The retail industry moves quickly. Whether it’s responding to trends or balancing ever-changing supply and demand levels, retailers need to access, analyse and act on data quickly. This efficiency is often the competitive differentiator for industry leaders, and it’s never been more important.
The retailers that make it to the big leagues are the ones that ensure data is accessible to everyone in every part of the business. If data only sits in the hands of the data analysts or IT, retailers are missing a trick in using this data for business-changing decisions in every department and ultimately true visibility across the organisation.
The benefit of user-friendly analyics
Imagine everyone in your business not only having access to data but being confident to explore the data and extract insights that fuel strategic decisions. It’s not a pipedream, we promise! With customisable charts and graphs and the ability to easily represent the entire product portfolio visually within data sheets, you can quickly transform a row of numbers into data stories that get your team’s attention and help them analyse data on the go.
Retailers can create customised visual analytics in Qlik Sense with Vizlib that engage more users and simplify analytics. Take Vizlib Tiles, for example, it enables you to create tile-style summaries that are easy to view, customisable and add visual impact. It’s a great tool for visualising a product range and boosting data literacy.
Did you know that 65% of people are visual learners? And, when it comes to empowering employees to use data, Vizlib Custom Report gives easy access to insights through a familiar Google-style interface, Analytic Search. Users can then easily get started creating customisable reports from a library of stylish templates. These user-friendly solutions give retailers the opportunity to streamline and improve how they work.
Adding visuals to streamline self-service reporting with Vizlib Tiles
Unlocking supply chain visibility
One of the most data-rich areas of the business is the supply chain. If retailers can collect this data in real-time, it can improve visibility, and give a clearer picture when it comes to orders and production timescales to meet customer demand.
The pandemic has shown the fragility of the supply chain. We have never known such levels of unpredictability. And that’s why it has never been more important for retailers to integrate real-time data management into their operations.
If this information can be shared across all stakeholders so every department, supplier or trading partner that feeds into the supply chain is able to make decisions based on accurate insights, it can transform how a retailer operates and the delivery of the customer journey.
The benefits of streamlined collaboration
Giving each stakeholder visibility into retail data is one thing, but let’s take it up a notch. What happens when teams can collaborate smoothly with that data? With Vizlib Collaboration, teams within the organisation and relevant stakeholders, such as suppliers, can have contextualised data discussions and ask and answer their own business questions quickly – all within their Qlik dashboard.
You can tag colleagues to pull them into a conversation or opt to receive notifications when you’re mentioned in a thread with Vizlib Teamwork. Plus subscribe to daily or weekly summaries of what changed to keep in the loop and drive customer-centric improvements.
Tag team members to get their attention and get your question answered quickly with Vizlib Teamwork Mentions
Keeping bad data at bay
One area that can cause complexities is when there are errors in the data. One small mistake can have a huge impact on a retailer – whether that’s the wrong materials ordered, an inflated inventory or an inaccurate view of the customer demand. Organisations leveraging solutions, such as Vizlib’s writeback capabilities, enable anyone on the team to easily edit, update or comment on data points or entire rows within the dashboards, without leaving the analysis flow. It gives you the scope to correct data, insert new information and adjust numbers so everyone has confidence in the data they’re using. And the more trust in the data, the better your organisation’s BI.
Easily capture production numbers to stay on top of deliveries and demand with Vizlib’s writeback capability
The future of analytics for retailers
Retail data is becoming more advanced, as prescriptive and predictive analytics elevate the ability to model customer choices based on previous behaviours. The good news is this advanced level of analytics is available for all retailers – not just the industry giants – through simple visualisation tools, supporting greater accessibility and smarter decision-making.
As data analytics becomes the keystone to successful business decisions and actions, it has never been more essential for the process to be user-friendly. When everyone in your organisation and supply chain can access, analyse and interact with data insights, you’ll deliver an optimal customer experience, and notice the difference in your bottom line.
👉 For a more in-depth view, explore our eBook – Retailer’s Guide: Unlocking the power of data.
