Dude, Where’s My Data?

Struggling to find the right data to help you boost your business? What if I told you that it has been hiding right under your nose the whole time?

As unlikely as it sounds, at Zoined we have seen time and time again that seemingly minor details that are often overlooked can in fact be nuggets of pure gold when it comes to finding – and replicating – a strategy for success.


Photo by Evan Kirby

For example, is a new item selling well in one location, but not so much in other stores? It may well be because of placement within the store, upselling opportunities, a proactive member of staff or many other possible reasons.

But you don’t know what you don’t know, so if you cannot identify why an item is selling well only in one location, how can you ensure that the success is replicated and used to boost stores that are not performing as well?

Almost all retailers gather huge amounts of data, from Point of Sale (POS), to staff performance to stock information. But this data is often hard to interpret and analysing it seems like more trouble than it’s worth – and let’s not even start on how tedious the process can be.

The trick to unlocking the real value in the data is being able to pull it all together and use analytics to help to visualise trends rather than looking at each data source in isolation.

By taking all the information that has been collected and presenting it in easily understandable graphics, retailers can identify trends and make smart choices about their stores, employees and products.

It’s also important that you can access this insight at any time, from any device. You shouldn’t have to be tied to your desk, and getting key insights in real time via your preferred method boosts usability and increases the chances of making decisions that lead to consistent improvement.

Your data becomes truly valuable once you are able to use it to gain insight, especially in cases when you are trying to replicate success in one store across several others. Your data can also help you understand key differences in locations so that you can tailor your strategy to each individual store. After all, success in a London store may translate to success in another southern city, but it may not have the same impact in Newcastle or Edinburgh.

So put down the binoculars and stop spending hours searching for that key data point. Visual analytics can make your data work for you and make tiresome reports a thing of the past.

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