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Click and Clekt… our predictions on how retail data will drive the future of shops
Order management specialists, OneStock, have launched an innovative campaign to help #SaveShops, bringing some well-loved retail brands from the UK high street along with them. Clekt CEO Andy Tudor adds his support. This article draws on his long retail experience and insight to highlight how smarter, data-driven collection or delivery services will be the saviour for retailers in their fight to save shops as we enter our third national lockdown.
The SaveShops campaign
As we enter our third-national lockdown retailers, have once again been forced to close their doors to the public. The retail industry is the largest employer, and it’s no secret that it is one of the worst affected sectors during the pandemic. We have seen the toll it has taken on many large companies such as Debenhams and Topshop. The pandemic has forced retail stores to adapt and tailor their services to ensure that customers can shop safely, whether they choose to use the home delivery or click and collect options available to them. OneStock’s campaign aims to unite retailers in promoting alternative collection and delivery services to protect retail jobs and #SaveShops!
Data-driven retail is changing
A data-driven seamless retail experience has become the critical differentiator. Data optimisation and analytics play a key role for successful, smart retailers. As Andy Tudor, Clekt CEO, explains:
“For me, it is all about data, and how it can be used to optimise anything and everything a company does. From managing and controlling the number of customers in the stores when open, to supporting sales staff trying to improve conversion rates and increase average transaction values online. Used well, data is the most valuable corporate asset a retailer owns.”
This year retailers have had to rely on their data more than ever, as they have adapted to massive and sudden shifts in consumer behaviour. With the limited opportunity for a physical browsing experience, customers are instead beginning their buying research online and completing the purchase via services such as click and collect.
In this case, Andy suggests, ‘the data may tell us that we need to make the click & collect experience more prevalent in the online journey or that the staffing profile in stores needs to alter because customers are expecting to be able to click & collect in a particular time slot which is convenient for them”.
Fulfilment is just one side of the story, though; by creating a single hub of data for both analytics and operational purposes, retailers can optimise both the customer experience and gain access to innovative solutions such as OneStock. By perpetually adding to the enterprise data hub, Retailers can cost effectively access artificial intelligence and machine learning capability to unlock business value.
How Clekt would save shops
In summary, if Clekt CEO, Andy Tudor, could give one piece of advice to retailers during this time, it would be that “there are ways to combine data from across the organisation to create a more powerful and insightful picture of your customer and your business operations to drive value and gain efficiencies. Our view is that using data to integrate a retailer’s past, present and future offers the best and for many, the only, opportunity to grow in the future”.
What can you do to help save shops?
Join the campaign at #SaveShops, and remember your data is the key to customer insights. Let’s drive awareness of the need to reinvent and futureproof the industry!
