Data & Analytics

Retailers frequently misjudge the omnichannel needs of their shoppers when they visit stores.

According to a new study of 500 consumers and 150 retail decision-makers in the U.S. and U.K. by Forrester Consulting on behalf of RetailNext, “Real-Time Data Drives the Future of Retail,” only 49% of consumer respondents feel they receive consistent seamless experiences across all channels.

Retailers frequently misjudge the omnichannel needs of their shoppers when they visit stores.

According to a new study of 500 consumers and 150 retail decision-makers in the U.S. and U.K. by Forrester Consulting on behalf of RetailNext, “Real-Time Data Drives the Future of Retail,” only 49% of consumer respondents feel they receive consistent seamless experiences across all channels.

Vertical specialty apparel retailer Brooks Brothers is known for neat and tidy fashions, and that ethos extends to how it manages the flow of goods from source to shelf.

Brooks Brothers has selected the SAP Fashion Management platform to gain better control of movement of merchandise through the supply chain, which in turn supports an omnichannel customer experience. The retailer began the process of revamping its demand chain by implementing the SAP Apparel and Footwear application, which provides better insight into inventory and financials.

Walmart’s U.K. subsidiary Asda is expanding what customers can do with in-store pickup and return through its new service called toyou.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is raising its full year outlook after the discount retailer holiday strategy delievered strong sales growth.

The company annouced that net sales over the holidays increased 23%, while same store sales increased 5.6%.

BCBG Max Azria Group LLC, a vertical specialty women’s apparel retailer that operates an e-commerce site and store-within-a-store locations, is working to eliminate channel silos.

BCBG has selected cloud-based Aptos solutions to integrate its in-store and digital commerce operations, supporting a seamless omnichannel customer experience. The retailer was looking to transform aging legacy systems, integrate sales channels, and elevate in-store customer experience, while gaining 360-degree visibility of customers, inventory and transactions across all channels.

Oracle is introducing Oracle Retail 15, an enterprise retail suite that includes diverse features such as new cloud-based applications and POS hardware solutions.

In the cloud area, Oracle is adding four new retail-specific services.

• Using Oracle Retail Sales and Productivity Cloud Service, retailers can gain real-time insights into comparative sales, salesperson productivity, merchandise productivity, store sales, and store traffic.

The winners in today’s retail food retail sector will be those who can continually stay ahead of competitors by retaining current customers and attracting new ones.

However, many of the tools of yesterday are likely stale and ineffective today. Trending indicates that older, traditional practices of discount/promotional pricing, printed signs/stickers, and aisle video display monitors to attract customers and increase sales are becoming outmoded and have lost their effectiveness in many food retail environments.