Style and Statistics

Chapter 9 Customer Journey

The most important aspect of retail is the customer journey. The customer should be at the center of all business units and processes within a retailer’s overall business process. The entire retail process of planning a strategic plan, curating assortments, fulfilling inventory, pricing, marketing, and in-store experience and cybersecurity should all be centered on customers and their journeys. The main mission of a retailer is to provide a seamless, enjoyable, and convenient shopping experience across all channels of the business. A retailer’s main goal is to increase overall profitability and strategically drive a customer’s path to purchase and continue to purchase items, increasing the customer’s lifetime value.

The customer is truly the center of a retailer’s business process. Understanding the customer’s preferences, what drives a customer to purchase, what promotions incent a customer to shop, and what marketing vehicles reach a customer most effectively is the first step to becoming customer centric. The insights into a customer’s preference for products help to drive the merchandise financial planning process in the beginning of the season. Understanding high-level merchandise trends based on the customer’s preferences to statistically forecast strategic financial objectives at a division, department, or category level ensures that future demand is anticipated in order to plan inventory levels and inventory productivity accurately.

These ...