The Retailer Spring Edition 2021

THE RE TA I L ER

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DATA-DRIVEN CATEGORY MANAGEMENT PROVIDES A GLIMPSE INTO THE FUTURE OF ANALYTICS

Inna Kuznetsova CEO 1010data

F or most consumers, shopping and buying experiences have been forever changed by Covid-19. A year ago, most shoppers would not have predicted that their grocery, drug- store, home goods and even alcohol purchases would unrelentingly migrate online. Options from shipping and same-day delivery to click- and-collect curbside pickup and buy online pick up in-store (BOPIS) were forced into vir- tual ubiquity by a do-or-die pandemic imper- ative. Safety, speed, and convenience access- ing goods, whether in-store, curbside, or online, has become more important than ever, as has keeping up with ever-shifting consumer demand. In the same way that online services needed to evolve rapidly overnight, so too do the analytics that understand and predict demand and figure out on the flywhat categories are needed, when and in which locations. Previously, it was the category manager’s job to look back on historical and seasonal trends which would, presumably, allow them to predict with a decent measure of accuracy what would come next in consumer demand, and to prepare for upcoming supply needs. Covid-19 has upended any predictability in this and other industries, and has proven that, in the world we live in today, nothing is certain, and there is little in the future you can base off the past. In an environment where consumer shopping habits have changed so radically, retailers need a better way to assess rapidly changing demand and manage inventory. The shopping experience has changed; so too must our strategy.

The bright side is that we have all the tools we need: data. Using real- time, granular-level insights to drive category management decisions, retailers and brands have everything they need to develop the right protocols and proactively prepare, delivering on consumer demand. Historically, these tools and their data have all lived in different places: One tool for supply chain reports, working to complement a separate tool tracking inventory management and product promotions, and then there’s always external data from third-party providers as well. In today’s environment, however, it is no longer possible to make critical decisions in a timely and effective way across departments, within channels and categories, or amongst trading partners, especially when stakeholders are operating off data from multiple, disjointed sources. It is certainly not possible to make quick decisions to respond to new customer behaviors as they change day-to-day if analysts must sort through various spreadsheets to understand what is happening in real- time. When you are stuck working with fragmented, higher-level data, you are severely limited in your ability to analyze and react, let alone effectively provision for what is to come.