Q4 is a busy one for retailers, with Black Friday , Christmas and of course New Year, being just a few of the key shopping peaks retailers will need to deal with. The tight margin, and cut-throat nature of retail means tensions will be high as retailers look to secure the best revenues they can across the period. But of course, as we all know, revenue and profit are two very different measures of success! It is a critical time of year, and many of the decisions about which trends to follow, lines to stock, price points and margins, will have been made anything up to nine months ago. Now those decisions will be tested in the most intense trading period of the retail year. The reality of the situation is that for most retailers they have already made or broken their Q4 trading period before so much as a Halloween costume leaves the shelves. Those decisions made all the months ago will have been informed by intense market analysis, negotiations with suppliers and what they believe to be a clear understanding of customer wants, price sensitivity, and their own goals. Technology will have played a key role in this, analysing customer behaviour, category and general business performance in comparative periods. Yet when it comes to opening the doors on Q4, the role of technology to better influence operational and financial performance over the season is less well understood. The fact is, applying the right technology can save a season, reduce the chances of retaining large amounts of stock, and increase sales and margin performance. Underlying this is the need for data that accurately reflects the business and is available in as near to real-time as possible. Achieving that means having ‘clean’ data that is connected across your different […]

Read Full Story:  Technology and the Christmas Season – Are you on the front foot?

Source:  Essential Retail