Anne Howe

RSR Research: Retail Connections - Predictive Analytics in a Down Economy

March 1, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
At an analytics roundtable at RetailConnections' Third Annual Business Executive Summit, the CIO of a major jewelry retailer said predictive analytics had been completely helpful to his company. In many ways, 2009 was a very profitable year, with little excess inventory. What do you think of the value of predictive analytics?      [more...]

While I can't predict sell through rates, I can say predictive analytics are the cornerstone of shopper marketing ROI. Illumination of demand metrics helps set appropriate investment levels, and works well on the manufacturer side as well as in retail. When done well, year two should be even better, with applications of lessons learned...and so on.

That said, its also essential to keep close tabs on the shopper to understand emergent desires early on, enabling some opportunity of inventory to surprise and delight recession weary shoppers!