The data challenges retailers face

When it comes to retail, you might think that retailers have it all at their fingertips! Engaged customers both in-store and online, a loyalty scheme, a gift card, alongside a wealth of information in the form of social media activity, customer phone calls, emails - not to mention the data kept from outbound marketing activity and advertising.

However, when it comes to data challenges, we've given a big hint - volume.

Data has never been so easy to access - but so hard to make sense of.

We've worked with 100's of retailers in all different sectors and wanted to share some of the common complaints the biggest brands to the smaller SMEs all share.

Data extraction

Extraction is a painful word, isn't it? And for many retailers, bringing out useful insights from multiple databases, POS systems and antiquated systems can be just as taxing as that trip to the dentist you've been putting off.

Quality of data

You've probably seen it yourself - when you put 'sub-par' data into any system, it doesn't come out clean and useable. Often, data is subject to what we politely refer to as 'operator error' - an issue where data is imported and exported at speed gathered in haste or collected with some striking gaps.

Making sense of an Omnichannel World

it seems bizarre to imagine a World where we aren't scrolling through our phones whilst also watching TV and attempting to fast forward adverts, a time when we weren't connected to brands on social media - out of choice! It sounds like a marketer's dream, but with omnichannel ways of shopping and engaging, intensified by the challenges of GDPR comes big problems for retailers, who can easily start to lose track of the 'single customer view'. Anyone who has spent any time in even the basics of Google Analytics will see that trying to track entry and exit points, all whilst tying in cause and effect can be a real challenge.

Nowadays, data has to reveal the impact of that tweet during the Great British Bake Off, whilst also keeping a track on whether your gift card holders also engage with your loyalty scheme AND if you can correlate the success of your TV advert with a certain dataset - for example, your millennial market.

Suddenly, retailers are chasing their tails trying to look back at the last campaign for answers, whilst the world rattles on at an increasingly dizzying pace!

We can help.

That's why smart retailers are turning to Tranxactor to help. We can tie all these insights together, giving retailers one place to turn to for answers, a system that does the 'heavy lifting' of data extraction and insights.

Are you interested in hearing how it works? We'd love to speak to you about it. Why not get in touch with our UK head office today?

Don’t forget, we’re also sponsors of The Loyalty Awards! Take a look at the nomination here.