future of Retail Analytics and Store Operations

Analytics has become essential for more efficient in-store operations in retail businesses across all sectors, and its importance will continue growing well into the future.

The evolution of retail analytics will follow advances in the technologies behind it, especially in AI, ML, and IoT. AI and ML have only become mainstream in the past couple of years, and IoT is still developing in many ways. 

As more businesses begin implementing automated processes, these digital technologies will become more necessary in their day-to-day operations. Getting ahead of the curve and investing now can help your company become more competitive in the long run.

Getting Started With Retail Tech for In-Store Operations

Diving in headfirst without taking the time to plan your transformation is one of the biggest mistakes in starting out with retail tech. 

Instead, it’s best to take a phased approach that accelerates results while empowering your front-line employees to focus on customer services. Start by identifying your most important goals and focus on achieving these first.

Consulting with a team of retail tech experts is one of the best ways to begin outlining your implementation strategy. The team at Kopius is uniquely qualified to help.

How Kopius Can Help

A team of experienced retail tech consultants can help you identify the right solutions for your business, designing a custom in-store retail analytics solution tailored to your unique requirements. That’s where the JumpStart program from Kopius, Inc. comes in.

The JumpStart program is our data-driven approach to the common pain points retail companies face daily. Our people meet with yours to discuss your needs and expectations, and we work closely with you to determine the right configuration of digital technologies for your goals. 

Read our case studies to see how we’ve helped businesses like yours implement robust retail tech solutions and achieve excellent returns.

JumpStart Your Retail Operations With Help From Kopius

If your company is considering investing in retail analytics solutions, you can count on Kopius to help you create a comprehensive system that meets your store’s unique needs.

We designed our JumpStart program to spark innovation and drive customer, digital technology, and data success. By combining tech smarts and collaboration with a user-centric approach, we can help you fast-track business results and platform solutions.

Add our brainpower to your team and see where we can take you. Contact our specialists today to JumpStart your future success.

Related Services:

• Retail Technology Solutions
• Data & Analytics
• Predictive Analytics
• IoT Development
• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning

While technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and automated tools have become mainstream in many industries, they’re only just emerging into the retail space.

Investing in an integrated retail and automation solution now can help you launch your business ahead of the competition and build your reputation as a thought leader.

Introduction to IoT in Retail Automation

Before diving into the details of IoT and retail automation, it’s important to understand how these technologies work together to create a comprehensive retail system.

In retail, the term “IoT” refers to the network of internet-connected devices in your stores and throughout your supply chain that collect, analyze, and report on business data. Some essential data you can track with retail IoT include:

• Customer behaviors: Sensors and cameras equipped with video analytics capabilities can reveal how customers typically move through the store, which displays they pay the most attention to, and where your customer service could improve.
• Inventory movement: Tagged inventory sends continuous signals to your inventory management system, updating inventory levels in real time for rapid replenishment and insights into customer preferences.
• Ambient conditions: Temperature and motion sensors can determine when people are most likely to be shopping, allowing these devices to automatically adjust the environmental conditions when more people are present.

IoT technologies allow you to complete your digital transformation by connecting the digital side of your company to the physical world. In other words, your IoT devices measure data from your real-world storefront and then input that information into a digital solution for analysis and reporting. These insights make it easy to identify areas for improvement, such as customer service personalization and supply chain optimization.

Types of IoT Devices Used in Retail

IoT systems can be either simple or highly complex, depending on their scale and the diversity of technologies you use.

Some of the most commonly used IoT retail devices include:

• RFID tags: Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags continuously transmit location data via radio waves, which allows you to track stock movement in real time.
• Sensors: Sensing devices monitor in-store conditions like foot traffic, lighting levels, temperature, and more to help you enhance the shopping experience and improve your energy efficiency.
• Cameras: You can use video analytics technologies to see how customers move through your store, which is valuable data for improving store layout. Real-time video analytics can also enhance store security by enabling you to catch criminal activity like theft in video feeds, streamlining investigations and preventing repeat offenders.
• Beacons: These Bluetooth devices sense when customers are nearby and automatically trigger preset actions relevant to each person. For example, a beacon could automatically award loyalty program members points every time they set foot in one of your stores.

Different stores will need different arrangements of devices, so it can help to work with a team of expert retail tech consultants to determine your specific requirements.

