Today’s online shopping capabilities have put brick-and-mortar retailing at a disadvantage. eTailers are empowered to present a variety of customer-facing conveniences for shopping. Moreover, they can utilize data to optimize their store operations. From customer acquisition — via channels such as AdWords — to checkout at the bottom of the funnel, online merchants have greater visibility into the steps of the purchase process and can better test assumptions to improve results.
Euclid, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based analytics software company, launched a solution in November 2011 to provide brick-and-mortar retailers with the tools necessary to operate more effectively as a data-driven business. Aimed at providing “Google Analytics for the physical world,” the platform offers retailers visibility into key performance indicators (KPIs), including capture rate of visitors versus walk bys, shopper visit frequency, engagement time span and more.
The solution utilizes a sensor to detect shoppers’ smartphones as consumers move around the indoor and outdoor areas of a retail store. All measurement and unique identifier information remains anonymous, and all network data is encrypted, so it cannot be “reverse engineered” by stores to reveal a visitor’s identity.
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Store managers then can access relevant analytics reports, delivered through their web browsers, at any time. Traditionally, much of the stores’ operations is governed by experience coupled with assumptions. Euclid improves this tactic by utilizing a test-and-analyze methodology across all stores in the chain.
The strategy’s results enable retailers to determine which marketing and customer experience optimization initiatives are working. For example, an apparel store might test two window displays to see which one grabs shoppers more effectively.
Philz Coffee of San Francisco, a perennial winner of “Best Coffee in the Bay,” employs the Euclid analytics software across all stores and, after just a few months, already has made operational changes in response to the data.
