Add Social Media To Your Merchandising Analysis
What is the single most important question to ask when making merchandising decisions? Wouldn’t that question be, “what is my customer going to buy?” If your customers are expressing their opinions on social media, then ignoring their input is costing you. Merchandising analysis requires all the facts before optimized decisions are made.
User-Generated Content Gives Clues
The social media platforms your customers express themselves on are excellent sources of insight into what they like. Adding the opportunity to express themselves on your own pages and forums is a great way to interact and develop relationships, adding still more insight into the trends that interest the people who you hope to attract to your business.
The point here isn’t which platforms you choose to have a business presence on — it’s choosing to have a business presence on the platforms that your customer base is currently using. That means social media has to be part of the strategies you use and that you use each platform professionally.
Real-Time Purchase Data Confirms Interest
Keeping up with user-generated content is a good indicator of potential interest, but the purchase is what confirms customer interest. Purchase data provides the insight for replenishment, allocation, and more. Comparing historical purchase data against current purchases provides a comprehensive view of customer interest.
With ChainDrive’s centralized Merchandising software database and integrated functionality, adding any additional insight from social media trends to simulations makes forecasting needed product assortments as accurate as possible.
Merchandising software -Sophisticated Analytics Indicate Optimal Assortments
The goal of retail merchandising management is an inventory stocked with the products your customers want exactly when they want them. This optimal assortment is possible when sophisticated analytical tools are employed to gain insight and make profitable decisions in allocation and replenishment.
The tools built into ChainDrive’s Merchandising software are the result of careful design and the requests made by retailers seeking to alleviate the pain points they encounter in managing the omnichannel complexities of today’s retail environment. The flexibility needed to add new factors to the infrastructure handling the flow of data within your business is available with ChainDrive’s professional service teams. This makes the addition of new sources of insight, like social media, much simpler.
Adding social media to your merchandising analysis is a great way to ensure your stock is what will sell.