Nick Greene

Having spent a great deal of my career on the business side of retail, I have an alternate opinion on this. Giving a new name to cross-channel/multi-channel/omni-channel retail doesn't really change anything. But I am thankful we're not calling it 'phygital' anymore. Omni-channel, or whatever you may have called it over the last twenty years, did not fail. The focus has always been aimed squarely at the customer experience, and rightly so. If you don't satisfy the rapidly-changing expectations of the customer, it matters not how "unified" your systems are. As a consumer, I'm frequently amazed at how seamlessly some of my favorite retailers recognize and understand me across channels. Are a lot of them doing it with bailing wire and duct tape on the back-end? You bet they are, but I rarely feel it and the experience keeps me coming back. The reality is that every mature retailer was built upon the backs of legacy systems and applications. They are often clunky, can be somewhat inefficient, and were often built long before the first online or mobile transaction was processed. While I'm sure that certain retail software providers long for the days of enterprise-wide rip-and-replace projects, it's fraught with risk and means absolutely nothing if it doesn't improve the customer experience in a meaningful way.

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How do you stay connected? Every Wednesday many folks in the Best Buy office wear their "blue shirts" to show their connection to the company as a whole. Since I am not in the Minnesota office every day I thought it would be good today to do the same. I also brought back from my last trip a banner advertising the data strategy we are developing called the "Data Store". As a visual person these reminders give me perspective, connecting the dots between the many meetings I lead/attend and the vision of my work to help Best Buy grow. However, I believe the challenge of staying connected to the vision is not just one for "remote workers". When I was at Ford I went to the office every day, and was in a building surrounded by people working only in data and analytics. To keep my perspective, I would regularly visit the World Headquarters where you were greeted by a historic Model A and many other cars from Ford's great legacy. At McDonald's Headquarters we regularly ate lunch at the restaurant downstairs. In the world of data and analytics we can get so focused on the minutiae of the numbers and challenges in data quality, pipelines, analyses or models that we forget the point of what we do - to help our companies improve their performance (whether it is making cars, selling electronics, or marketing the "best burgers"). Whether you are remote, hybrid, or full-time in the office what are some ways you help yourself remember the main purpose of why you do what you do? #remotework #vision #dataanalytics #ford #bestbuy #mcdonalds #cdo #career #datascience #datagovernance #datastrategy

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This new tool merges strategic insights and customer perceptions seamlessly, offering actionable solutions that can reshape how retailers handle their value proposition at the store level. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/gcaCYM8j #dunnhumby #customerfirst

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A lot of times, brick and mortar stores end up promoting online sales. “Get $10 off your first online purchase” or “Get $5 when you download the app”. They want to get on the bandwagon. Digital is IN. Inherently, this makes sense. Being engaged in more channels is better than one. Sometimes, this even has an impact on loyalty subsctiption programs (less churn, more renewals etc.). Purely from a sales standpoint though, the numbers tell a different story. In-store shoppers splurge more on impulse buys - even when they’re not promoted. Maybe it’s time marketers started sending a different kind of promotion. “Get $10 off your next in-store visit”.

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https://lnkd.in/gKb47CGD Numerator’s new Regional Retail Dashboard reviews omnichannel purchases and promotional insights across four US census regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West). Six headlines: Across the U.S., the top five retailers for CPG spending are Walmart (21.2%), Costco (7.8%), Kroger (6.9%), Amazon (5.3%), and Albertsons (4.3%) Walmart is the most popular retailer in three of the four regions; however, it falls to Costco (16.4% vs. 15.5% of CPG spending) in the West For the entire U.S., 56% of CPG spend goes to food and mass retailers In the Western U.S., 19% of CPG spend goes to the Club channel Southerners over-index at dollar stores (Index 132 vs. Total U.S.) Consumers in the Northwest spend 7% of their dollars at liquor stores  #cpg #supermarkets #mass #drugchains #clubchannel

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Are you leveraging the full potential of your customer data to foster loyalty and enhance engagement? How can integrating a smart Customer Data Platform (CDP) transform your retail or CPG brand's relationship with its customers? Read more. #CII #CDP #Loyalty #Retail #CPG

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Father’s Day spending is expected to reach $22.4 billion this year, according to an annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. This is the second-highest figure in the survey’s history and on par with last year’s record of $22.9 billion. #fathersday #retailsales #nrf

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It's interesting how retailers are slowly landing on the same three options for Self Checkout refinement to solve shrink. 1. Adding employee assisted checkout, 2. Adding barriers to leaving the store without confirmation of purchase (mechanical or human) or as a last resort, 3. Completely eliminating the option. From the consumer perspective its slowly becoming a negative experience... Curious what other options might exist..