What Role Does IoT Play in Retail Automation?

IoT is transforming the industry as we know it, but how does it connect to automation in retail? Think of automation as the missing piece of the retail IoT puzzle.

Automated technologies enable seamless communication and trigger specific actions between each of your IoT devices, creating a complete system that operates with only minimal human intervention.

For example, a smart shelf can automatically update stock levels in your inventory management system. The software solution can automatically request a replenishment once those levels hit a predetermined point.

Core Components of IoT in Retail

Although every system is different in its individual configuration, most contain the same parts. The core components of a retail IoT solution include:

1. Smart Inventory Management

When combined with a cloud-based inventory management solution, your IoT network can help you keep better track of inventory levels to prevent issues from interfering with the customer experience.

Here’s how:

• Enhanced visibility: With the ability to track the whereabouts of each item in real time, you can minimize your potential losses by proactively mitigating issues like overstocking and stockouts across all your locations. 
• Replenishment and demand planning: Real-time visibility into inventory levels through weight sensors and smart shelves enables automated systems to recognize when you’re getting low and prompt an immediate replenishment order, optimizing inventory levels based on current demand.
• Reduced risk of theft: RFID tags make it harder for shoplifters to steal from stores by alerting employees when unpurchased items cross a certain threshold. Additionally, retailers can use data from incidents to identify opportunities to tighten security.

2. Supply Chain Optimization

Supply chain disruptions can have serious consequences for retail companies. Retail IoT technologies and real-time analytics allow you to take a proactive approach to supply chain issues, saving you valuable time and money. 

Some ways IoT helps optimize the supply chain include:

• Shorter lead times: The ability to receive real-time inventory updates enables greater business agility and efficiency, allowing you to pivot as soon as issues arise.
• Environmental monitoring: Sensors can track ambient conditions in warehouses and transport vehicles to ensure perishable and other delicate products meet quality standards when they arrive.
• Demand responsiveness: Insights into fluctuating customer demand enable companies to quickly adapt, which helps ensure the right products are available at the right times. 
• Streamlined collaboration: When all your supply chain partners have total visibility into your inventory and demand forecasting data, they can use that information to better coordinate production, warehousing, and logistics.

3. In-Store Analytics for Enhanced Customer Support

IoT devices collect a lot of data, but you need to be able to use that data to make any real change. That’s where in-store analytics solutions come in.

Here are some ways IoT and data analytics solutions can help improve the in-person shopping experience:

• Staffing: Foot traffic data from your in-store IoT devices can help you predict peak hours, enabling you to plan staff schedules around these periods.
• Personalized service: In-store analytics help you understand typical customer needs and preferences, which can make it easier to meet specific customers where they are on an individual level rather than as part of a segment.
• Optimizing floor layout: Analytics can reveal how customers typically move around a store, enabling retailers to determine how to arrange products and displays in a way that helps customers find what they’re looking for faster.

The Impact of IoT on Retail Strategies

While IoT and retail automation are still emerging technologies, they’ve made a large impact on the industry. Here are some of the most important applications to pay attention to when considering the use of IoT.

Omnichannel Retailing and IoT

Omnichannel retailing has become a big deal in the past few years, and for good reason — creating a consistent experience across all your sales and marketing channels delivers a convenient, satisfying experience for customers. From one channel to the next, shopping or interacting with your brand is seamless.

This level of service is only possible because of IoT, which bridges the gap between your online and physical stores. The customer data you collect through your in-store IoT devices, as well as through your e-commerce and social media channels, provides valuable insight into what customers want from interactions with your brand. When you know what customers want, you can apply those changes across all your channels for a cohesive brand experience.

Personalized Marketing Strategies

According to one global study, 80% of consumers say they like receiving personalized product recommendations from brands. Brands that fail to deliver personalized service often lose customers because the experience lacks an emotional connection and is often less convenient.

But for many customers, the expectation of personalization has only risen. Hyper-personalization goes beyond traditional personalized marketing strategies by using advanced technologies like AI and IoT to collect and analyze individual customer data in real time. 

So, rather than simply changing the name of the recipient in your marketing emails, you can reach each customer on an individual level. Automated retail software solutions let you apply hyper-personalization on a massive scale through digital channels, enticing more customers to visit your stores.

