Booz Allen Hamilton, the global consulting and technology firm, has found that investing in customer analytics offers exciting opportunities for the growth and development of the regional retail sector.
The report – titled ‘Next Generation Retailers: Power Up Your Analytics’ discusses how the global retail sector is changing in the face of an unprecedented shift in customer behavior, fueled by advanced technology and wider acceptance of online shopping and ecommerce.
According to Euromonitor, the Mena region is emerging as a global hub for retail and the sector is expected to grow from $996 billion in 2015, to $1.05 trillion in 2016.
Qatar is one of the fastest growing retail markets in the region, with retail sales expected to grow by 7.3% annually by 2018 reaching a total revenue of $284.5bn.
Increased real estate and labor costs are also driving businesses to seek a profitable mix of traditional and digital sales channels. The onus is therefore increasingly on the retailers to embark on digital programs to ensure that outlets remain both relevant and profitable. Against this backdrop of economic growth and infrastructure development, the report tracks the changes sweeping the Mena retail industry and the factors that will fuel growth in the sector.
Danny Karam (pictured), Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton Mena said: “We have found that there is immense pressure on retailers brought on by changing shopper dynamics. Retailers must understand changing customer behavior and shopping preferences, manage the cost of brick and mortar establishments, mine data and amplify their outreach through an omnichannel platform to provide a seamless shopping experience that will, in turn, create new revenue streams beyond the shop floor.”
The report highlights how data analytics can be incorporated into a company’s business processes with the aim of transforming the organisation’s business model into comprehensive data-driven decision making. By leveraging the value of data – both internal (customer profiles, footfall, transactions) and external (social media, traffic, weather, macroeconomic) – retailers can tailor their offering to drive sales, while at the same time optimising their return on investment.
The report also highlights that data analytics can be used to create value for customers themselves; improving their journey and helping retailers exceed expectations besides influencing strategy about customer stickiness, loyalty and relationship.
It has identified six imperatives that are central to building a sustainable customer analytics capability – these include building a case for customer analytics, defining customer analytics service offering, building the right customer analytics capabilities, investing in agile and scalable systems, establishing an optimal operating model..