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For the vendors and brands building retail point-of-sale reporting, how are you handling the variability in data readiness when presenting metrics back to your report users? A given retailer may sometimes be two or five days behind in providing data. This can vary by metric within the same retailer (i.e., inventory is three days behind, and sales are two days behind). How do you indicate this data variability in your reporting? Are you consistently checking and showing the most recent data across each metic/retailer combination? Are you making your report users wait until all metrics have been successfully loaded for proper WoW aggregate reporting? Are you displaying data availability on your reports as a “key”? Sreenath Reddy // Andrew Hamada // Kyle Volenik // Doug Murless

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Bluecore’s first-ever Benchmarks Report is live. It’s well done and you need to take a look! Why? Because if you were tasked with building a benchmark report for retailers about retail performance, this is what you would build! It’s customer-centric, quantifies the quantity and quality of retail customers by retail vertical, and highlights metrics you strive to improve daily - onsite identification, new customer acquisition, retention, and reactivation, order frequency, and average order value. See? I told you this is what you would build! You can read the full report here: https://bluecre.co/3w0ylrT

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This release is a big deal! It allows for much greater and easier customization of prioritization logic of missions for store and field leaders. Take a closer look, and I think you’ll realize that Quorso is a game changer for retailers to help their field teams identify and prioritize activities that would otherwise fall between the cracks.

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Having a choice is good. But the complexity behind offering that choice (in a physical or digital store) shouldn’t be a burden on the customer (shopper). Saw this payment checkout experience at a local grocery store and curiously inquired the why behind it (why 3 pin pads for 1 checkout lane). The reason was simple: to provide customers with payment choices be it card (credit, debit, *pay, EBT etc.), cash, coupons n such. The experience pain for the shopper is high (confusion, error, intervention). For the retailer its even more (cost, lifecycle management at edge, skills) Inclusion shouldn’t compromise experience (and vice versa). Our checkout strategy and front-end best practices (underpinned by the Commerce platform, Edge architecture and device agnostic stack) by-design accounts for store complexity and provides simplicity of experience. It’s not hard. It’s the amalgamation of the right experience and the tech stack that differentiates great from good. Every experience at touch point matters and builds that brand stickiness. As a tech provider in this domain we care and empower retailers through this journey of evolving checkout experiences! Talk to us how we can help at NCR Voyix #checkout #experience

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Still shocked that most large retailers haven't implemented this to date. The potential for expansion of in-store retail media ad units and revenue (profit) is significant. It's a financial investment, but the opportunities are somewhat endless... think beyond pricing. #Retail #Marketing #BusinessOpportunities

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During the pandemic, U.S. consumers feathered their nests, spending a staggering $12.1 billion on home goods in Q2 2020. But now, as demand tightens and inflation bites, home-goods retailers face a paradox: accelerated growth beyond the typical cycle, yet no fresh demand until 2025. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: To thrive in this hypercompetitive environment, companies must be laser-focused on traffic generation, conversion, and maximization. AI and machine learning enable hyperlocalization, allowing precise targeting of high-reward consumers—those who’ve recently moved homes or have higher discretionary spend. Home goods retailers need advanced targeting to reach consumers. AlixPartners experts Gaurav 'G' Chhabra and Amol Shah explain the playbook. Read the full article here:

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Dear Retail Friends,   If you’re a wholesaler, access to data from suppliers and retail customers is critical in enabling optimal service levels with minimal inventory. But getting that data, and acting upon it, can be challenging.   While there are many hurdles to this kind of collaboration, it can be done. And the benefits are numerous – not just for wholesalers, but their suppliers and retail customers as well.   https://lnkd.in/dbxub36v   #supplychain #supplychainoptimization #wholesaledistribution The future of wholesale supply chain collaboration | RELEX Solutions Unlock insights on boosting wholesale collaboration for supply chain efficiency and profit in this expert interview.

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Despite digital's penetration in retail, physical stores remain a vital part -- if not the lifeblood -- of most retailers' businesses: from providing memorable and differentiating customer experiences to fulfilling online orders to generating in-store sales. And now Walmart, the world's largest company (and retailer), are recognizing just how much successful stores contribute to their overall success by rewarding (our fancy word for 'compensating') their store managers accordingly. From a talent perspective, this move 'raises the bar' and should enable Walmart to attract, develop, and retain the retail industry's very best performing store managers while simultaneously forcing its many competitors to respond. #retail #retailer #talentacquisition #storemanagers #compensation #totalrewards

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Walmart is offering half off Walmart+ memberships until July 18, ahead of Amazon's Prime Day on July 16 and 17. Until July 18, Walmart is offering Walmart+ memberships for $49 a year, or half off the usual $98 fee. The rivalry between Walmart and Amazon continues, with Walmart aiming to attract customers from the e-commerce giant. Walmart's CFO mentioned that delivery orders surpassed in-store pickup orders, and Walmart+ members are ordering more frequently with fewer items, resembling Amazon shoppers. Walmart has been expanding its marketplace of third-party sellers and utilizing its physical locations to fulfill online orders. The company is implementing upgrades in its stores to boost sales, both in-store and online. Walmart is adopting strategies similar to Target and Amazon to attract and retain customers. #walmart #amazon #primeday #usretail

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