Understanding Automation in the Retail Industry

Automation and IoT technologies go hand in hand — you can’t have one without the other. Many automated solutions connect to IoT devices, which creates a seamless transfer of data and action across your entire store.

Automated Retail Technologies and Their Applications

Some of the ways retailers are incorporating IoT and retail automation into the shopping experience include:

• Self-checkout systems: One of the most popular examples of retail automation is the self-checkout, which enables customers to quickly pay for their items and leave. Self-checkout lanes now make up about 38% of all checkout aisles at grocery stores, with their heaviest users being shoppers aged 19 to 24.
• RFID tags: RFID tags are essentially smart labels that use radio frequency to track product movement and communicate it to other components in the system. You can use them to ensure you have enough product on the floor and help customers find what they need easier.
• Smart shelves: By using a network of connected RFID tags, digital displays, and IoT sensors, smart shelves can detect the location of items and communicate that information to you. This data can help you identify trends in consumer behaviors and preferences, which is essential for optimizing marketing and store layout.

Store Automation Solutions

Even a basic level of in-store automation is now essential for a retail company’s success, but why? The benefits of implementing these solutions include:

• Reduced costs: Higher efficiency means your staff can do more faster, and in retail, that means they can deliver excellent service to more customers. This combination can help you reduce costs associated with returns, human error, and reputational damage while also boosting your profitability.
• Operational efficiency: Automation augments your human staff by streamlining their workflows and taking the burden of repetitive tasks off their hands, which empowers them to tackle more valuable work in less time.
• Easier scalability: Automating routine processes reduces your hiring needs by boosting your human employees’ productivity, which provides more flexibility for expanding your business in the future.
• Better customer service: Automated solutions can take care of tasks that eat up store employees’ time, which allows them to focus all their attention on helping customers on the floor.

Navigating the Latest Retail IoT Trends

According to market projections, the global IoT market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 29.3% over the rest of the decade. The retail IoT market is especially suited for positive growth, with excellent potential for innovation and high activity in merger and acquisition.

Much of this growth is due to the rapid advancements in technologies like:

• AI: AI-powered analytics solutions can identify patterns like humans, which enables them to generate valuable insights into your company’s historical data. You can use these insights to inform your inventory and store management decisions for greater efficiency and better customer service.
• Machine learning (ML): ML is a branch of AI that enables AI algorithms to continuously learn from previous interactions, which means the recommendations and actions your program delivers will become more relevant to your business and your customers.
• Blockchain: This technology enables transparent data sharing through a series of linked blocks, which cannot be edited after completion. Some companies are incorporating blockchain into their shipping and fulfillment operations to enhance accountability and trust with business partners.

Preparing for the Future of Automation in Retail

Future-proofing your organization with advanced automated solutions is essential for gaining a competitive edge. One of the biggest challenges every company will face in implementing retail automation is setting up the proper infrastructure for the system:

• A strong, stable internet connection
• A robust, centralized cloud database to store and analyze IoT data
• Wireless or Bluetooth connectivity between all IoT devices

Companies also need to ensure their employees receive the proper training to use these technologies to enhance their everyday work. You’ll have to carefully consider what support mechanisms you can provide to assist your staff in troubleshooting any issues that pop up.

Kopius’s Approach to Retail Automation Solutions

Retail tech is complex, with many moving parts that need careful planning and attention to ensure they work properly.

If you’re unsure where to start, Kopius can help. We take a collaborative approach to retail tech, which enables us to deliver unparalleled results for retailers of various sizes and sectors.

Our team of experts will work closely with you and your people to understand your specific pain points, goals, and expectations. We’ll then design a custom solution tailored to your business that takes into account all existing physical and digital infrastructure.

Want to learn more about the companies we’ve helped? Read our case studies to see real examples of our work.

Begin Your Retail Tech Journey With Help From Kopius

IoT and retail automation present exciting opportunities for companies that invest in the proper infrastructure and support. That’s why we’re here.

When you take advantage of our JumpStart program, you gain access to our emerging tech team’s knowledge and expertise, which will help you spark innovations and strategize new projects that support your business goals.

What’s more, your solutions are tailored to your business — no matter how complex the specifications, we can create a custom retail analytics project that meets your organization’s unique requirements.

Are you ready to get started? We are, too. Contact us today to set up a consultation with our experts.

Related Services:

• IoT Development Services
• Retail Technology Solutions
• Data & Analytics Solutions