Data has become one of the most valuable inputs for organizations and this also applies to retail, especially the supermarket segment. After all, we are talking about one of the strongest areas in the current market.

If you want to advance in the area and gain prominence, it is essential to outperform your competitors. To achieve this, choosing to prioritize data-based decision making can be crucial, helping to make processes more efficient and boosting your business. Therefore, this is the best time to invest in adopting a data-driven culture. But how can data-driven retail companies outperform the competition? Understand more about the subject below.

How important is a data-driven culture in retail?

In a context in which data is increasingly used strategically in all areas, retail is ahead. This happens mainly because this is a segment that generates a high volume of this input.

However, in many cases, they are underused, being limited to databases and isolated applications, without communication and integration between solutions. A data-driven culture, or a data-driven culture, plays an essential role in this.

Check out some of the main reasons to bring this change to your business below.

Competitive diferentials

A data analysis allows you to have valuable information at hand that will help generate insights that can become essential competitive differentiators for your business. For example, you can more accurately analyze the increase in visits to your store.

This way, it is possible to define strategies that can boost sales and results. For example, increasing the number of professionals to complete purchases and speed up queues can attract more customers to the store on those days. Furthermore, it is possible to assess whether this strategy was successful, with average data on the duration of the sales completion process.

To give you an overview of the companies that already adopt data-driven to enhance their strategies, we can mention:

• McDonalds;
• Tapestry;
• Lyft.

Provide a better customer experience

A data-driven culture in retail also allows you to provide a successful customer experience. This is an essential point today, mainly due to the greater level of demand from the public.

Thinking about the previous example, a person can prioritize spending less time in queues than the price itself and, therefore, look for stores that offer this experience. With data in hand, it is possible to think, for example, of:

• dedicated check-out lines;
• increase the number of boxes available;
• make advance purchases online in store and pick up on site, among others.

Other strategies that can be made possible with this are:

• provide personal shoppers;
• sell selected products according to the profile of your target audience;
• create product demonstration events;
• think about more effective sales actions and promotions;
• provide online shopping with free home delivery;
• create the possibility of recurring purchases, among others.

Increase the average ticket

When the customer has a different retail experience, especially in supermarkets, they tend to take advantage of the visit to buy more items of interest. As a result, there is an increase in the average ticket per customer and overall.

However, to be able to choose the type of strategy that tends to encourage your client to do so, it is necessary to have a consistent analysis of the indicators. The data-driven culture helps to have this information updated in real time on the dashboard.

Customer loyalty

An optimized customer experience tends to lead to greater loyalty over time. This is because, often, the price may not be the difference in deciding which establishment to choose, but rather the convenience, comfort and personalization of the processes.

The advantages granted from these data-driven decisions increase a person's confidence in your business, making them feel special, in addition to facilitating their choice process.

Internal management

Another important point is also to use data not only in the relationship with the customer, but also in internal management. The strategic use of this information helps, for example, in financial assessments that can be used to expand activities.

It also helps to carry out more intelligent analyzes of reference indicators essential for good management, providing greater perpetuity and longevity for the company. This is essential, especially in the supermarket sector.

This is a point even addressed in the release of the latest ABRAS 2023 Ranking, which brought the main data and innovations in the sector. Issues related to the legal sector, marketing, sales, processes, pricing, absenteeism, digital presence, among others, can be optimized with more accurate data analysis.

This allows managers to make data-driven decisions more efficiently. This enhances operational efficiency and, consequently, generates a greater competitive advantage.

How to use data in retail as a competitive advantage?

Now that you know the importance and benefits, it is essential to know how you can use data in retail to provide competitive advantages for your supermarket. Check out some essential tips below that help with this adoption.

Define the approach(es) for deriving value from data

A first point that helps in this process is to think about what type of approach you want to bring to your retail. Two possibilities are:

• creation of top-down projects. In them, your retail can obtain activity data and use it strategically internally, helping with decision making through visualization in analytics tools, for example;
• create self-service solutions that allow sector managers to access and analyze data with specific tasks and goals in mind.

Use the cloud to your advantage

Another point is to facilitate the process of accessing data and integrating solutions between sectors through the cloud. This makes it easier to reduce potential bottlenecks that could hinder data-driven strategies.

