Retail Trend or Hype? How to Discover the Difference Between Them
February 21, 2023 by Jamie Banks – If you haven’t read an email or post lately on “2023 Retail Trends” you might be living under a rock. During the month of January this type of content is everywhere. It’s kind of like your New Year’s resolution. A good idea at first but now somewhat overwhelming to keep up with. But all the new hashtags and predictions are not without merit. To offer your customers best-in-class solutions, you need to understand industry trends inside and out.
So off we went to NRF at the Javits Center in NYC. Followed by StorePoint in Dallas. We spoke to new and existing clients, fellow competitors, industry experts and a lot of Uber drivers! Similar stories and common challenges dominated our conversations. Buzz word after buzz word. Personalization, Loyalty, Workforce, Immersive Technology just to name a few. It can be tough to know exactly where to place your bet, but one thing is for certain, Intel. You only know, what you know.
Don’t believe the hype? Well, maybe you should. I spent 20 years on the other side of the table as a retailer and wholesaler. I merchandised what seems like a million different Collections for all FOBs. I pored over stock and sales reports analyzing businesses every way possible. Whether boutique or big box, I always came back to the same thing. You must know your sales floor. You must know square footage, quantity and type of fixture as well as capacity. You must know signage: promotional as well as aspirational marketing.
I searched long and hard for a solution to help keep track of ALL these variables. It was always a band-aid workaround involving tons of spreadsheets belonging to multiple parties with “hopefully” accurate information. Daunting, even scary, and hardly reliable. But it doesn’t have to be. This is the part where I tell you about my knight in shining armor, AccuStore.
Brands and retailers are reassessing their strategies and evaluating stores, and they need accurate data today just as much as I did years ago. So, when I tell you that AccuStore’s Site Intelligence is the real deal, I mean it. Through a unique and completely customizable profile you know what lives in every individual store. Think of it as the gatekeeper of your most important by-door attributes. Fixturing, marketing and equipment all accurately displayed. Any stakeholder can view. All parties utilizing the same data cutting down silos. If I had AccuStore back in the day, I would be queen of the world by now.
Clearly, I am no queen, we all know that’s Beyoncé. I think she needs AccuStore to keep track of all her Grammy’s! But in all seriousness, the visibility and intelligence you gain with AccuStore is eye opening. In addition to housing all your physical store assets, it can store immersive virtual 360-degree scans, marketing distros and merchandising directives. Communication is seamless through task management, check-ins and captures via the mobile app. No heavy lifting for store associates already wearing many hats. Quick and easy updates for profile-driven execution and management.
I met brave souls at StorePoint that candidly shared that they have zero knowledge of what’s inside their stores. I completely understood. I could 100% relate. Fixtures get down streamed, large acquisitions occur, staff turns over and historical data is lost. No different today, than 20yrs ago. What’s different is that there is now an amazing robust solution.
So, as you are planning for 2023, really stop and think about how much insight you honestly have into your stores. This is crucial knowledge for your total company. It’s time to stop guessing, padding orders, and crossing your fingers. AccuStore is readily available to help you improve your accuracy and visibility. Accurate data, a profile for every store and ease of execution. Like I said, believe the hype.
