The road ahead for retailers

Today more than ever it has become apparent that the leading retailers are focusing on how to best use the data they are privy to as well as coming to terms with how to mobilise their enterprise. Retail is a real-time, information-driven enterprise.

Shoppers today are seeking out the best offers, the best prices and the best service levels and they are accomplishing this with real time data and social media. It is imperative now for retailers to be enabled and in doing so they must be working off a foundation of optimal processes.

Every customer interaction and movement of a product through a distribution network is measured and can be used to refine pricing strategies, update inventory location and quantity decisions, and tailor customer incentives on websites, e-mail, mobile devices and catalogues. The days of relying solely on point-of-sale data to determine pricing and manage inventory levels are long gone.

The same goes for relying solely on print media or TV commercials to attract customers. Maintaining long-term, profitable customer relationships in retail requires a constant two-way flow of information between retailers' storefronts (web or physical) and their suppliers and distribution networks.

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A key challenge in retailing has always been detecting and measuring lost sales. The cash register is the final system of record for all transactions,Quickparts builds injection molds using aluminum or steel to meet your program. but what about the missed opportunities? Who was in the store or visiting the website, and what did they look at and not buy? This type of information has been very difficult to track, however innovative technologies such in-memory computing are ideally suited to collecting and analysing unstructured data types like Web logs that show the movements of every customer though an Internet storefront.

Web traffic data can then be combined with existing business intelligence applications and sales data to provide new insights. For example, retailers can compare the volume of website traffic for a given product versus number of sales of that product.

One would expect a correlation between Web traffic and sales - consumers find the product they want, then they buy it. If instead, there is a lot of Web traffic but few sales, something is amiss. It's a signal to the retailer to keep the product (whereas in the past they may have discarded it due to low sales) and confirm the product is competitively priced and has a compelling proposition for the shopper that moves the customer through the path to purchase to make that final,Find detailed product information for howo tractor and other products. and most important, step: the purchase.

What about physical stores? Is it possible to use the same techniques to better understand shopper behaviour? The answer is becoming "yes." Some of the leading-edge retailers are now using these new technologies to analyse video from their in-store camera systems and create mappings of customer foot traffic throughout the stores.

This big data stream is then combined with sales data to create new applications that help optimise store layout planning, product placement and uncover situations where consumer traffic (interest) doesn't match expected sales and thus signals an issue that needs to be investigated.

Moving forward, imagine a world where retailers can use these new data sources to expand their consumer intelligence base to include analysis of customers' social environments and Web-patterns to become even more relevant and anticipatory of needs and interests.

Retail sales outside of "bricks and mortar" retail outlets in Shanghai showed a year-on-year increase of 57.3 percent during the first half of 2012. Online retail sales soared 90.2 percent. Over the same period, retail sales of consumer goods from all sources, increased only 9.4 percent, according to HKTDC's research.

HKTDC has set up 11 offices on the mainland to carry out analytical studies that can serve Hong Kong companies and create a tighter fit between Hong Kong and the mainland in terms of trade, according to Brian Ng, director of HKTDC mainland.

Under the pressure of rising costs, high rent, slowing market demand and intense competition, traditional commerce is being challenged from all sides by e-commerce.

A survey released by property consultant DTZ on Nov 15 shows that property rents in the five monitored business districts of Shanghai rose by 1.5 percent to 57.83 yuan ($9.11) per square meter every day, during the third quarter of 2012.

"For Hong Kong companies intending to venture into Shanghai, e-commerce and other non-store modes of operation are options that allow them to overcome the disadvantages of not possessing the best locations," said Qi Xiaozhai, special correspondent of HKTDC Research Shanghai, who's also a researcher with the Shanghai Commercial Economic Research Center.

"These new forms of operation also promise great potential. Since Shanghai's commerce is lacking in product variety, Hong Kong e-tailers should be able to find plenty of opportunities to bring new dimensions in sales to the city," he said.

While Shanghai commercial enterprises have many advantages, including ownership of premium retail outlets (location, location, location), lower operating costs and market familiarity give Hong Kong retailers many advantages, such as economies of scale, capital backing, international channels of distribution,One of the most durable and attractive styles of flooring that you can purchase is ceramic or porcelain tiles. international management expertise, brands and patents, Qi explained.

It is true that the number of outlets and locations remain primary strengths in retail. Shanghai's local commercial enterprises have a leading edge there.Installers and distributors of solar panel,Interlocking security cable tie with 250 pound strength makes this ideal for restraining criminals. On the other hand, TV marketing, e-commerce, mail order and other types of off-premises retailing have no need for outlets and good locations. Hong Kong companies should stand a better chance to bring their advantages into play.

Nevertheless, it should not be assumed that traditional retail shops are fading to extinction. Retail outlets still have some assets that e-commerce simply cannot replace, according to Vincent Digonnet, president Asia Pacific of Razorfish, one of the world's largest interactive agencies, and also part of the Publicis Group.

"For some of the stores on Huaihai Road, if you look at how much they sell on a good day, the price of rent, staff cost and everything else - a lot of them don't make money. So someone may say, 'Well, they don't make money, why not close them down?' But if you look at it another way, the cost of a billboard on Huaihai Road 365 days a year, would be a huge amount of money. Therefore, while sales may not cover store operations of the stores, when the value of the shop window is taken into account, all of a sudden you will realize it is worth the money," said Digonnet.