Keeping up With the Informed Customer

Key Theme: Data management underpins unified commerce 

Retailers need to keep their finger on the pulse of the market to find new opportunities to remain relevant to consumers. They also need to identify and remedy shopping experience challenges to keep customers coming back again and again. Information, data management, and agility are core business processes and prerequisites for adopting innovation. Having accurate, consistent, and available information allows retailers to make the best possible business decisions for stores, channels, engagements, and the customer journey to ensure long-term success.

On a recent RetailWire LIVE roundtable on LinkedIn, Stibo Systems, Floor & Decor, and RetailWire’s BrainTrust executives discussed the role and importance of centralized information and data-sharing practices in creating a unified view of shopper interactions and personalizing experiences.

Speakers: 

Jared Brown, Floor & Decor Senior Director of Information Technology & PMO

Brian Cluster, Stibo Systems Industry Strategy Director, CPG and Retail

Hosted by Scott Benedict, RetailWire BrainTrust member

What is master data (and why should you care)? 

It’s core business data needed for measuring performance and making decisions. Specifically, master data is product,  customer, supplier, location, and other data that is centralized, standardized, governed, and available as a single, trusted source of information. Well-managed data enables retailers and brands to unify engagement across channels, elevate customer experiences, and take a more agile approach to innovation.

Unify data and retail operations 

Combining core product, customer, sales, and supplier data with other insights has never been more important to retailer and brand success. Organizations have an overwhelming amount of data in many different formats and locations. A central data strategy, system, and processes are necessary to deliver a complete view to all decision-makers throughout the organization. 

“Acquiring, managing, centralizing, and governing data into a single location means teams have all the insights needed to optimize marketing, sales, and engagement at any touchpoint.”

Brian Cluster,

The path to purchase permanently changed as customers adopted more digital practices, especially in recent years. This digital data is readily available in most retail organizations. It’s time for retailers to apply digital data collection and management standards to store operations and to combine information across all channels and locations to inform and deliver a truly fluid shopping experience.

Retailers are charged with providing relevant data and a seamless experience to customers at each step of the process, regardless of where engagement takes place. Shoppers expect instant access to accurate information throughout their journey, as they go from researching and buying to post-purchase order and service activities. They expect a consistent, positive experience without gaps or lag time in receiving the information they need. When facts are not quickly available, engagement declines, returns increase, and customers become less satisfied and loyal.

“Shoppers want to be educated when they’re making purchase decisions. They want information served up to them based on their own preferences and behaviors. Data fluidity through all systems allows us to highly personalize in-store, web, and mobile customer experiences in real time.”

Jared Brown,

This same level of insight is even more essential for store teams. Giving store associates easy access to critical information makes them more effective and immediately improves the customer experience.

“The quality of data and completeness of data that’s available to the associates directly impacts their ability to do the best possible job of serving customers while they are in the store.”

Brian Cluster,

Unified data helps retailers prevent, manage, understand, and anticipate business challenges, like skyrocketing returns. To prevent costly returns, retailers need to have accurate and comprehensive product information so that customers can make better purchasing decisions. When returns do occur, data and analytics provide insights that can help brands improve operations, provide feedback to suppliers, and stock quality products in the future. This builds satisfaction and loyalty while driving long-term profitable growth.

“We aim to meet customer expectations with accurate and comprehensive product information. The more information we can provide helps us to make sure they’re purchasing the product that they want. Providing product details like attributes, descriptions, images, and sizing information is very important during the sales process. The right information can drastically reduce returns while increasing sales and loyalty.”

Jared Brown,

Elevate the customer experience

“Retailers need the ability to take data from silos and bring it together to identify individual customers’ immediate needs and interests.”

Scott Benedict,

Unified data is the foundation for elevating experiences and improving the customer’s journey. This holistic view of customers gives brands the ability to elevate each point of engagement and meet customer demands for personalized shopping.

“Personalization is what’s really important for the customer. We’re moving beyond simple demographic targeting by getting a holistic, analytical look into history to anticipate each customer’s needs and behaviors. We continue to advance our real-time data efforts to make sure that we meet expectations for a personalized experience.”

Jared Brown,

Both internal and external historical and real-time data are needed to customize interactions, tailor engagement, and deliver compelling content. Data management systems must be able to process in real-time, handle complex data from central locations, allow insight to be consumed from external systems, and apply the most advanced analytics and AI with low latency.

“It’s fascinating to observe how data has evolved and become an integral part of various aspects of our business, particularly improving customer experience. Data and integration strategies have moved from being siloed to becoming more centralized, interconnected, and unified. The integration of data from various sources has become much more important. We are getting a holistic view and a more informed decision process for our customers, which is the number one thing for us.”

Jared Brown,

Data in a changing retail world

The role and importance of data cannot be underestimated. Unified data gives a complete view of performance to address operational challenges, anticipate future opportunities, elevate the shopping experience, and improve engagement in real-time. 

“Retailers need to remain agile. At Floor & Decor, we stay informed about industry development, pursue innovations, and proactively address emerging challenges to ensure long-term success for our business.”

Jared Brown,

See a recording of the RetailWire LIVE discussion for more details: https://youtu.be/aX7HRS-Ddoc

Produced by: RetailWire 

Author: Patricia V Waldron 

© 2024 RetailWire

Sponsor Information

Stibo Systems, the master data management company, is the trusted enabler of data transparency. Our solutions are the driving force behind forward-thinking companies around the world that have unlocked the strategic value of their master data. We empower them to improve the customer experience, drive innovation and growth and create an essential foundation for digital transformation. This gives them the transparency they require and desire – a single, accurate view of their master data – so they can make informed decisions and achieve goals of scale, scope and ambition. Stibo Systems is a privately held subsidiary of Stibo Software Group, which is headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark. The foundational ownership guarantees the long-term perspective of the business. More at https://www.stibosystems.com.

Floor & Decor is a multi-channel specialty retailer and commercial flooring distributor operating 207 warehouse-format stores and five design studios across 36 states as of September 28, 2023. The Company offers a broad assortment of in-stock hard-surface flooring, including tile, wood, laminate, vinyl, and natural stone along with decorative accessories and wall tile, installation materials, and adjacent categories at everyday low prices. The Company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.