At the same time, having the possibility of using more robust resources more efficiently allows the amount that would be used to purchase physical infrastructure to be directed to other equally strategic issues. After all, it will not be necessary to purchase and maintain physical servers, for example.

However, it is not necessary to migrate the entire infrastructure if you still use physical servers in your retail. One way to resolve this is to create a data lake. Through it, it is possible to copy data from on-premise repositories to this central repository in the cloud.

Democratize access to information

Data needs to flow between solutions and sectors without bottlenecks. With this, it is possible to grant access to the necessary information to all users who need it, without major problems.

With this, it is possible to obtain new information, access it and even create access levels. This helps prevent unauthorized people from gaining access to sensitive and confidential data.

Furthermore, democratizing access to data can facilitate the use of Machine Learning tools and algorithms. This helps provide more accurate analysis, automate processes and generate insights that will help with the strategic measures of your business.

Bring analytics innovations

As the adoption of a data-driven culture in business has become an increasingly strong trend, this causes new things and trends to be launched. Being aware of this helps to incorporate those that can enhance your company's strategies.

For example, resources such as new, increasingly efficient Artificial Intelligence tools, more advanced data analysis, new Machine Learning solutions, among others, can help to enhance a more efficient customer experience and greater operational effectiveness. Therefore, your team must pay attention to the main news, analyzing which ones make sense for your retail logic. So, we can use these tools to:

• solve problems;
• identify trends;
• know the profile of your audience;
• have better demand predictability;
• personalize experience, among other possibilities.

Count on an expert to help you

All of these processes involve data process migrations, integrations between solutions, among other points that can be complex. Without due care, bottlenecks can be created and managers cannot operate as they need to when using data.

Therefore, the migration process to a data-driven context needs to be accompanied by those who understand the subject. For example, an IT consultancy that has experience in business adaptation could be your greatest ally. Remember that this partner will be operating with valuable inputs from your business. Therefore, it is essential that you choose carefully who will be responsible for this process.

What should be considered when starting to make your retail data-driven?

In addition to the points you saw previously, it is essential to be aware of the main considerations that will help make this adaptation even more efficient. This will help you define your retail’s real needs and structure a more efficient migration process.

Below, see some crucial points to define at this time, which will contribute to the process of internal transformation.

Define key performance indicators (KPIs)

A first step is to think about what are the key indicators for your retail that need to be constantly monitored. For example, for a supermarket, stock turnover, average ticket, average time to complete an order, among others, are points that affect the customer experience.

This point helps you identify which data is needed for this type of analysis and, thus, choose the best analysis technologies according to your needs.

List data sources

Identify all points that provide strategic data for your retail, with their appropriate sources. In addition, also select, for each of these listed, whether it is structured or unstructured data and whether it is obtained in real time or in batch. This helps with big data implementation strategies, for example.

Despite being a more complex analysis operation, this helps to identify whether there is a risk of information being collected, stored and analyzed in duplicate. And this can greatly harm your strategy.

In addition to leading to higher costs, this type of problem can also harm the analysis itself due to duplicate data. This allows the company to have greater precision in the assessments carried out.

Analyze which applications use data

Make a list of applications used in retail that use data in their operations. It is also time to identify new solutions to be implemented in the short and medium term.

This makes it possible to think about integration and adaptation projects that favor these exchanges. This way, it becomes much easier to make the transition, minimizing failures that compromise the project.

Define access levels and privacy demands

When talking about data, it is not possible to leave aside issues related to privacy and security. To help you with this, think about the levels of access that information should have, considering the existing functions and areas.

This applies both to enabling the exchange of information and also to preventing more sensitive data from being accessible to people who do not operate with that data. For example, demographic data or sales analytics need to circulate well between sales and marketing, without bottlenecks.

However, more sensitive financial information or strategies should be restricted to professionals directly involved in the processes, protected with security resources (such as encryption). This point also helps both with compliance, in relation to adapting to data protection laws and also in the case of audits.

Retail companies that operate data-driven tend to stand out more easily from the competition. Furthermore, they are also able to achieve greater operational efficiency and gain the loyalty of their audience. We hope this article has helped you understand the importance of implementing this change in your business. To help you with this transition and bring a data-driven culture to your retail, count on an experienced partner on the subject: Integrity-UX! Contact and let's talk about it.