6 Characteristics of A Good Retail Analytics Report
Retail analytics are a necessity in today’s omnichannel environment. With e-commerce having achieved maturity and growing in importance every day, retailers of every stripe and size are realizing the importance of tracking key performance indicators and real-time metrics. It is no longer an option, but a necessity.
Analytics aren’t just for your operations manager. Managers at various levels of your chain operations need access to metrics, so reporting is very important. The following six characteristics are very important if your data is to be actionable and reliable.
- Real-time – Every KPI you track and every metric important to your organization must be reviewable in real-time. If you’re going to act on the information you see, you’ve got to be able to act on it quickly. Every moment you spare means potential lost dollars in revenue and expenses.
- Well-organized – Managers at every level of your retail operation should be able to find the information they need quickly. If you are sharing data in meetings, you need to be able to center in on important data you want to highlight and discuss without too much trouble.
- Graphic – Graphics, pivot table, and lists make your performance metrics easy to see at a glance. They also make it easy to share, whether in meetings, by email, or face-to-face. Making your analytics visual means being able to collect critical information and view it at a glance in order to make the best and quickest decision.
- Flexible – Being able to manipulate charts and graphs so that you can see the information you need to see at the level of granularity important to your position and organization is key to having relevant data.
- Intuitive – It must be easy for anyone within your organization to collect, view, and analyze the information they need to make the best decisions at their level of responsibility.
- Customizable – Every retail operation is different. You must be able to define your own views and metrics.
If you’re going to collect the right metrics and be able to take action on the information you collect, you need to have the right analytics solution. Otherwise, your organization will suffer.