Retail surgery: Using post-Christmas data to drive summer Sales

With less cash in consumers’ pockets, the last Christmas Sales were slow for many retailers. But they can use the customer data generated to create a far more successful summer season.

Vertex Business Services head of decision science Kurt Thearling says: “The change in the economy has had a dramatic impact on purchasing patterns. By examining customer and sales data and identifying new behaviour patterns, retailers can develop Sales strategies that drive sales and competitive difference.”

The key is to look for changing patterns in your customer data. Thearling recommends retailers find those segments of customers whose purchase patterns changed last Christmas, and then develop Sales plans to target them. “Identify demographic and geographic customer characteristics that separate one group of customers from another,” he says. “For example, look at your customers whose purchases last Christmas went up compared with the previous year.”

This involves really delving into the data available. Are there groups of these customers that are likely to live in one particular area? Are there certain merchandise categories that dominated their purchases? What about customers whose purchase volume decreased significantly? Did these customers move to lower-cost products in the same category, or did they simply buy less of the same thing?

Once you have identified segments of your customers with similar and consistent behaviours, you can develop marketing campaigns to better connect with them.